The Yellow Crocus 



with the rays falling straight upon it. 

 Do this with a number of specimens of 

 different ages, on dull days and on fine 

 ones, and you will not only discover 

 new beauties, but will learn the great 

 difficulty of rightly describing flower- 

 colour. Even Mr. Ruskin has fallen 

 into error here. He attacks O. W. 

 Holmes for the couplet 



"The spendthrift Crocus, thrusting through the 



mould, 

 Naked and shivering, with his cup of gold." 



The lines are evidently faulty enough. 

 The Crocus " naked and shivering"! 

 We might as well say that the flames 

 are shivering on the wintry hearth, for 

 warmth is the very essence of the flower. 

 But to assert that the Crocus is not 

 golden, but saffron, is hypercritical ; and, 

 moreover, scarcely true. It is saffron in 

 a dull light, and in a light still duller it 

 may be almost brown. But what is it 

 when placed in the unclouded sunshine, 

 the only time when the flower is fairly 

 describable as a cup ? What can we say 

 positively about the colour then ? The 

 petals are orange here and yellow there, 

 and everywhere display that shifting 

 glance which we have already described 

 2 5 



