HABITATS OF THE CASTLE PINK. 375 



the " difficult air " of the lofty mountain-top. " Never," we 

 are told, " is it found in plain or valley ; but it is one of those 

 blossoms whose beauty gladdens the mountaineer, or bids the 

 traveller wonder that so lovely a flower should be blushing on 

 the lone summit, scarcely accessible to his footstep ; or cheer- 

 ing a rock, where only the yellow lichen, or the verdant or 

 gray moss, reminds him of vegetation. Such a sight might bid 

 one think of the old motto, which accompanied a wild flower, 

 * I trust only in Heaven.' How beautiful is it in its loneliness ! 

 Scarce an eye meets it but that of the towering bird, as he 

 dashes through the air above it, yet is it as full of lustre as the 

 flowers we daily see and admire. Surely it should arrest the 

 eye and the thoughts of the traveller as certainly as would a 

 monument of human skill on such a spot. Like a lone ruin, 

 it is a page of story, telling not only of the past, but the pre- 

 sent, and reminding us of a Being who has reared it there, 

 where it stands a memento of power and goodness." 



" Thanks to the human heart by which we live, 

 Thanks to its tenderness, its joys and fears, 

 To me the meanest flower that blows can give 

 Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." 



WORDSWORTH. 



Of greater interest, however, because a native species, and 

 more easily attained, is the Castle Pink, to which brief refer- 

 ence has already been made. Its perfume is like that of 

 precious spices, and after a shower of rain, the air, for some 

 distance, is actually interpenetrated with it. As its name 

 indicates, it loves to grow upon the shattered walls of 

 ' ' Chiefless castles breathing stern farewells ; " 



