388 Festival of the 



The day had gone by (Mr. W. said,) when the dissecting knife of the 

 economist, could be permitted to make one of its merciless cuts between 

 utility and beauty. If the progress of invention had taught us to see some- 

 thing of beauty in mere utility, — the progress of humanity had taught us, 

 also, to find a great deal of utility in mere beauty. No one, at any rate, 

 would dare to disparage the intrinsic value of beauty, before such an audi- 

 ence as he was then addressmg. 



Shakspeare had, indeed, pronounced it to be wasteful and ridiculous ex- 

 cess " to paint the lily, or throw a perfume on the violet." And so it 

 would be. Nature had displayed some master works, which man could not 

 improve. The violets had been called " sweet as the lids of Juno's eyes, 

 orCytherea's breath," and of the hlies, it had been divinely said, that 

 *' Solomon in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." Both had 

 already a grace beyond the reach of art. But to multiply the varieties of 

 fruit and flowers ; to increase their abundance, and scatter them with a 

 richer profusion along the waysides of life ; to improve their quality, and 

 coloring, and fragrance, wherever it was possible to do so ; this, the great 

 poet of Nature would have been the last person to call wasteful. Its util- 

 ity would only be questioned by those, who counted it useless, to extend 

 the range of innocent recreation and virtuous enjoyment ; useless, to 

 brighten and strengthen the chain of sympathy which binds man to man ; 

 or useless, to excite a fresher or more frequent glow of grateful admiration 

 in the human breast, towards the Giver of all good ! No one could take 

 an afternoon's ride along any part of our environs, and witness the beauti- 

 ful lawns and flower-gardens which encircle, as with emeralds and rubies, 

 the neck of our beloved city, without feeling that he was inhaling some- 

 thing better than mere fresh air and fragrant perfume, and physical health; 

 nor without mingling with other and holier feelings, a tribute of gratitude 

 to the skilful cultivators by whom these improvements had been carried on. 



Mr. W. concluded by offering the following sentiment, which he trusted 

 the late Minister to the Celestial Empire, at his elbow, would not construe 

 into any depreciation of his successful services : 



Horticulture — It has done what diplomatic negotiation and desperate valor have at- 

 tempted in vain : — it has penetrated to the very heart of the Central Flowery Kingdom, 

 and brought away its richest spoils. [Great applause.] 



The President then gave — 



Tlie Central Flowery Nation of China — We welcome the man who has united by 

 closer ties the gardens of the East and the gardens of the West. 



The Hon. Caleb Cushing replied, in a few eloquent remarks, concluding 

 as follows : — 



I am also, Mr. President, most thankful for the opportunity of gazing on a 

 spectacle like this, on the delicate and beautiful fruits and flowers before us, 

 and on their introduction on an occasion like this. All our associations of 

 beauty and taste are blended with flowers. They are our earliest tokens of 

 aflfection and regard. They adorn the bridal brow at the wedding — they 

 are woven in garlands around the head of the conqueror — they are strewn 



