IV. THE FLOWER. 95 



tion either of blue noses or red noses in men would 

 be improper, and develop the race improperly. The 

 word itself ' proper ' being one of which he has 

 never asked, or guessed, the meaning. And when 

 he imagined the gradation of the cloudings in 

 feathers to represent successive generation, it never 

 occurred to him to look at the much finer cloudy 

 gradations in the clouds of dawn themselves ; and 

 explain the modes of sexual preference and selec- 

 tive development which had brought them to their 

 scarlet glory, before the cock could crow thrice. 



Putting all these vespertilian speculations out of 

 our way, the human facts concerning colour are 

 briefly these. Wherever men are noble, they love 

 bright colour ; and wherever they can live healthily, 

 bright colour is given them — in sky, sea, flowers, 

 and living creatures. 



On the other hand, wherever men are ignoble 

 and sensual, they endure without pain, and at last 

 even come to like, (especially if artists,) mud-colour 

 and black, and to dislike rose-colour and white. 

 And wherever it is unhealthy for them to live, 

 the poisonousness of the place is marked by some 

 ghastly colour in air, earth, or flowers. 



There are, of course, exceptions to all such widely 

 founded laws ; there are poisonous berries of scarlet, 

 and pestilent skies that are fair. But, if we once 



