THE CHEQUERED DAFFODIL 335 
we have. This effect is due to the smallness of the 
tessellated squares, since at a distance of a few feet 
the dark violet maroon kills or absorbs the bright 
delicate pink colour, and makes the entire blossom 
appear uniformly dark. 
The flower which, combining strangeness with 
beauty, comes nearest to the chequered daffodil is 
the henbane, with an exceedingly dark purple 
centre and petals a pale clouded amber yellow 
delicately veined with purple brown. But in the 
henbane the dark and pale hues are seen contrasted. 
In flowers like these, but chiefly in the chequered 
daffodil, we see that the quality of strangeness, 
which is not in itself an element of beauty, has 
yet the effect of intensifying the beauty it is 
associated with. Thus, if we consider other admired 
species—briar - rose, pink convolvulus, rock - rose, 
sea-poppy, yellow flag, bugloss, blue geranium, 
water forget-me-not, flowering rush, and grass of 
Parnassus, for example—and many more might be 
named—we see that in beauty, pure and simple, 
these equal and exceed the fritillary; yet this 
impresses us more than the others, and surprises 
us into thinking it more beautiful because its 
beauty strikes us more sharply. It is not sufficient 
to say that the sharper impression is due merely to 
the unusual appearance. I rather incline to believe 
that the source of the vivid interest excited is that 
faculty of the mind supposed to be obsolete, but 
which still faintly lives in all of us, though we may 
be unconscious of it—a faculty which sees a hidden 
