grown old in the service of literature should be fitly honoured; that the mind so stored and gifted should be reflected back upon us as it deserves to be, long after the bodily frame in which it dwelt shall have passed away. It is thus it ought to be; yet we trust that the labours are not yet over, and, though the hope may seem presumptuous, that the series will not be finally concluded until another volume, for which we know there is abundant matter, be added, and thus complete the Essays of an Octogenarian.

ART. VIII.-The Catholic Florist. A Guide to the Cultivation of Flowers for the Altar with a list of such as are appropriate to the several Holy Days and Seasons of the Ecclesiastical Year; the whole illustrated by Historical Notices and Fragments of Ecclesiastical Poetry. With a Preface by the Rev. FREDERICK OAKELEY, M.A, Oxon. Richardson and Son: London, Dublin, and Derby.

HE title page of this beautiful book sufficiently explains

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its end and object. It offers itself to Catholics as a guide to the cultivation of Flowers for the Altar;" and it is enriched with historical notices, often of no common interest, as well as with fragments of ecclesiastical poetry, illustrative of the several days and seasons of the Christian year, and of the peculiar flowers appropriate to each. Altogether, it furnishes a calendar for the year, enumerating the saints to whom every day is specially consecrated, and adding also in brackets the names of other saints appointed to be remembered on that particular day. But this is not all; it is really and practically a manual for the gardener who chooses to give a religious and Catholic direction to his favourite pursuit. It tells him what flowers are in bloom during each month, and gives him directions for the purpose of ensuring their blossoming, as nearly as possible, at the exact time when they are required for the Altar. It also adds a vast amount of useful and interesting information, as to the ideas which

are popularly and traditionally connected in England with many of our flowers; and it opens a wide field for further enquiry to such as are fond of antiquarian lore. Interspersed with these observations, is a judicious selection of ecclesiastical poetry, culled from a wide range of writers, which our readers will find suggestive of many practical and devotional reflections.

After all, however, we feel that we have by no means done justice to the book itself, until we have drawn out, to some extent at least, the real devotional character which it is intended to wear. As to those who unhappily are reared external to the one true fold, and are consequently brought up in a cold and imperfect faith, we cannot expect to find in them any power or faculty capable of appreciating the idea which, if we may so speak, underlies the entire work. They cannot comprehend how matters so simple and so trivial as the flowers of the field or of the garden, can be turned to a devotional use, and made to minister to the honour and glory of Almighty God. But it is otherwise with the Catholic. He has been taught from his earliest infancy to believe that nothing is small or trivial which can be made to bear upon redeemed souls, or brought in any way into connection with the service of God. Accordingly, what seems so strange in the eyes of others, appears to him in the light of something natural and obvious: and so he loves to indulge the spontaneous feelings of his soul within, and as he has been ever wont to associate the ideas of joy and gladness with the flowers of the field or of the bright parterre, he naturally offers them as presents upon the sacred Altar, where He, whom he adores, really and truly dwells. Just as the untaught heathen, led by the voice of nature, rejoiced to crown with flowers the Altar which he reared to his false deities; so with an equally natural impulse the Catholic Christian hastens to deck the Altar of his true God and Saviour with the fairest flowers which the field or the garden can produce. And what fairer present can he bring? Is there one thing to be found that bears less witness than all others to the baneful effects of the fall of our first parent? it is the flowergarden. Does any one thing tend more than every other to carry back our minds to the joys of Eden? Our answer is the same. Is there one thing with which the universal consent of mankind has more intimately woven the feelings

of joy and gladness? Again, it is the flower-garden. Beautiful then, and innocent, and joyous, we deem them, humble as they are, fit offerings for the Altar of Him who made them first, and gave to them their beauty of form and colour.

With these few introductory remarks, we go on to state the principle on which Mr. Oakeley has proceeded in his book. It is this, to use his own words:

"That in the words of Inspiration, (1 Tim. iv. 4.) 'every creature of God is good,' capable of ministering to the glory of the Giver, and of assisting in the accomplishment of His work in the soul of man........Acting on this great truth," continues Mr. Oakeley, "the Holy Church has provided in the august ritual of religion, for the consecration to God of whatever is most beautiful and most highly prized among the works of His hands, or the productions of the genius and skill which are the fruits of His power. The precious metals which lie buried in earth are wrought into the vessels which enshrine or sustain the Adorable Presence on the Altar; the labours of the delicate hand, or the products of ingenious machinery, are turned to the account of religion in the draperies of the sanctuary, or the vestments of the Priest: the busy bee and the languid silk-worm are ministers in the same holy cause; for the one yields the materials for the loom, and the other has its praise in the very offices of Holy Church, as the unconscious contributor of the substance of Her Paschal Light. And shall it be thought," he asks, "that flowers, the fairest and most unblemished among the remnants of Paradise, are to have no place in this catalogue of tributary offerings? Rather we place them on the Altar of our Lord, or weave them into chaplets for His dear Mother, without reserve or misgiving, as feeling that of all the productions of nature they have been the least diverted by man from their original and proper destination. They seem to carry their consecration in themselves; instinct with no mischief, and needing no exorcism." (Preface, pp. ii—iv.)

