446 
FLOWERS THE LEADING EMBELLISHMENTS OF ARTISTIC DESIGNS. 
In fact, the only appropriation from the garden 
is a leaf or two, but nothing could be more 
adapted for a basket of flowers, or could form a 
prettier ornament in the conservatory or 
drawing-room, to be filled with plants and 
flowers. Whether the artists consider at the 
time they design a thing, any of the uses it 
may be put to, or not, is doubtful, but the , 
most trifling alteration would make this 
do for twenty different subjects. It would 
be as good for a font or a fountain ; as beau- 
tiful in the centre of a table as the centre 
of the lawn ; and, by the same reasoning, a 
wine-cooler would be quite as good for a 
flower-pot. As an instance of this, let us 
select from the Art Journal one or two more 
cuts to illustrate this position. 
What can be more elegant, when well filled 
with a well-grown plant, than a well-propor- 
tioned ornamental pot ; and be it remembered, 
that the design for anything may be altered 
in proportions to suit any subject without 
essentially altering its character. One of the 
following designs would be excellent for a 
flower-pot, whether shortened a little, or used 
in its present form, or modified in any way. 
We may take an after opportunity of exhibiting 
some other designs of the School, with a view 
of improving some of those things which are 
in constant use, but which are common and 
tasteless, instead of being rendered appro- 
priate. At the close of this article we have 
another specimen from the School of Design ; 
and we seriously recommend all those who are 
not acquainted with the institution to seek 
information on the subject. 
It is almost impossible to think of any ar- 
ticle now, from a common bodkin to a door- 
post, from a pair of scissors to a pair of tongs, 
that is not the subject of sundry designs. 
The pattern of a snuffer-tray, and that of a 
salver, are alike the invention of many who 
try their hands at design, and we are glad to 
see so much talent engaged on subjects of no 
intrinsic value when produced, because a 
good pattern is as cheap as a bad one. Ar- 
ticles for domestic use — the poker, shovel, 
and tongs ; the teapot, the butter-boat, the 
very plate we eat from, are no longer to be 
the common patterns we have been used to. 
They are the subjects of emulation in the 
production of new but appropriate forms, and 
the Art Journal teems with engravings of 
those considered the best and the most worthy 
to be followed in the manufacture of things 
hitherto only seen as plain and as ugly as 
common prices and bad taste can make them. 
Vases for flowers, stands for flower-pots, 
garden seats, and a thousand other things, 
testify to the improved taste among our ma- 
nufactures, and the time is rapidly approach- 
ing when everything plain will be discarded. 
The present engravings are, as we have 
already said, from the Art Journal, in which 
the best novelties from the School of Design 
regularly appear, and soon will be the means 
