WILD FLOWERS. 173 



And this is the moral which may be drawn 

 from the meatiest weed, or blade, or leaf, on 

 which we gaze. We have not the original to 

 refer to, but cannot help thinking that useless 

 was not exactly the word to express MADAME 

 DE STAEL'S meaning, as she says directly after, 

 66 which, born to please," and this negatives 

 the idea of their being useless, as it implies an 

 end and a purpose, which they are to answer, 

 though not, perhaps, the highest. 



And now for the second count in the indict- 

 ment the other objectionable word which is 

 also open to the suspicion of being a mistrans- 

 lation ; that flowers disdain to serve, we strongly 

 deny. Of all the creatures and objects which 

 minister to man's wants, or pleasures, they are 

 the gentlest, the most unresisting; he may 

 crush them, trample on them, do with them as 

 he will, yet there they are, ever smiling up in 

 his face, yielding him their fragrance, their 

 nutriment, their alleviation for bodily pain, and 

 mental disquietude : 



" Oh ! tell me not the gentle flowers 

 Disdain to serve mankind. 



