44 THE FLORIST. 



Florist a series of articles in which the principal flowers exhibited 

 during the season of 1855 should be passed under review. I regret to 

 state that no such papers from his pen will be forthcoming, notwith- 

 standing liis reiterated and apparently serious promises. The truth is, 

 that witii the return of winter my old friend's ideas have again become 

 completely stagnated, and it is utterly hopeless to look for any exercise 

 of his thinking faculties on this side of the 1st of April. 1 must con- 

 fess that I had considerable hopes of him. His housekeeper informed 

 me that he had gone so far as to purchase a quire of foolscap ; that his 

 old pens had been duly pointed, nibbeJ, and put into complete working 

 order by the parish clerk and schoolmaster ; that his desk was regularly 

 placed beforehim every evening ; and that at the end of three weeks he 

 had actually filled as many sheets of the foolscap before mentioned. This 

 precious manuscript cannot now be found, although I have, with the 

 assistance of Mrs. Stickleback, the aforesaid housekeeper, made the 

 most diligent search after it : the presumption, therefore, is, that it has 

 been destroyed. To be brief: — I called on my friend B. shortly after 

 the setting in of the first frost. I was told he had kept his bed for the 

 last three days, during which time he had slept heavily and uninter- 

 ruptedly ; but that, as he was now awake, and had just partaken of a 

 light refection, he would not, in all probability, have any indispensable 

 objection to see me. I found him with a peculiar dreamy and wandering 

 expression of countenance, half sitting up in bed, and half reclining 

 on a number of pillows of various shapes and wondrously luxurious in 

 appearance. On an ingeniously contrived table, placed upon the bed, I 

 observed the reuiains, or rather the skeleton, of a grilled chicken, and 

 two emptj/ decanters, labelled " Port" and " Sherry" respectively. He 

 vouchsafed me no greeting beyond an almost unappreciable inclination 

 of the head. After a few unimportant observations, I ventured to hint 

 the necessity of bestirring himself, adding, by way of incentive, that 

 the printer was becoming clamorous for " copy." With a considerable 

 effort he raised himself on one elbow, — looked me steadfastly in the face 

 for the space of a minute, — and then, in three emphatic words, con- 

 signed the Florist, and every person and thing thereunto pertaining, to 

 a place I do not think it necessary to indicate further than by remark- 

 ing that it is supposed to be the natural " local habitation " of the 

 printer's boy, to whom the curious reader is respectfully referred for 

 more minute particulars. Having delivered himself of his abjuration, 

 with an energy of tone and manner that both surprised and alarmed 

 me, my friend B. sank slowly back upon his pillows, and, lazily rolling 

 over on his side, fell immediately into a sleep, so profound — so appalling 

 in its intensity — that I feel persuaded nothing short of an earthquake, 

 or some other violent perturbation of nature, will arouse him, until his 

 full period of hibernation shall have been duly accomplished. 



Feeling myself, in a manner, compromised by this unseemly conduct 

 of my friend B., 1 am exerting myself to find a substitute to perform 

 the work, for the execution of which he has proved himself utterly 

 incapable. If I should be successful (and I have reason to believ^e I 

 shall be ; — though I make no promises this time) the result of my 

 endeavours shall be forwarded to the office of the Florist without 

 unnecessary delay. A. S. H. 



