there was their festival of the Floralia, in honour of the reappearance of
spring-time, with its hosts of bright blossoms, a survival of which has
long been kept up in this country on May Day, when garlands and carols
form the chief feature of the rustic merry-making. Another grand
ceremonial occasion, when flowers were specially in request, was the
Fontinalia, an important day in Rome, for the wells and fountains were
crowned with flowers:--"Fontinalia festus erat dies Romae, quo in fontes
coronas projiciebant, puteosque coronabant, ut a quibus pellucidos
liquores at restinguendam sitim acciperent, iisdem gratiam referre hoc
situ viderentur."A pretty survival of this festival has long been observed in the well-
dressing of Tissington on Ascension Day, when the wells are most
beautifully decorated with leaves and flowers, arranged in fanciful devices,
interwoven into certain symbols and texts. This floral rite is thus described
in "The Fleece":--
"With light fantastic toe, the nymphs
Thither assembled, thither every swain;
And o'er the dimpled stream a thousand flowers,
Pale lilies, roses, violets and pinks,
Mix'd with the greens of bouret, mint, and thyme,
And trefoil, sprinkled with their sportive arms,
Such custom holds along th' irriguous vales,
From Wreken's brow to rocky Dolvoryn,
Sabrina's early haunt."With this usage may be compared one performed by the fishermen of
Weymouth, who on the first of May put out to sea for the purpose of
scattering garlands of flowers on the waves, as a propitiatory offering to
obtain food for the hungry. "This link," according to Miss Lambert, "is
but another link in the chain that connects us with the yet more primitive
practice of the Red Indian, who secures passage across the Lake
Superior, or down the Mississippi, by gifts of precious tobacco, which he
wafts to the great spirit of the Flood on the bosom of its waters."
By the Romans a peculiar reverence seems to have attached to their
festive garlands, which were considered unsuitable for wearing in
public. Hence, any person appearing in one was liable to punishment, a
law which was carried out with much rigour. On one occasion, Lucius
Fulvius, a banker, having been convicted at the time of the second Punic
war, of looking down from the balcony of a house with a chaplet of roses
on his head, was thrown into prison by order of the Senate, and here