IX 

 LILIES OF THE VALLEY AND VIOLETS 



To paint the Lily, 



To throw perfume on the Violet, 



To smooth the ice, or add another hue 



Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light, 



To seek the beauteous eye of Heaven to garnish, 



Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. 



" King John," iv. 2. 



I AM devoting a short chapter to these two beauti- 

 ful floral gems as there is little doubt that, next to 

 the Rose, and quite close upon its heels, they are the 

 most popular with the everyday flower-buyer. 

 Owing to the shortness of their stems and their 

 want of brilliant colour they are not suitable for 

 decorations on a large scale, but for the boudoir, or 

 for a writing-table in the study or drawing-room, or 

 for a lady's dressing-table, there is nothing more 

 refreshing than a little bowl of Violets, fairly thickly 

 massed, with a few spikes of Lily of the Valley 



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