FLOWERS AND FLOWER-GARDENS. 

BY

DAVID LESTER RICHARDSON, PRINCIPAL OF THE HINDU METROPOLITAN COLLEGE, AND AUTHOR OF "LITERARYLEAVES, " "LITERARY RECREATIONS, " &C. 

WITH AN APPENDIX OF

PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS AND USEFUL INFORMATION RESPECTING THEANGLO-INDIAN FLOWER-GARDEN. 

CALCUTTA:

MDCCCLV. 

PREFACE. 

 In every work regard the writer's end, Since none can compass more than they intend. 

_Pope_. 

This volume is far indeed from being a scientific treatise _On Flowersand Flower-Gardens_:--it is mere gossip in print upon a pleasantsubject. But I hope it will not be altogether useless. If I succeed inmy object I shall consider that I have gossipped to some purpose. Onseveral points--such as that of the mythology and language of flowers--Ihave said a good deal more than I should have done had I been writingfor a different community. I beg the London critics to bear this inmind. I wished to make the subject as attractive as possible to someclasses of people here who might not have been disposed to pay anyattention to it whatever if I had not studied their amusement as much astheir instruction. I have tried to sweeten the edge of the cup. 

I did not at first intend the book to exceed fifty pages: but I wasalmost insensibly carried on further and further from the proposed limitby the attractive nature of the materials that pressed upon my notice. As by far the largest portion, of it has been written hurriedly, amidstother avocations, and bit by bit; just as the Press demanded anadditional supply of "_copy_, " I have but too much reason to apprehendthat it will seem to many of my readers, fragmentary and ill-connected. Then again, in a city like Calcutta, it is not easy to prepare any thingsatisfactorily that demands much literary or scientific research. Thereare very many volumes in all the London Catalogues, but not immediatelyobtainable in Calcutta, that I should have been most eager to refer tofor interesting and valuable information, if they had been at hand. Themere titles of these books have often tantalized me with visions ofriches beyond my reach. I might indeed have sent for some of these fromEngland, but I had announced this volume, and commenced the printing ofit, before it occurred to me that it would be advisable to extend thematter beyond the limits I had originally contemplated. I must now sendit forth, "with all its imperfections on its head;" but not without thehope that in spite of these, it will be found calculated to increase thetaste amongst my brother exiles here for flowers and flower-gardens, andlead many of my Native friends--(particularly those who have beeneducated at the Government Colleges, --who have imbibed some Englishthoughts and feelings--and who are so fortunate as to be in possessionof landed property)--to improve their parterres, --and set an example totheir poorer countrymen of that neatness and care and cleanliness andorder which may make even the peasant's cottage and the smallest plot ofground assume an aspect of comfort, and afford a favorable indication ofthe character of the possessor. 

D. L. R. 

_Calcutta, September 21st_ 1855. 

ERRATA. 

A friend tells me that the allusion to the Acanthus on the first page ofthis book is obscurely expressed, that it was not the _root_ but the_leaves_ of the plant that suggested the idea of the Corinthian capital. The root of the Acanthus produced the leaves which overhanging the sidesof the basket struck the fancy of the Architect. This was, indeed, whatI _meant_ to say, and though I have not very lucidly expressed myself, Istill think that some readers might have understood me rightly evenwithout the aid of this explanation, which, however, it is as well forme to give, as I wish to be intelligible to _all_. A writer shouldendeavor to make it impossible for any one to misapprehend his meaning, though there are some writers of high name both in England and Americawho seem to delight in puzzling their readers. 

At the bottom of page 200, allusion is made to the dotted lines at someof the open turns in the engraved labyrinth. By some accident or mistakethe dots have been omitted, but any one can understand where the stophedges which the dotted lines indicated might be placed so as to givethe wanderer in the maze, additional trouble to find his way out of it. 

[Illustration of a garden. ]

ON FLOWERS AND FLOWER-GARDENS, For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. 

_The Song of Solomon_. 

 * * * * *

 These are thy glorious works, Parent of good! Almighty, Thine this universal frame, Thus wondrous fair; Thyself how wondrous then!

_Milton_. 

 * * * * *

 Soft roll your incense, herbs and fruits and flowers, In mingled clouds to HIM whose sun exalts Whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints. 

_Thomson_. 

A taste for floriculture is spreading amongst Anglo-Indians. It is agood sign. It would be gratifying to learn that the same refining tastehad reached the Natives also--even the lower classes of them. It is acheap enjoyment. A mere palm of ground may be glorified by a few radiantblossoms. A single clay jar of the rudest form may be so enriched andbeautified with leaves and blossoms as to fascinate the eye of taste. Anold basket, with a broken tile at the top of it, and the root of theacanthus within, produced an effect which seemed to Calimachus, thearchitect, "the work of the Graces. " It suggested the idea of thecapital of the Corinthian column, the most elegant architecturalornament that Art has yet conceived. 

