158 



THE NATURALIST. 



fields, and the sea -side, each, of which, has its own floral inhabitants. But if 

 amongst our many readers this fasciculus of passing comments on the sweet, 

 silent, and sensitive flowers that border our daily paths, as transient gleams of 

 some lost, far-off Eden, lead to a livelier interest in, and a deeper love for 

 them, when the tumultuous city is left behind — common and low, and free 

 for all to gather, yet each a microscopic wonder and a study — we shall have 

 opened up for other minds than our own a source of pleasure so broad, so 

 pure, and compensative, that it will supply the place of missing pleasures 

 and amusements, and like the mystic sympathy of one human heart for 

 another, make even sorrow and bereavement less liable to be felt. Flowers 

 in all ages, have been cultivated by persons of leisure and taste, for the 

 beauty and variety of their forms, colours, and fragrance. While generally 

 liealthful and exhilarating, from being pursued in the open air, the culture 

 of flowers is justly considered a pure and refining recreation, which, by 

 leading to the tranquil contemplation of natural beauty, and diverting the 

 mind from gross wordly occupations, has a positively moral, and therefore 

 highly beneficial tendency. It often serves to awaken in previously listless 

 minds a spirit of inquiry respecting the great phenomena of nature, and the 

 laws of vitality, which so vividly exemplify the wisdom, and power, and 

 goodness of the Creator. This innocent recreation, too, has the advantage 

 of being alike open to the prince and the peasant, high and low—the over- 

 toiled man of business and the industrious artizan. It may be followed 

 with equal enjoyment by both sexes, and, as is well known, on every imagin- 

 able scale, from that of a single flower-pot or tiny front-plot, to the princely 

 conservatory and exquisitely varied parterre. We would have our readers 

 admire all the beauties with which culture has filled our gardens, and the 

 floral grandeurs with which they are sometimes arrayed. But while they 

 gaze with delight on the gorgeousness of such flowers as the rhododendrons, 

 we would have them listen to the poet's appeal : 



*' Dispise not thou the wild flower ! small it seems, 



And of neglected growth, and its light bells 



Hang carelessly on every passing gale ; 



Yet it is finely wrought, and colours there 



Might shame the Tyrian purple ; and it bears 



Marks of a care eternal and divine, 



Duly the dews descend to give it food ; 



The sun revives its drooping, and the showers 



Add to its beauty ; and the airs of heaven 



Are round it for delight. " 



2, Victoria Terrace, Headingley, near Leeds. 



