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.
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