SECRET OF THE CHARM OF FLOWERS 141 



or secret of the expression of a flower some doubt 

 may still remain after what has been said of the 

 blue and purple-blue blossom. Such a doubt 

 ought to disappear when the reds are considered, 

 and when it is found that the expression peculiar 

 to red flowers varies infinitely in degree, and is 

 always greatest in those shades of the colour which 

 come nearest to the most beautiful flesh-tints. 



When I say " beautiful flesh-tints " I am think- 

 ing of the aesthetic pleasure which we receive from 

 the expression, the associations, of the red flower. 

 The expression which delights is in the soft and 

 delicate shades ; and in the texture which is some- 

 times like the beautiful soft skin ; but the expression 

 would exist still in the case of floral tints resem- 

 bling the unpleasant reds, or the reds which disgust 

 us, in the human face. And we most of us know 

 that these distressing hues are to be seen in some 

 flowers. I remember that I once went into a 

 florist's shop, and seeing a great mass of hard purple- 

 red cinerarias on a shelf I made some remark about 

 them. " Yes, are they not beautiful ? " said the 

 woman in the shop. " No, I loathe the sight of 

 them," I returned. " So do I ! " she said very 

 quickly, and then added that she called them beauti- 

 ful because she had to sell them. She, too, had no 