Flowers are the poor man's luxury; a refinement for the uneducated. Ithas been prettily said that the melody of birds is the poor man's music, and that flowers are the poor man's poetry. They are "a discipline ofhumanity, " and may sometimes ameliorate even a coarse and vulgar nature, just as the cherub faces of innocent and happy children are sometimesfound to soften and purify the corrupted heart. It would be a delightfulthing to see the swarthy cottagers of India throwing a cheerful grace ontheir humble sheds and small plots of ground with those naturalembellishments which no productions of human skill can rival. 

The peasant who is fond of flowers--if he begin with but a dozen littlepots of geraniums and double daisies upon his window sills, or with ahoneysuckle over his humble porch--gradually acquires a habit, not onlyof decorating the outside of his dwelling and of cultivating with carehis small plot of ground, but of setting his house in order within, andmaking every thing around him agreeable to the eye. A love ofcleanliness and neatness and simple ornament is a moral feeling. Thecountry laborer, or the industrious mechanic, who has a little garden tobe proud of, the work of his own hand, becomes attached to his place ofresidence, and is perhaps not only a better subject on that account, buta better neighbour--a better man. A taste for flowers is, at all events, infinitely preferable to a taste for the excitements of the pot-house orthe tavern or the turf or the gaming table, or even the festal board, especially for people of feeble health--and above all, for the poor--whoshould endeavor to satisfy themselves with inexpensive pleasures. [001]

In all countries, civilized or savage, and on all occasions, whether ofgrief or rejoicing, a natural fondness for flowers has been exhibited, with more or less tenderness or enthusiasm. They beautify religiousrites. They are national emblems: they find a place in the blazonry ofheraldic devices. They are the gifts and the language of friendship andof love. 

Flowers gleam in original hues from graceful vases in almost everydomicile where Taste presides; and the hand of "nice Art" charms us with"counterfeit presentments" of their forms and colors, not only on theliving canvas, but even on our domestic China-ware, and our mahoganyfurniture, and our wall-papers and hangings and carpets, and on ourrichest apparel for holiday occasions and our simplest garments fordaily wear. Even human Beauty, the Queen of all loveliness on earth, engages Flora as her handmaid at the toilet, in spite of the dictum ofthe poet of 'The Seasons, ' that "Beauty when unadorned is adorned themost. "

Flowers are hung in graceful festoons both in churches and in ball-rooms. They decorate the altar, the bride-bed, the cradle, and the bier. They grace festivals, and triumphs, and processions; and cast a glory ongala days; and are amongst the last sad honors we pay to the objects ofour love. 

I remember the death of a sweet little English girl of but a year old, over whom, in her small coffin, a young and lovely mother sprinkled thefreshest and fairest flowers. The task seemed to soften--perhaps tosweeten--her maternal grief. I shall never forget the sight. Thebright-hued blossoms seemed to make her oblivious for a moment of thedarkness and corruption to which she was so soon to consign her pricelesstreasure. The child's sweet face, even in death, reminded me that theflowers of the field and garden, however lovely, are all outshone byhuman beauty. What floral glory of the wild-wood, or what queen of theparterre, in all the pride of bloom, laughing in the sun-light ordancing in the breeze, hath a charm that could vie for a single momentwith the soft and holy lustre of that motionless and faded human lily? Inever more deeply felt the force of Milton's noble phrase "_the humanface divine_" than when gazing on that sleeping child. The fixed placidsmile, the smoothly closed eye with its transparent lid, the air ofprofound tranquillity, the simple purity (elevated into an aspect ofbright intelligence, as if the little cherub already experienced thebeatitude of another and a better world, ) were perfectly angelic--andmocked all attempt at description. "Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven!"

O flower of an earthly spring! destined to blossom in the eternalsummer of another and more genial region! Loveliest of lovelychildren--loveliest to the last! More beautiful in death than aughtstill living! Thou seemest now to all who miss and mourn thee but a sweetname--a fair vision--a precious memory;--but in reality thou art a moretruly living thing than thou wert before or than aught thou hast leftbehind. Thou hast come early into a rich inheritance. Thou hast now asubstantial existence, a genuine glory, an everlasting possession, beyondthe sky. Thou hast exchanged the frail flowers that decked thy bier foramaranthine hues and fragrance, and the brief and uncertain delights ofmortal being for the eternal and perfect felicity of angels!

