130 
THE HYDRANGEA. 
of abortive flowers ; in this degree, therefore, 
it is a fit emblem of those heartless beings 
whose glory it is to raise hopes which they 
never intend to realize: without any regard 
for that “ blight of the heart,” which pro¬ 
duces those interesting singularities, “ old 
maidsfor ourselves, we can assert that we 
never see an antiquated lady of this class 
without being led into a speculation upon 
the heartlessness of the male, and the heroic 
endurance of the female, who has suffer¬ 
ed the worst of all tortures—protracted and 
disappointed hopes—and has yet hid this se¬ 
cret sorrow in her heart of hearts, and un¬ 
complainingly endured the reputation of 
coldness and heartlessness, to which her posi¬ 
tion is too often attributed; this is, indeed, 
the only modern martyrology in which we 
believe. 
