THE PINK. 



which can double and triple its petals, variegate and diversify 

 its colour, does not know how to render his changes constant. 

 Thus Nature has sown in our heart the delightful germ of 

 feeling. Art and Society, in developing and cultivating this 

 germ, improve, weaken, or elevate it. A hundred causes 

 combining together can make these effects inconstant and 

 changeable ; but, notwithstanding the caprices, the errors, 

 and the incomprehensible workings of the human heart, 

 Nature ultimately brings back the feelings and opinions into 

 their proper channel. Rochefoucauld has said, " It is with 

 true love as with a spectral appearance : all the world speaks 

 of it, but few or none have seen it !" What does this fretful 

 moralist understand by true love .? Does he wish to make us 

 believe that true love is a chimera 1 No, true love lives in 

 our hearts ; but 



" J'ai vu I'amour pourtrait en divers lieux : 

 L'un le peint vieil, cruel et furieux ; 

 L'autre plus doux, enfant, aveugle, nu ; 

 Chacun le tient pour tel qu'il I'a connu 

 Par ses bienfaits ou par sa forfaiture. 

 Pour mieux au vrai ddfini sa nature, 

 C'est que chacun varie en son cerveau 

 Un dieu d'amour pour lui propre et nouveau. 

 Et qu'il y a dans les entendemens 

 D'amours autant que de sortes d'ainans." — Hercet. 



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