98 FLOWERS. 



home, with a certain degree of veneration, even 

 here still retain their former feelings towards 

 them ; until by a residence in a country where 

 they constantly meet the eye, and from their pro- 

 fusion, become annoying weeds, early impressions 

 pass away, and they are regarded as valueless 

 because common. Thus we may say it is with 

 mankind, both in a civilized and savage state of 

 society ; most things are estimated for their 

 rarity. 



1 recollect, when at the Cape, riding to Con- 

 stantia ; on the road, flowers gay and magnificent 

 in colour, were passed, and I thought there 

 would be no termination either to their number 

 or variety. On arriving at that little paradise of 

 nectar, an invitation was given me to view^ the 

 garden. I accepted it with pleasure, thinking that 

 many rare specimens of the Cape Flora would 

 now be laid before me ; but such an expectation, 

 was not, however, to be realized. The beau- 

 tiful and fragrant rose, the simple pink, or the 

 brilliantly coloured carnation, the sweet scented 

 scabious, the mignonette, and the Digitalis pur- 

 purea, or Foxglove, (which latter having flowered 

 for the first time in that country was held 

 in very high estimation,) as well as many of 

 the hybrid productions so abundant in Europe, 

 were alone prized here ; the others, so much 



