OCTOBER. 241 



and always ; tlie wild Columbine, on its thread-like stem, that hangs 

 on the stony cliff; the fungus, that swells from the mouldering trunk 

 of gigantic forest-trees ; the tropical exotics of the stvffo, that almost 

 bewilder in their strange beauty; and the buds that open beneath 

 Alpine snows, address our sense of adventure, of wonder, and of gen- 

 tleness, in quiet yet persuasive appeals, that sometimes we cannot 

 choose but heed. 



The fondness of the Dutch for Tulips, it may be conjectured, is 

 partly owing to the flatness of their country, as well as its alluvial soil; 

 the absence of picturesque variety in form inducing a craving for the 

 most vivid sensations from colour. Perhaps the compactness and 

 neat growth of bulbous roots, so adapted to their cleanly and well- 

 arranged domiciles, somewhat accounts for the exquisite degree of 

 cultivation to which they bring this species of flowers. It is one 

 characteristic advantage of such natural ornaments, that a few well 

 selected, or even one in a room, or in the midst of a grass-plat, will 

 diffuse refreshment and excite imagination. Thus the flowers that 

 cluster on the roofs of Genoa, and the little knot of Violets imbedded 

 in Geranium leaves dispensed by the flower-girls in Tuscany, are 

 more pleasing than if the display were greater. "^ On revisiting a city 

 of the latter state, after years of absence, as I followed the lagging 

 porter who carried my luggage, in the twilight of early morning, I 

 was startled by a cordial exclamation, " Ben tomato, ben tornatOy 

 signore /" and looking down a narrow street, I saw the flower-girl 

 from w^hom I had so long ago been accustomed to purchase, gaily 

 advancing with a bouquet. It was a welcome such as awaits the 

 traveller in few countries, and one which touched the heart with 

 cheerful augury. 



There is, indeed, something in flowers redolent of hope and sug- 

 gestive of amity. Their very universality renders them eloquent of 

 greeting. The fair maternal bosom of Titian's Flora has a signifi- 

 cance beyond that which artists recognise ; it proclaims Nature as 

 a beneficent parent, lavishly dispensing the flowers that strew life's 

 rugged path with sweet monitions and grateful refreshment. How, 

 in the season of vivid emotion, has the unexpected sight of a })ale 

 Crocus bursting from the mould in early spring, the teeming odour of 

 a Magnolia tossed on a summer breeze, or the green flakes of a Larch 

 powdered with snowy crystal in the winter sun, kindled the very frame 

 with a kind of mysterious delight ! There is to the poetical sense a 

 ravishing prophecy and winsome intimation in flowers, that now and 

 then, from the influence of mood or circumstance, reasserts itself, like 

 the reminiscence of childhood or the spell of love. Then we realise 

 that they are the survivors of our lost paradise, the types of what 

 is spontaneous, inspiring, and unprofaned in life and humanity, the 

 harbingers of a blissful futurity. It was, therefore, in a rational as 

 well as a fanciful spirit that trees were consecrated into emblems and 

 auguries ; that the Willow, in its meek flexibility, was made the in- 

 signia of desertion ; the Cypress, in its solemn and dense foliage, of 

 death; the enduring Amaranth, of immortality; and the classic-shaped 

 and bright-green leaves of the Laurel, of fame. Not only in their 



