74 PREVALENCE OF YELLOW IN PLANTS. 



amidst all the varied hues of spring, yellow is the most 

 predominant in our wild and cultured plants. The prim- 

 rose, cowslip, pilewort, globe-flower, butter-cup, cher- 

 lock, crocus, all the cabbage tribe, the dandelions, ap- 

 pear in this dress. The very first butterfly, that will 



" aloft repair, 

 And sport, and flutter in the fields of air," 



\s the sulphur butterfly (gonepteryx rhamni)*which in 

 the bright sunny mornings of March we so often see 

 under the warm hedge, or by the side of some sheltered 

 copse, undulating, and vibrating like the petal of a 

 primrose in the breeze. The blossoms of many of our 

 plants afford for the decoration of the fair a vast variety 

 of colors and intermediate tints; but they are all of 

 them, or nearly so, inconstant or fugitive before the 

 light of the sun, or mutable in the dampness of the air, 

 except those obtained from yellow flowers : circumstan- 

 ces may vary the shade, but yet it is mostly permanent. 

 Yellow is again the livery of autumn, in all the shades 

 of ochre and of orange ; the " sere and yellow leaf" be- 

 comes the general cast of the season, the sober brown 

 comes next, and then decay. 



Many impressions commonly fade away and become 

 effaced as other objects create fresh sensations ; but the 

 love of nature, where the regard has been a settled 

 principle, is more permanent, and influences the feelings 

 as long as the occupations of life preserve any interest 

 in our minds. As a child, I viewed the wild field flow- 

 ers and cropped them with delight ; as a young botanist, 

 culled with rapture the various species, returning often 

 and again to my almost exhaustless treasure in the 

 copse ; and even now, in the " sere and yellow leaf," 

 when, in some mild vernal evening, I stroll through the 

 grove, see the same floral splendor which year after 

 year has been spread before me, I mark it with admira- 

 tion and surprise, find it enchanting still, and fancy the 

 present loveliness superior to all that has been before. 

 There we see that beautiful little brilliant of the earth, 

 like the name it bears (day's-eye), cheerful and pleasing 

 to all. The exquisite chasteness of mien, and form of 



* See note M, appendix. 



