as a symbol that she never would want any of these grains so long as she
did her duty. In the Tyrol is a fine grove of pine-trees--the result of a
long-established custom for every newly united couple to plant a
marriage tree, which is generally of the pine kind. Garlands of wild
asparagus are used by the Boeotians, while with the Chinese the peach-
blossom is the popular emblem of a bride.
In England, flowers have always been largely employed in the
wedding ceremony, although they have varied at different periods,
influenced by the caprice of fashion. Thus, it appears that flowers were
once worn by the betrothed as tokens of their engagement, and Quarles
in his "Sheapheard's Oracles," 1646, tells us how,
"Love-sick swains
Compose rush-rings and myrtle-berry chains,
And stuck with glorious kingcups, and their bonnets
Adorn'd with laurell slips, chaunt their love sonnets."
Spenser, too, in his "Shepherd's Calendar" for April, speaks of
"Coronations and sops in wine worn of paramours"--sops in wine having
been a nickname for pinks (Dianthus plumarius), although Dr. Prior
assigns the name to Dianthus caryophyllus. Similarly willow was worn
by a discarded lover. In the bridal crown, the rosemary often had a
distinguished place, besides figuring at the ceremony itself, when it was,
it would seem, dipped in scented water, an allusion to which we find in
Beaumont and Fletcher's "Scornful Lady," where it is asked, "Were the
rosemary branches dipped?" Another flower which was entwined in the
bridal garland was the lily, to which Ben Jonson refers in speaking of the
marriage of his friend Mr. Weston with the Lady Frances Stuart:--
"See how with roses and with lilies shine,
Lilies and roses (flowers of either sex),
The bright bride's paths."
It was also customary to plant a rose-bush at the head of the grave of
a deceased lover, should either of them die before the wedding. Sprigs of
bay were also introduced into the bridal wreath, besides ears of corn,
emblematical of the plenty which might always crown the bridal couple.
Nowadays the bridal wreath is almost entirely composed of orange-
blossom, on a background of maiden-hair fern, with a sprig of
stephanotis interspersed here and there. Much uncertainty exists as to
why this plant was selected, the popular reason being that it was
adopted as an emblem of fruitfulness. According to a correspondent of
Notes and Queries, the practice may be traced to the Saracens, by whom
the orange-blossom was regarded as a symbol of a prosperous