THE CARNATION. 81 



Gentle reader, be not alarmed ; I am not going 

 to charge him with the dreadful crimes of murder 

 or manslaughter, notwithstanding the deep scarlet 

 and crimson hues with which those flowers are 

 stained that he often holds in his hands. No ; I 

 charge him only, as a lawyer might express it, if he 

 belonged to that learned body, with certain malprac- 

 tices in his profession, which I think it my duty to 

 mention, that they may be exposed, and the authors 

 of them, when detected, held up to ridicule and con- 

 tempt. 



What I mean by all this preamble is neither more 

 nor less than this that a florist will sometimes, 

 either with a view to raise his reputation, or from 

 the more sordid motive of gain, procure from some 

 distant part of the country the favourite and admired 

 flower of another, under its true name ; he will then 

 christen it afresh, and palm it upon the public as a 

 seedling Carnation of his own. 



He will not unfrequently also substitute, in the 

 way of trade, one flower for another, seldom a better 

 for a worse, to the great disappointment and vexation 



E 5 



