The Blackthorn^ or Sloe 



gems in a bracelet. Yet at the same 

 time there is a crisped, unfinished look 

 about their edges which we always like 

 to see, a specimen of that easy careless- 

 ness of execution which delights us in a 

 sketch by the hand of some great master. 

 Trace this from the opening buds, where 

 even from the first appearance of the 

 white we find the edge of the petal curl- 

 ing back, and rippling up into a crest, 

 giving force to the bud by raising the 

 lines which mark the disposition of its 

 contents. Instances of such carelessness 

 and want of precision and symmetry 

 abound in the animal and vegetable 

 kingdoms, but we do not find them in 

 the mineral. Thus the two sides of the 

 human face are never quite alike, and 

 there are a thousand similar lesser differ- 

 ences to be observed ; but there is 

 undeviating regularity in the most un- 

 symmetrical of crystals. We have already 

 likened the Hawthorn flowers to a little 

 ring of pearls. And many things concur 

 very beautifully in creating this resem- 

 blance. Each of the petals is remarkably 

 round. There is no sort of claw, nor 

 any of the usual tapering towards the 

 point of insertion ; and the petals scarcely 

 at all overlap each other, so that they 



73 