I never behold elsewhere any of the specimens of the several varietiesof flowers which the afflicted parent consigned to the hallowed littlecoffin without recalling to memory the sainted child taking her lastrest on earth. The mother was a woman of taste and sensibility, of highmind and gentle heart, with the liveliest sense of the loveliness of alllovely things; and it is hardly necessary to remind the reader how muchrefinement such as hers may sometimes alleviate the severity of sorrow. 

Byron tells us that the stars are

 A beauty and a mystery, and create In us such love and reverence from afar That fortune, fame, power, life, have named themselves _a star_. 

But might we not with equal justice say that every thing excellent andbeautiful and precious has named itself _a flower_?

If stars teach as well as shine--so do flowers. In "still small accents"they charm "the nice and delicate ear of thought" and sweetly whisperthat "the hand that made them is divine. "

The stars are the poetry of heaven--the clouds are the poetry of themiddle sky--the flowers are the poetry of the earth. The last is theloveliest to the eye and the nearest to the heart. It is incomparablythe sweetest external poetry that Nature provides for man. Itsattractions are the most popular; its language is the most intelligible. It is of all others the best adapted to every variety and degree ofmind. It is the most endearing, the most familiar, the most homefelt, and congenial. The stars are for the meditation of poets andphilosophers; but flowers are not exclusively for the gifted or thescientific; they are the property of all. They address themselves to ourcommon nature. They are equally the delight of the innocent littleprattler and the thoughtful sage. Even the rude unlettered rusticbetrays some feeling for the beautiful in the presence of the lovelylittle community of the field and garden. He has no sympathy for thestars: they are too mystical and remote. But the flowers as they blushand smile beneath his eye may stir the often deeply hidden lovingnessand gentleness of his nature. They have a social and domestic aspect towhich no one with a human heart can be quite indifferent. Few can doatupon the distant flowers of the sky as many of us doat upon the flowersat our feet. The stars are wholly independent of man: not so the sweetchildren of Flora. We tend upon and cherish them with a parental pride. They seem especially meant for man and man for them. They often need hiskindest nursing. We place them with guardian hand in the brightest lightand the most wholesome air. We quench with liquid life their sun-raisedthirst, or shelter them from the wintry blast, or prepare and enrichtheir nutritious beds. As they pine or prosper they agitate us withtender anxieties, or thrill us with exultation and delight. In thelittle plot of ground that fronts an English cottage the flowers arelike members of the household. They are of the same family. They arealmost as lovely as the children that play with them--though their happyhuman associates may be amongst

 The sweetest things that ever grew Beside a human door. 

The Greeks called flowers the _Festival of the eye_: and so they are:but they are something else, and something better. 

 A flower is not a flower alone, A thousand sanctities invest it. 

Flowers not only touch the heart; they also elevate the soul. They bindus not entirely to earth; though they make earth delightful. Theyattract our thoughts downward to the richly embroidered ground only toraise them up again to heaven. If the stars are the scriptures of thesky, the flowers are the scriptures of the earth. If the stars are amore glorious revelation of the Creator's majesty and might, the flowersare at least as sweet a revelation of his gentler attributes. It hasbeen observed that

 An undevout astronomer is mad. 

The same thing may be said of an irreverent floriculturist, and withequal truth--perhaps indeed with greater. For the astronomer, in somecases, may be hard and cold, from indulging in habits of thought tooexclusively mathematical. But the true lover of flowers has alwayssomething gentle and genial in his nature. He never looks upon hisfloral-family without a sweetened smile upon his face and a softenedfeeling in his heart; unless his temperament be strangely changed andhis mind disordered. The poets, who, speaking generally, areconstitutionally religious, are always delighted readers of theflower-illumined pages of the book of nature. One of these disciples ofFlora earnestly exclaims:

 Were I, O God, in churchless lands remaining Far from all voice of teachers and divines, My soul would find in flowers of thy ordaining Priests, sermons, shrines

The popular little preachers of the field and garden, with their lovelyfaces, and angelic language--sending the while such ambrosial incense upto heaven--insinuate the sweetest truths into the human heart. They leadus to the delightful conclusion that beauty is in the list ofthe _utilities_--that the Divine Artist himself is _a lover ofloveliness_--that he has communicated a taste for it to his creaturesand most lavishly provided for its gratification. 

 Not a flower But shows some touch, in freckle, streak or stain, Of His unrivalled pencil. He inspires Their balmy odours, and imparts then hues, And bathes their eyes with nectar, and includes In grains as countless as the sea side sands The forms with which he sprinkles all the earth. 

