THE RANUNCULUS. 215 



points of the brilliant type : it is there that our at- 

 tention is directed to the lilies of the field, with a 

 special reference to their beautiful attire, as the 

 providential allotment of God. There it is, that 

 the flower is set forth, as a touching emblem alike 

 of man's goodliness and his decay, while the hea- 

 vens are made to declare the glory of God, and 

 • every element to furnish some vivid illustration of 

 His power and love. In fact, when two people 

 come to investigate the same subject, under the 

 same teacher, ^nd with feelings just similar, even 

 though they hold no previous communication one 

 with another, still they can hardly do otherwise 

 than fall occasionally into the same train of 

 thought ; and, in the paucity of words to convey 

 the multitude of ideas, to use expressions very 

 similar. I never aspired to originalit}^ because I 

 should be unwilling to think that none had trodden 

 the path of flowers with feelings as delicious as 

 are mine, when revelling in the garden sweets : 

 but, as another friend to whom I repeated the re- 

 mark of the former, told me she had heard it made 

 by many, I take this method of assuring all my 

 kind readers, upon my honest word, that I never 

 read Hervey's work until this very day ; conse- 

 quently, I am not a plunderer. 



But, had not the good-humoured hint of mv 

 friend led me to examine Hervey, I should have 

 committed myself, irretrievably, in the opinion of 



