XI 



The White Lily 



BEN J ON SON calls the White Lily 

 "the plant and flower of light." 

 Why? Because of its whiteness, 

 says Leigh Hunt, in his " Imagina- 

 tion and Fancy"; also because "there is 

 a golden dawn issuing out of the White 

 Lily in the rich yellow of the stamens." 

 Yes, but is not Johnson also thinking of 

 that silvery glistening of the petals, which 

 makes them seem almost to shine with a 

 light of their own? No darkening shade, 

 no trace of richer tinting — those large 

 queenly flowers seem wholly compact of a 

 lustrous, dazzling whiteness, which gains 

 warmth from the stamens with their rich 

 orange glow. And all the rest of the plant 

 is in perfect harmony with the flowers. 

 The foliage, remarkably little stained or 

 insect bitten, has even in June the glossy, 

 vivid green which we deem peculiar to the 

 spring, and often through all the time of 

 83 



