IV. THE FLOWER. -Ji 



fairest, dyed purest, set in strictest rank, appointed 

 to most chosen office, there — and created by the 

 fact of this purity and function— is the flower. 



2. But created, observe, by the purity and order, 

 more than by the function. The flower exists for its 

 own sake,— not for the fruit's sake. The production 

 of the fruit is an added honour to it — is a granted 

 consolation to us for its death. But the flower is the 

 end of the seed,— not the seed of the flower. You 

 are fond of cherries, perhaps; and think that the 

 use of cherry blossom is to produce cherries. Not 

 at all. The use of cherries is to produce cherry 

 blossom ; just as the use of bulbs is to produce 

 hyacinths, — not of hyacinths to produce bulbs. 

 Nay, that the flower can multiply by bulb, or 

 root, or slip, as well as by seed, may show you 

 at once how immaterial the seed-forming function 

 is to the flower's existence. A flower is to the 

 vegetable substance what a crystal is to the 

 mineral. "Dust of sapphire," writes my friend 

 Dr. John Brown to me, of the wood hyacinths of 

 Scotland in the spring. Yes, that is so, — each bud 

 more beautiful, itself, than perfectest jewel — this, 

 indeed, jewel "of purest ray serene;" but, observe 

 you, the glory is in the purity, the serenity, the radi- 

 ance, — not in the mere continuance of the creature. 



3. It is because of its beauty that its continuance 



