The Purple Crocus 



Purple Crocus. Try in the same way 

 to lose yourself in one of the golden 

 cups, and you will see that the mind 

 can hardly endure to linger within the 

 walls of that burning palace : — no rest 

 or coolness is met with to refresh us 

 there. But the Purple Crocus, partly 

 from the full materials for colour-con- 

 trast afforded by its interior, partly from 

 the exceeding delicacy of tint, the lilac 

 stripes and markings, the transparent 

 veins, and the pale watery lake which 

 lies at the bottom of the cup, seems to 

 bear us away to some enchanted spot, 

 a fairyland of colour, where no shadow 

 ever falls — a land of dim eternal twilight 

 and never-fading flowers. Note, too, 

 the difference betwixt the Crocuses with 

 regard to the stigma. In the Purple 

 Crocus, where it is needed to complete 

 the harmony of the flower, it rises long 

 and flame-tipped out of the tall bundle 

 of yellow stamens. In the Yellow Cro- 

 cus, on the contrary, it is not needed 

 for any special purpose, so that the 

 stamens are left very short, and the 

 stigma is low sunk between them. 

 Notice also the curve of the outside 

 of the Purple Crocus cup in a well- 

 selected flower, and observe how quiet 

 35 



