of a fragrant kind of olive is the reward of literary merit in China.  In Northern India the African marigold is held as a sacred flower; they adorn the trident emblem of Mahadiva with garlands of it, and both men and women wear chaplets made of its flowers on his festivals.  Throughout Polynesia garlands have been habitually worn on seasons of “religious solemnity or social rejoicing,” and in Tonga they were employed as a token of respect.  In short, wreaths seem to have been from a primitive period adopted almost universally in ceremonial rites, having found equal favour both with civilised as well as uncivilised communities.  It will probably, too, always be so.

Flowers have always held a prominent place in wedding ceremonies, and at the present day are everywhere extensively used.  Indeed, it would be no easy task to exhaust the list of flowers which have entered into the marriage customs of different countries, not to mention the many bridal emblems of which they have been made symbolical.  As far back as the time of Juno, we read, according to Homer’s graphic account, how:—­

  “Glad earth perceives, and from her bosom pours
  Unbidden herbs and voluntary flowers: 
  Thick, new-born violets a soft carpet spread,
  And clust’ring lotos swelled the rising bed;
  And sudden hyacinths the earth bestrow,
  And flamy crocus made the mountain glow.”

According to a very early custom the Grecian bride was required to eat a quince, and the hawthorn was the flower which formed her wreath, which at the present day is still worn at Greek nuptials, the altar being decked with its blossoms.  Among the Romans the hazel held a significant position, torches having been burnt on the wedding evening to insure prosperity to the newly-married couple, and both in Greece and Rome young married couples were crowned with marjoram.  At Roman weddings, too, oaken boughs were carried during the ceremony as symbols of fecundity; and the bridal wreath was of verbena, plucked by the bride herself.  Holly wreaths were sent as tokens of congratulation, and wreaths of parsley and rue were given under a belief that they were effectual preservatives against evil spirits.  In Germany, nowadays, a wreath of vervain is presented to the newly-married bride; a plant which, on account of its mystic virtues, was formerly much used for love-philtres and charms.  The bride herself wears a myrtle wreath, as also does the Jewish maiden, but this wreath was never given either to a widow or a divorced woman.  Occasionally, too, it is customary in Germany to present the bride and bridegroom with an almond at the wedding banquet, and in the nuptial ceremonies of the Czechs this plant is distributed among the guests.  In Switzerland so much importance was in years past attached to flowers and their symbolical significance that, “a very strict law was in force prohibiting brides from wearing chaplets or garlands in the church, or at any time