80 LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
Nature seems to have delighted in making a finished 
production of each of its delicate clusters, massive 
in itself, and yet astonishing by its variety and 
beauty. The gradation of its tints, from the first 
purplish blood to the blanching flower, is the smallest 
fascination of its charming blossoms, round which 
the rainbow seems to revel and to dissolve into a 
hundred shades and colours, which, all comming- 
ling in the general tone and hue, produce a happy 
harmony that might well baffle the painter and con- 
found the observer. 
The lilac, various in array, now white, 
Now sanguine, and her beauteous head now set 
With purple spikes pyramidal, as if, 
Which hues she most approved, she chofe thein all. 
Cowper. 
What immense pains does Nature appear to have 
taken to form this fragrant shurb, which merely 
seems to exist in order to gratify the senses ! what 
a union of perfume, grace, and delicacy ! what 
variety in details ! what harmony in the assemblage ! 
Doubtless it was destined in the decrees of Provi- 
dence to become the future bond of union between 
