224 THE RANUNCULUS. 



pride, and slothful indulgence ; and to tell me that, 

 while every inferior creature of God is filling its 

 station, performing its office, and ministering to 

 the accomplishment of one vast end, I, who am 

 bought with a mighty price, must not cumber the 

 ground, in a life of unfruitful idleness and visionary 

 speculations. I, too, must be doing ; and that as 

 being well assured that my time is short at the 

 longest, precarious in its best estate, and frail as 

 the flower which bends before a zephyr's sigh. 



Thus the Ranunculus leads me back to a period 

 now distant, and shewing me the long, the guilty 

 waste of precious days and years, waves not its 

 beautiful head in vain. From a fascinating toy, it 

 has become a serious monitor ; but even now I 

 cannot look upon a cluster of those flowers without 

 experiencing somewhat of the buoyancy of spirit 

 that seems to dance within their varigated little 

 world. It is my deliberate opinion that, whether 

 in form or in colour, the full double Ranunculus 

 may challenge any flower that blows ; while the 

 remarkably delicate fragrance, that scarcely 

 breathes, unless invited, from its rose-fashioned 

 petals, is in beautiful keeping with the whole 

 character of the elegant plant. 



It may readily be supposed that no person of 

 ordinary appearance, or of common mind, would 

 bear a comparison with this favourite flower. I 

 believe it was one of the very first that I linked 



