Flowers and Gardens 



the pale, sweet, inquiring faces which the 

 plant upturns towards us. Now the 

 perfection of softness of colour and the 

 perfection of this pensive expression will 

 scarcely ever be found in the same indi- 

 vidual. The largest and softest blossoms 

 are too loose and flagging : we find them 

 in over-nourished plants, and they have 

 sacrificed everything to sensuous qualities, 

 to size, and the perfection of their creamy 

 tone. The best expression must be looked 

 for in a smaller and more compact flower. 

 And it will be noticed that in some Prim- 

 roses the stigma is apparently awanting, 

 because shorter than the stamens, which 

 thus occupy the centre in its place. Now 

 the softness of the eye is mainly depen- 

 dent on the stigma ; but in spite of a 

 little harshness, there is often a strange 

 beauty in these stamen-showing flowers, 

 and I think that the finest expression I 

 have ever met with has been in some of 

 them. 



In the Primrose, as a whole, we cannot 

 help being struck by an exceeding soft- 

 ness and delicacy ; there is nothing sharp, 

 strong, or incisive; the smell is *'the 

 faintest and most ethereal perfume,'' as 

 Mrs. Stowe has called it in her Sunny 

 Memories," though she was mistaken in 



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