242 A BOOK ABOUT THE GARDEN. 



fairest flower of its season, not only like the lady of 

 whom the lover discoursed to the shepherds 



" In form and feature Beauty's Queen, ' 



but, alike in the secondary as in the primary 

 meaning of the word, " the Pink of Fashion." Over 

 the place where the heart of " the Swell " would 

 be, were it not distributed in small parcels among 

 the belles of the ball, or bestowed in one lot upon 

 " the sweetest girl in ED gland " (how thankful we men 

 ought to be for the replicas of this picture, so exactly 

 copied, that every one is sure that he has the original!), 

 there you see the Carnation ! And the wearer walks 

 proudly on, with a swagger, which would be gorgeous, 

 overpowering, w r ere it not toned down by apprehen- 

 sions of chaff, and jubilant with two blissful delusions 

 the first that he is "the antlered monarch " of all 

 the deer in the park, and, secondly, that he has 

 secured the finest flower in London whereas it is 

 made up from two. 



I cannot say that this "Pink of Fashion" may 

 also be designated as " the mould of form." It is 

 very symmetrical and circular, as you see it on the 

 Exhibition cards, but has become so by adroit manipu- 

 lation. The petals, by the pincers, have been " long 

 drawn out ; " and heartily as I admire and gratefully 

 appreciate the skilful patient art of the florist, and his 

 wonderful success in realizing by selection, inocula- 

 tion, and hybridizing, his ideals of colour and of 

 shape, I protest against those additions, subtractions, 

 multiplications, and very vulgar fractions, whereby 



