Early Irises 



thinks it may be identical with the form now known as 

 Melusine. Both have " died on me " here, alas : but as I 

 recall them to mind, I would gladly get cyanea again, but 

 do not wish for Melusine. Mr. Dykes in the great 

 monograph, says of it, " In the best examples the colour 

 is an approach to a light Cambridge blue." If my memory 

 is not too much affected by the weakness which makes 

 all long-past summers warm and sunny, all childish 

 haunts vast and magnificent, and in a fuller development 

 turns all passably good-looking grandmothers into noted 

 beauties of their day my cyanea was fit to compare 

 with a turquoise, and taller than all the Melusines I see 

 now. Its clear blue colouring and length of perianth 

 tube have passed into my joy of a seedling, and so far, it 

 has proved of good constitution, and has steadily increased. 

 Please note that I have said " so far," for here I must 

 make a confession. I rather pride myself on being free 

 from superstitions about most things, and have even 

 lectured at local debating societies on the inconsistency of 

 superstitious fears with a Christian belief. But I believe 

 most people, though able to make light of certain super- 

 stitions, and perhaps ready to walk under ladders, or 

 dine comfortably though one of thirteen, yet cannot quite 

 shake off some idea, probably an ingrained result of 

 nursery teaching, that it is just as well to avoid giving 

 and receiving scissors, or cutting one's nails on a Friday. 

 A curious chain of experiences in the former case, and a 

 haunting doggerel rhyme in the latter, make me weak 

 about these. My greatest weakness of all, however, takes 

 the form of an uncomfortable feeling, that the unseen 

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