30 PROSERP1XA. 



and the Thames ; nor did I know perfectly what purple and 

 gold meant, till I saw a field of park land embroidered a foot 

 deep with king-cup and clover while I was correcting my last 

 notes on the spring colours of the Royal Academy at Ayles- 

 bury. 



9. And there are two other questions of extreme subtlety 

 connected with this main one. What shall we say of the 

 plants whose entire destiny is parasitic which are not only 

 sometimes, and impertinently, but always, and pertinently, 

 out of place ; not only out of the right place, but out of any 

 place of their own ? When is mistletoe, for instance, in the 

 right place, young ladies, think you? On an apple tree, or 

 on a ceiling ? When is ivy in the right place ? when wall- 

 flower ? The ivy has been torn down from the towers of Ken- 

 ilworth ; the weeds from the arches of the Coliseum, and from 

 the steps of the Araceli, irreverently, vilely, and in vain ; but 

 how are we to separate the creatures whose office it is to abate 

 the grief of ruin by their gentleness, 



" wafting wallflower scents 

 From out the crumbling ruins of fallen pride, 

 And chambers of transgression, now forlorn," 



from those which truly resists the toil of men, and conspire 

 against their fame ; which are cunning to consume, and pro- 

 lific to encumber ; and of whose perverse and unwelcome 

 sowing we know, and can say assuredly, " An enemy hath 

 done this." 



10. Again. The character of strength which gives preva- 

 lence over others to any common plant, is more or less con- 

 sistently dependent on woody fibre in the leaves : giving them 

 strong ribs and great expanding extent ; or spinous edges, 

 and wrinkled or gathered extent. 



Get clearly into your mind the nature of these two con- 

 ditions. When a leaf is to be spread wide, like the Burdock, 

 it is supported by a framework of extending ribs like a Gothic 

 roof. The supporting function of these is geometrical ; every 

 one is constructed like the girders of a bridge, or beams of a 

 floor, with all manner of science in the distribution of their 





