INFLUENCE OF FLOWERS UPON NATIONAL LIFE. 125 



Solomon's temple. The recess or furrow ornamentation, with the 

 form of the ball flower, is found in English architecture, and 

 carved roses are found in the cathedral at Bourges. The two 

 forms of capitals resemble the forms of flowers ; the convex is 

 founded upon the great floral family with rounded cups, as the 

 rose, or water lily, while the morning glory, or trumpet-flower, 

 gives an original form for the concave. Moorish architecture, 

 of which the Alhambra is the best preserved specimen, is 

 particularly rich in arabesques of flowers, as well as other grace- 

 ful objects. John Euskin very aptly saj's, "All beautiful works 

 of art must either intentionally' imitate, or accidentallj' resemble, the 

 natural form." Flowers have been so exquisitely painted that we 

 could almost see the dew upon their petals and they have been 

 chiselled upon the finest marble Italy has produced, as well as 

 upon the rough sarcophagi of the fifteenth century, which, up to 

 that time, in Italy, had been gloom}' masses of stone, but were 

 afterwards enriched with flower-work. 



The influence of flowers upon literature has ever been very 

 marked. Able writers have so frequently alluded to this fact that it 

 is well authenticated. In the reign of Queen Anne, there had been 

 a reaction from the intense national feeling and generous loyaltj' of 

 the Elizabethan age. At this time, we find the works of a school 

 whose greatest figure is Pope, all tending to elevate the reason 

 above other qualities. As we approach the end of the eigh- 

 teenth century, a love of nature seems to be increasing, and such 

 writers as Cowper and Wordsworth, the latter of whom has 

 been termed England's greatest poet since Milton, have been 

 drawn to seek the beauties around them, and they awakened the 

 emotions of the nation by telling of the flowers which decked their 

 favorite haunts and moralizing upon them. When the national 

 life of England was marked by a disposition to make its acts dic- 

 tated altogether b}' reason, there was no room for the floricultur- 

 ist ; but when the national life is vigorous and a chance is given 

 for the emotions and imagination to be blended with the reason and 

 to have weight in forming the national policy, there is no medium 

 through which the emotions can be better trained to exert that 

 influence, than the beautiful and varied forms of the flowers. 



Allowing, then, that the highest type of national life is attained 

 when the individual life exhibits in itself a proper combination of 

 the reason and the emotions, the question aiises. How shall this 



