IV. GIUL1ETTA. 101 



white on the nearer thorns, may well surpass the effect of 

 the plate. 



L ; .). In the following number of ' Proserpina ' I have 

 been tempted to follow, with more minute notice than 

 usual, the ' conditions of adversity ' which, as they fret the 

 thistle tribe into jagged malice, have humbled the beauty 

 of the great domestic group of the Yestals into confused 

 likenesses of the Dragonweed and Nettle : but I feel 

 every hour more and more the necessity of separating 

 the treatment of subjects in 'Proserpina' from the mi- 

 croscopic curiosities of recent botanic illustration, nor 

 shall this work close, if my strength hold, without fulfil- 

 ling in some sort, the effort begun long ago in ' Modern 

 Painters,' to interpret the grace of the larger blossoming 

 trees, and the mysteries of leafy form which clothe the 

 Swiss precipice with gentleness, and colour with softest 

 azure the rich horizons of England and Italy. 



