; A SECRET OF THE CHARM OF FLOWERS 153 



of men." Our most common love-lies-bleeding 

 with its " dropping wells " of crimson serves to 

 remind us that there are numberless vulgar names 

 that express this resemblance and association. 

 The thought or fancy is found everywhere in 

 poetic literature, in the fables of antiquity, in 

 the tales and folk-lore of all nations, civilised 

 and savage. 



I think that we can more quickly recognise 

 this human interest in a flower, due to its colour, 

 and best appreciate its aesthetic value from this 

 cause, when we turn from the blues, purples, 

 and reds, to the whites and the yellows. The 

 feeling these last give us is distinctly different 

 in character from that produced by the others. 

 They are not Uke us, nor like any hving sentient 

 thing we are related to : there is no kinship, no 

 ' human quahty. 



When I say "no kinship, no human quaUty," 

 I refer to flowers that are entirely pure white or 

 pure yellow ; in some duU or impure yellows, and 

 in white and yellow flowers that have some tinge 

 or mixture of red or purple, we do get the ex- 

 pression of the red and purple flower. The 

 crystalline and snow white of the whitest flowers 



