Excerpt from Iris: Studies in Colour and Talks About Flowers The subjects of the following papers are old pet children, which have grown with me since ever I began to feel and think. For I can scarcely remember the time when I was not irresistibly drawn to observe the refraction of light, and to muse on the language of colours. With flowers I have always been on the most confidential footing; they have heavenly things to tell me, and in their perfume I feel the nearness and breath of the Creator. It is true that with wine and dancing I am less familiar, but I have had the more to do with them as a student of the Bible. Down to old age, the sight of youth has served to make me young again; I have rejoiced to sun myself in those bright rays of the life eternal - alas! Too evanescent - which play on the youthful countenance. From my youth up no enjoyment has given me such delight as the love of friends. Many of these friendships have gradually faded, but, as I hope, only to bloom again like the Jericho rose of the wilderness. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.