j6 PROSERPINA. 



number of flowers. One does not talk of 'a 

 heather'; when one says 'heath,' one means the 

 whole plant, not the blossom, — because heath-bells, 

 though they grow together for company's sake, do 

 so in a voluntary sort of way, and are not fixed 

 in their places ; and yet, they depend on each 

 other for effect, as much as a bunch of grapes. 



5. And this grouping of flowers, more or less 

 waywardly, is the most subtle part of their order, 

 and the most difficult to represent. Take that 

 cluster of bog-heather bells, for instance, Line- 

 study 1. You might think at first there were 

 no lines in it worth study ; but look at it more 

 carefully. There are twelve bells in the cluster. 

 There may be fewer, or more ; but the bog-heath 

 is apt to run into something near that number. 

 They all grow together as close as they can, and 

 on one side of the supporting branch only. The 

 natural effect would be to bend the branch down ; 

 but the branch won't have that, and so leans back 

 to carry them. Now you see the use of drawing 

 the profile in the middle figure : it shows you the 

 exactly balanced setting of the group, — not droop- 

 ing, nor erect ; but with a disposition to droop, 

 tossed up by the leaning back of the stem. Then, 

 growing as near as they can to each other, those 

 in the middle get squeezed. Here is another quite 



