1 4-9 ;] 



wild swamps? There is the mould in which the orchis 

 grows. Yet I am not sure but this is a fault in the 

 flower. It is not quite perfect in all its parts. A beau- 

 tiful flower must be simple, not spiked. It must have 

 a fair stem and leaves. This stem is rather naked, 

 and the leaves are for shade and moisture. It is fair- 

 est seen rising from amid brakes and hellebore, its 

 lower part or rather naked stem concealed. Where 

 the most beautiful wild-flowers grow, there man's 

 spirit is fed, and poets grow. It cannot be high-col- 

 ored, growing in the shade. Nature has taken no 

 pains to exhibit it, and few that bloom are ever seen 

 by mortal eyes. The most striking and handsome 

 large wild-flower of the year thus far that I have 

 seen. 



Journal, iv, 103, 104. 



