“And you may add,” the Abbe Gevresin put in, “that in the Psalms the palm figures the righteous man, while according to the interpretation of Gregory the Great its rugged bark and the golden strings of dates are emblematical of the wood of the Cross, hard to the touch, but bearing fruit that is sweet to those who are worthy to taste them.”

“Well,” said Durtal, “but supposing that Madame Bavoil should wish to plant a liturgical garden, what should she select for it?

“Can we, to begin with, compose a dictionary of plants representing the capital sins and their antithetical virtues, sketch a basis of operations, and pick out by certain rules the materials at the command of the mystic gardener?”

“I do not know,” said the Abbe Plomb.  “At the same time, I should think it might be possible; only we should have to remember the names of the plants more or less exactly symbolizing those qualities and defects.  In short, what you need is a sort of language of flowers as applied to the catechism.  Let us try.

“For pride we have the pumpkin, which was worshipped of old as a divinity in Sicyon.  It bears indifferently the character of pride or of fertility; of fertility by reason of its multitude of seeds and its rapid growth, of which the monk Walafrid Strabo wrote in noble hexameters a whole chapter of his poem; and of pride by reason of its huge hollow head and its bulk; and then we also have the cedar, which Peter of Capua and Saint Melito agree in accusing of pride.

“Avarice?  I confess I know of no plant which represents it; we will come back to that.”

“I beg your pardon,” said the Abbe Gevresin; “Saint Eucher and Raban Maur speak of thorns as emblematical of riches which accumulate to the detriment of the soul; and Saint Melito says that the sycamore means greed of money.”

“The poor sycamore!” cried the younger priest.  “It has been served with every sauce!  Raban Maur and the Anonymous monk of Clairvaux also call it a misbelieving Jew; Peter of Capua compares it to the Cross; Saint Eucher calls it wisdom, and there are other meanings.  But meanwhile I forget how far we had gone.  Oh! lasciviousness; we here have ample choice.  Besides certain trees there is cyclamen, or sow-bread, which, according to an ancient dictum of Theophrastus, is symbolical of this sin because it was used in the preparation of love-philtres; the nettle, which Peter of Capua says is emblematic of the unruly instincts of the flesh; and the tuberose, a more modern introduction, but known as far back as the sixteenth century, when a Minorite Father brought it to France.  Its heady perfume, which disturbs the nerves, also, it is said, excites the senses.

“For envy there are the bramble and the aconite, which, to be sure, is more exactly assigned to calumny and scandal; and, again, the nettle, which, however, is also interpreted by Albertus Magnus as figuring courage and expelling fear.