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their delicious perfume. They brought into the hot hard streets the
witchery of the woodlands; and no one could inhale for a moment, in
passing by, the sweet wafture of their fragrance without being
transported in imagination to far-off scenes endeared to memory, and
without a thrill of nameless tenderness at the heart. Some of the
bunches of violets I was asked to buy were of a much paler purple than
the others, and I was at no loss to explain this peculiarity. The
plants with the deep violet petals and dark crimson eye had single
blossoms, whereas those whose petals were lilac, and whose eye was of
a paler red colour, were double. Cultivation had increased the number
of petals, but it had diminished the richness of the colouring. This
is an interesting example of the impartial balancing of nature. No
object possesses every endowment. Defect in one direction is made up
by excess in another. The rose pays for its mass of beautiful petals
by its sterility; and the single violet has a lovelier hue, and is
perfectly fertile, whereas the double one is pale and cannot
perpetuate itself. And the moral lesson of this parable of nature is
not difficult to read. Leanness of soul often accompanies the
fulfilment of our earthly desires; and outward abundance often
produces selfishness and covetousness. The peculiar evil of prosperity
is discontent, dissatisfaction with present gain and a longing for
more, and a spirit of repining at the little ills and disappointments
of life. Humble, fragrant, useful contentment belongs to the soul that
has the single eye, and "the one thing needful;" and the more we seek
to double our possessions and enjoyments in the spirit of selfishness,
the less beautiful and fragrant are we in the sight of God and man,
and the less good we do in the world.

From the Piazza di Spagna I passed onward through a long street called
the Via Babuino, from an antique statue of a satyr mutilated into the
likeness of a baboon, that used to adorn a fountain about the middle
of it, now removed. More business is done on Sunday in this street
than in any other quarter, with the exception of the Corso. Here a
shop full of bright and beautiful flowers, roses, magnolias,
hyacinths, and lilies of the valley, perfumed all the air; there a
jeweller's shop displayed its tempting imitations of Etruscan
ornaments, and beads of Roman pearls, coral, lapis lazuli, and
malachite; while yonder a marble-cutter wrought diligently at