FLOWERS THE LEADING EMBELLISHMENTS OF ARTISTIC DESIGNS. 
445 
should think it rational, and 
rejoice that flowers were not 
at a discount ; but when we 
see the School of Design 
adopting flowers for their 
foundation, and bringing 
them in alike for all tilings, 
we have to notice it as a 
proof of the increasing love 
of the subject, and we are 
glad to adduce it as one of 
the many evidences of the 
advance of floriculture. In 
noticing this subject we have 
to glance at a useful and im- 
portant institution that is 
rapidly changing the whole 
system of our manufactures. 
The School of Design is pro- 
ducing hundreds of changes ; 
by and by we shall have ra- 
tional if not perfect designs 
for everything, and fortu- 
nately the Art Journal, one of the very best 
as well as cheapest of the periodicals, has 
taken upon itself the task of publishing all 
the better kind of designs. For some of the 
embellishments we are indebted to the pro- 
prietors of that work, who have liberally 
allowed us to take any of those relating to 
our subject, and who have in no instance 
been sparing of pains or cost to publish de- 
signs worthy of a place. One that is illus- 
trative of the disposition to make flowers form 
the principal ornament of modern subjects is 
the annexed design for a candelabrum, or pillar 
light for the table, the sideboard, or the hall 
pedestal. It is a beautifully chaste group of 
lilies, with appropriate supporters, and shows 
off to great advantage the beauty of floral 
decoration ; scarcely anything can be pro- 
cured more graceful or more manageable than 
flowers for a subject like this. There is no 
want of a second subject, although we have 
the stem supported by children, emblems of 
innocence and purity like the lilies above 
them. We need not attempt to describe a 
subject which speaks for itself, nor ought we 
to criticise all the minute parts of a flower, 
for artists like heralds will, to a certain ex- 
tent, sacrifice something for the sake of conven- 
tional notions of propriety as concerns their 
art, rather than copy the flowers from which 
they are taking their ideas. It wil be conceded 
that the design is, as a whole, very beautiful. 
In the next design, which we take from 
the same source, we have a specimen of 
another kind, well adapted for a basket of 
flowers, to form a splendid ornament for the 
hall or the; conservatory. Here the subject, 
being intended for flowers, is less indebted to 
those beautiful objects than the former one. 
