Note 19 — Chapter I · EMBLEMS, AND THEIR VARIETIES, WITH SOME EARLY EXAMPLES.

So in the autumn and winter which preceded Napoleon’s return from Elba, the question was often asked in France by his adherents,—“Do you like the violet?” and if the answer was,—“The violet will return in the spring,” the answer became a sure revelation of attachment to the Emperor’s cause. For full information on Flower signs see Casimir Magnat’s Traité du Langage symbolique, emblématique et religieux des Fleurs. 8vo: A. Touzet, Paris, 1855. In illustration take the lines from Dr. Donne, at one time secretary to the lord keeper Egerton:—

“I had not taught thee then the alphabet

Of flowers, how they devisefully being set

And bound up, might with speechless secresy

Deliver errands mutely and mutually.”—Elegy 7.