




106 FLAME. 
beautiful tints which adorn the human face in 
early youth; 
The velvet down that spreads the cheek ; 
Van Spaendock himself laid down his pencil in 
despair before a bunch of lilac. Nature seems 
to have aimed to produce massy bunches of 
these flowers, every part of which should 
astonish by its delicacy and its variety. The 
gradation of colour, from the purple bud to the 
almost colourless flowers, is the least charm of 
these beautiful groups, around which the light 
plays and produces a thousand shades, which 
all blending together in the same tint, forms 
that matchless harmony which the painter 
despairs to imitate,.and the most indifferent 
observer delights to behold. What labour has 
Nature bestowed to create this fragile shrub, 
which seems only given for the gratification of 
the senses! What an union of perfume, of 
freshness, of grace, and of delicacy! What 
variety in detail! What beauty as a whole ! 
werennere 
FLAME. 
YELLOW IRIS. 
Amid its waving swords, in flaming gold 
The iris towers. C. SMITH. 
Tux Iris Germanica are rustic plants, which 
the German peasants love to grow on the tops 