Now, we feel that these words of the Editor may be left to speak for themselves: they are so very plain and simple that they need no comment: the very position they assert, is a sort of axiomatic truth. The natural instinct which leads a little child to cull some choice flower as the best present it can lay upon a mother's lap, which teaches the bride to adorn herself with flowers in token of her joy, and the wealthy host to decorate his courtly saloon with no choicer ornaments, is confirmed by the practice of every age and country, and needs not to be defended. And if

we really have a heartfelt sense of our blessed Saviour's presence upon the Altars of His Church, how can we fail to show it forth in the same simple and natural manner? especially when we remember, as Mr. Oakeley reminds us, that these are gifts which are alike available to rich and poor, and so form a ground, as it were, on which rich and poor may meet together in the service of the Church, the mother of both alike."

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Mr. Oakeley next quotes largely from the Canticle to show how ancient and how scriptural is the religious language of flowers.' He then passes on to the practice of the early Christians, and adduces the fresco paintings in the catacombs of Rome, in testimony of the practice of connecting the garden and the field with lessons of religion. This, perhaps, is not new to most of our readers; but much that follows will be found novel, as well as interesting, to a devout mind. In the earlier and middle ages of the Church, a close connection was felt to subsist between religion and horticulture. "What marvel, if... these holy saints and servants of God found links with Heaven in the herbs of the field, or the flowers of the garden, and delighted to give them names significant of Jesus' love and Mary's graces?" Hence it was, that "at a time when everything wore a devotional aspect, and suggested an unearthly idea," each flower was coupled with the name of some saint, or made to refer to some part of the life of our blessed Lord, and of His holy Mother. Thus the snowdrop" of our own day, in the better "ages of faith" was known as "the Fair Maid of February, in honour of the Immaculate. Thus, too, the modern "holyhock was once" the Holy Oak:" the "iris," once the Fleur de S. Louis:" "hypericum was known as "S. John's wort ;" the "Viola Tricolor as the "Herb Trinity;" the "Sweet William as the "Herb S. William." And to show how the Catholic mind loved to associate the flowers of its garden with its love of Her who is "the lily of Eden," we need only mention the names of

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our Ladye's Seal," " our Ladye's Laces," "our Ladye's Mantle, our Ladye's Slipper," and that flower which almost alone in this cold and unbelieving age retains its ancient name, the "Marygold." Surely the very fact that such names once existed and were common in ore omnium," coupled with the fact that most of them are now, alas! forgotten, or have been exchanged for some unmean

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ing heathen term, fully warrants Mr. Oakeley in the following assertion. In every instance the name has been changed with a sacrifice of the religious meaning: and whether this has arisen in the progress of science, as in some cases, or, as in others, through a verbal corruption, the decay of Christian principle is alike apparent. Where Catholicism prevails, men instinctively turn to God and the blessed saints for the invention of names for the things of Creation: under Protestant influences they as naturally take up with heathen traditions, or the notions of those around them." We may add our own belief, that although the "Passion" flower still retains its ancient Catholic name, there is scarcely a Protestant to be found through the length and breadth of England, who ever thinks of associating it in his mind with the Passion of our blessed Redeemer, though its symbolical features are so very obvious.

We feel bound to add our firm conviction, that the hopes which the Editor expresses as to the usefulness of his little book will not be disappointed. We heartily agree too with him when he says, that "it will enable the Florist, whether in higher or in humbler life, to cultivate the garden with a Catholic object, as well as to view its productions with a Catholic eye." And we prophecy that wherever our Catholic friends will be at the pains to mark out the directions which are here put into their hands, they will find the Altar of their Church or Chapel distinguished by a far greater appropriateness of ornament than they could secure by any amount of labour undertaken without such a guide. We believe that even this little book will be found to have an effect on the taste of devout Catholics, who love to minister in these lesser things upon their Lord, and who therefore spend their time and labour in adorning His Altars. Many of our fair sisters especially, whether living in the world, or in religion, find a refined and holy pleasure in this task of love: and they will be ready to welcome the friendly guidance of a book like that with which Mr. Oakeley has supplied them.

The book itself is, altogether, got up in a style well suited to the subject of which it treats. It is tastily set off by its elegant blue binding: of the frontispiece and vignette upon the title page, it is enough to say that they are the design of Mr. Henry Doyle, in order to recommend them to the Catholic reader.