l the capitals of the pure and noble
Renaissance architecture of Angelico and Perugino, and all that was learned
from them in the north, while the introduction of the rose, as a primal
element of decoration, only takes place when the luxury of English
decorated Gothic, the result of that licentious spirit in the lords which
brought on the Wars of the Roses, indicates the approach of destruction to
the feudal, artistic, and moral power of the northern nations.

For which reason, and many others, I must yet delay the following out of
our main subject, till I have answered the other question, which brought me
to pause in the middle of this chapter, namely, 'What is a weed?'

* * * * *

{106}

CHAPTER VI.

THE PARABLE OF JOASH.

1. Some ten or twelve years ago, I bought--three times twelve are
thirty-six--of a delightful little book by Mrs. Gatty, called 'Aunt Judy's
Tales'--whereof to make presents to my little lady friends. I had, at that
happy time, perhaps from four-and-twenty to six-and-thirty--I forget
exactly how many--very particular little lady friends; and greatly wished
Aunt Judy to be the thirty-seventh,--the kindest, wittiest, prettiest girl
one had ever read of, at least in so entirely proper and orthodox
literature.

2. Not but that it is a suspicious sign of infirmity of faith in our modern
moralists to make their exemplary young people always pretty; and dress
them always in the height of the fashion. One may read Miss Edgeworth's
'Harry and Lucy,' 'Frank and Mary,' 'Fashionable Tales,' or 'Parents'
Assistant,' through, from end to end, with extremest care; and never find
out whether Lucy was tall or short, nor whether Mary was dark or fair, nor
how Miss Annaly was dressed, nor--which was my own chief point of
interest--what was the colour of {107} Rosamond's eyes. Whereas Aunt Judy,
in charming position after position, is shown to have expressed all her
pure evangelical principles with the prettiest of lips; and to have had her
gown, though puritanically plain, made by one of the best modistes in
London.

3. Nevertheless, the book is wholesome and useful; and the nicest story in
it, as far as I recollect, is an inquiry into the subject which is our
present business, 'What is a weed?'--in which, by many pleasant devices,
Aunt Judy leads her little brothers and sisters to discern that a weed is
'a plant in the wrong place.'

'Vegetable' in the wrong place, by the way