ll who care to seek them; and first, and most
generously, her loveliest of treasures, flowers, which are the
brightest of drawing-room accessories, as well as the sweetest of
cottage adornments. Sea-weed, too--which is more difficult to get, but
when arranged with taste, is so exquisite in colour--is a sweet
remembrance of sea-side beaches and the odour of the spray. Bits of
pine-bark and fir-cones are beautiful as to colour, and bring back to
us pictures of woods gleaming in the western light, and well-known
landscapes seen through vistas of tall stems; sprays of clematis and
bryony, a group of ivy-leaves, or bunch of ripe corn, require nothing
but a little graceful arrangement to throw a light of beauty over many
a dull corner. But some of these ornaments are perishable, and can but
delight us for awhile. We must have something more permanent. Ah,
then, there are shells which still echo faintly the delicious murmur
of the waves, and reflect all the colours of sea and sky together; one
or two of them we must secure: the graceful nautilus, from whose mouth
shall hang in summer some pendent blossoms; and that Venus's ear,
which glitters in the sunbeams as it lies upon the table, and bears
the impress of spirits' wings upon its inner surface. Bronzes,
marbles, and paintings can be purchased only by the wealthy, so we
will not speak of them; we will see them as often as we can in public
galleries, and meanwhile rejoice that such fine substitutes in plaster
and engraving may become ours. These are yearly becoming more common
among us; and treasures of antique and modern art, Grecian gods, and
Italian Madonnas, may be our own household delights by the expenditure
of a few shillings. Of course, to the taste and requirements of each
individual must be left the selection of the kind and character of the
beauty he desires to have around him.

Some subjects in art are best suited for enjoyment in rooms destined
for solitary use, others for those of general resort--some touch us
peculiarly in one mood, some are welcome to us in all. Of this last
character 'St Catherine borne by Angels' is a specimen: the earth
sinks beneath them, they fly so swiftly and yet so calmly! we are in
the air too with them, and mark how small the world looks, with its
burdens of wrong and suffering, as we cleave our way through the
fields of ether up towards the stars; and that lovely one the spirits
hold so tenderly, how still and calm is every line!--s