232 THE FLORIST. 



essential to a pleasing form than unity is. It is, as it were, the sub- 

 stance, while unity is the form in which that substance should be 

 presented ; for without it, the ideas suggested can be at best but 

 scanty ; and it is by a succession of ideas that pleasurable emotions 

 are excited ; while at the same time variety, though ever so charming, 

 if not included in one leading impression, will be desultory and un- 

 connected ; there will be a break in the current of thought, and the 

 result will be harsh and disagreeable. 



It may consist in forms, or numbers, or colours, or in any com- 

 binations of these. We have here principally to deal with the first, 

 with some remarks on the second. 



In the general or primary outline, variety arising from form can 

 only be considered an element of beauty when it is easy and flowing. 

 To explain which, it is necessary first to make clear the difference 

 in the effects of straight lines and curves ; for outlines can only be 

 formed by straight lines and curves, and the characteristic effects of 

 these are diametrically opposite to each other. 



A straight line is one the direction of which is always the same ; 

 whence its effect is to accumulate force upon a point. And the 

 impression produced by it will be asperity, brilliance, and power. 



A straight line by itself gives no idea but that of simple progres- 

 sion, as in the stem or bole of a plant ; and in the subjects of the 

 present inquiry can never be of a length sufficient to require further 

 notice. 



But there are two positions, in combination, in which it has con- 

 siderable power over the appearance of flowers, illustrating what has 

 been said of its impression, namely, when grouped in clusters radi- 

 ating from a centre in the form which painters call a glory ; and con- 

 trariwise, when two or more of them terminate in a point or angle 

 outwards. Both these forms are often very effective in a subordinate 

 outline, though either, if prominent, would be a marked defect in 

 the principal one. 



Lines radiating from a centre are found in many markings of 

 flowers, as in the eye of a Pansy, the colour of an Auricula (in 

 which they resemble the streamings in the arch of an aurora borea- 

 lis), and the pencillings of the back petals of a Pelargonium. Nor 

 is it of much consequence whether those lines, if they are mere lines, 

 are strictly straight, or, as is more common, wavy and involved : they 

 are more forcible if straight, and more feeble if curved ; but are for 

 the most part subject to the same remarks. In all cases the ideas 

 suggested by this form must be completely subordinated to that 

 of some other in which it is included, or it will give an idea of coarse- 

 ness, as in a veiny Pelargonium ; or of harshness, as in a very narrow- 

 striped Carnation. 



Straight lines running outwards to a centre, that is, meeting in 

 an angular point, are not infrequent in the principal outline of many 

 natural flowers, as in the pointed petal of the Auricula or Dahlia. 

 In such cases it is invariably a fault ; although in flowers destitute of 

 high properties, as the Cineraria, the defect is lessened in the same 

 ratio with the importance of the single bloom. 



