TBE CARNATION-PINK 
247 
the yellow lichen^ or the verdant or grey moss^ reminds 
him of vegetation. Such a sight might bid one think of 
the old motto which accompanied a wild-flower — “ I trust 
only in heaven.” How beautiful is it in its loneliness! 
Scarce an eye meets it but that of the towering bird as 
he dashes through the air above it; yet is it as full of 
lustre as the flowers we daily see and admire. Surely it 
should arrest the eye and the thoughts of the traveller, 
as certainly as would a monument of human skill on such 
a spot. Like a lone ruin, it is a page of story, telling 
not only of the past, but the present, and reminding us 
of a Being who has reared it there, where it stands a 
memento of power and goodness. 
Thanks to the human heart by which we live, 
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys and fears, 
To me the meanest flower that blows, can give 
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears,” 
The most interesting of all our native species is the 
dove gilliflower- — the July-flower of the old writers — the 
castle pink (Dianthus caryophyllus). It is generally al- 
lowed that from this flower have been derived many of 
the bright and fragrant carnations of the garden; and 
many writers think it also the origin of the garden pink. 
It has a delicious, dove-like perfume ; and, after a shower 
of rain, its odour is borne upon the gale to some distance 
from the wall on which it grows. Its comparison with the 
carnation affords an opportunity of observing, in the lat- 
ter, the difference which may be effected in the size and 
beauty of plants by the skill of the cultivator; as few 
persons would suppose, ftom its appearance, that it had 
originated so showy a flower as that of the garden. 
The wild castle pink grows chiefly on ruins, and some- 
times crowns the lofty and crumbling wall of the old 
tower or castle. It is to be found on the walls of San- 
down Castle, near Deal, and on ruins in the neighbour- 
hood of Norwich. On the massy walls of the ancient 
castle of Rochester, “ bathed, though in ruins, with a 
flush of flowers,” it grows on heights far beyond the 
reach of the passenger, rendering the top of the ruins a 
summer garden. It blossoms in July; and there are not 
