LETTEE XXV, 



AN AMATEUR FINDS fAULT WLTH AN AURICULA. 



One of the pet flowers of amateurs is the Auricula. 

 Happy the flowers which have escaped savants and amateurs ; 

 they have not received ridiculous names; they are not 

 tormented, distorted, or subjected to a thousand whimsical 

 exip;enciesj they blossom in peace. 



The learned require that the auricula should be yellow ; if 

 • it presents itself clothed in any other colour, it is pronounced 

 a monster, as double roses are. 



Amateurs grant it permission to wear what colours it 

 pleases; but this is only an appearance of liberty. I once 

 saw an amateur in a state of fury. Some auriculas had been 

 sent to him from I don't know what country : he had culti- 

 vated them with care; he had tormented them after the 

 methods most approved of by amateurs; he had deprived 

 them of water, and more particularly of sun and earth, by 

 placing them in a pot, and as I went into his house he was 