_Cowper_. 

In the eye of Utilitarianism the flowers are but idle shows. God mightindeed have made this world as plain as a Quaker's garment, withoutretrenching one actual necessary of physical existence; but He haschosen otherwise; and no earthly potentate was ever so richly clad ashis mother earth. "Behold the lilies of the field, they spin not, neither do they toil, yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed likeone of these!" We are thus instructed that man was not meant to live bybread alone, and that the gratification of a sense of beauty is equallyinnocent and natural and refining. The rose is permitted to spread itssweet leaves to the air and dedicate its beauty to the sun, in a waythat is quite perplexing to bigots and stoics and political economists. Yet God has made nothing in vain! The Great Artist of the Universe musthave scattered his living hues and his forms of grace over the surfaceof the earth for some especial and worthy purpose. When Voltaire wascongratulated on the rapid growth of his plants, he observed that "_theyhad nothing else to do_. " Oh, yes--they had something else to do, --theyhad to adorn the earth, and to charm the human eye, and through the eyeto soften and cheer the heart and elevate the soul!

I have often wished that Lecturers on Botany, instead of confining theirinstructions to the mere physiology, or anatomy, or classification ornomenclature of their favorite science, would go more into the poetryof it, and teach young people to appreciate the moral influences of thefloral tribes--to draw honey for the human heart from the sweet breastsof flowers--to sip from their radiant chalices a delicious medicine forthe soul. 

Flowers are frequently hallowed by associations far sweeter than theirsweetest perfume. "I am no botanist:" says Southey in a letter to WalterSavage Landor, "but like you, my earliest and best recollections areconnected with flowers, and they always carry me back to other days. Perhaps this is because they are the only things which affect our sensesprecisely as they did in our childhood. The sweetness of the violet isalways the same; and when you rifle a rose and drink, as it were, itsfragrance, the refreshment is the same to the old man as to the boy. Sounds recal the past in the same manner, but they do not bring withthem individual scenes like the cowslip field, or the corner of thegarden to which we have transplanted field-flowers. "

George Wither has well said in commendation of his Muse:

 Her divine skill taught me this; That from every thing I saw I could some instruction draw, And raise pleasure to the height By the meanest object's sight, By the murmur of a spring _Or the least bough's rustelling; By a daisy whose leaves spread Shut, when Titan goes to bed; Or a shady bush or tree_, She could more infuse in me Than all Nature's beauties can In some other wiser man. 

We must not interpret the epithet _wiser_ too literally. Perhaps thepoet speaks ironically, or means by some other _wiser man_, one alliedin character and temperament to a modern utilitarian Philosopher. Wordsworth seems to have had the lines of George Wither in his mind whenhe said

 Thanks to the human heart by which we live, Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears, To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. 

Thomas Campbell, with a poet's natural gallantry, has exclaimed, Without the smile from partial Beauty won, Oh! what were man?--a world without a sun!

Let a similar compliment be presented to the "painted populace thatdwell in fields and lead ambrosial lives. " What a desert were this scenewithout its flowers--it would be like the sky of night without itsstars! "The disenchanted earth" would "lose her lustre. " Stars of theday! Beautifiers of the world! Ministrants of delight! Inspirers ofkindly emotions and the holiest meditations! Sweet teachers of theserenest wisdom! So beautiful and bright, and graceful, and fragrant--itis no marvel that ye are equally the favorites of the rich and the poor, of the young and the old, of the playful and the pensive!

Our country, though originally but sparingly endowed with the livingjewelry of nature, is now rich in the choicest flowers of all othercountries. 

 Foreigners of many lands, They form one social shade, as if convened By magic summons of the Orphean lyre. 

_Cowper_. 

These little "foreigners of many lands" have been so skilfullyacclimatized and multiplied and rendered common, that for a fewshillings an English peasant may have a parterre more magnificent thanany ever gazed upon by the Median Queen in the hanging gardens ofBabylon. There is no reason, indeed, to suppose that even the firstparents of mankind looked on finer flowers in Paradise itself than areto be found in the cottage gardens that are so thickly distributed overthe hills and plains and vallies of our native land. 

 The red rose, is the red rose still, and from the lily's cup An odor fragrant as at first, like frankincense goes up. 

_Mary Howitt_. 

Our neat little gardens and white cottages give to dear old England thatlovely and cheerful aspect, which is so striking and attractive to herforeign visitors. These beautiful signs of a happy political securityand individual independence and domestic peace and a love of order and ahomely refinement, are scattered all over the land, from sea to sea. When Miss Sedgwick, the American authoress, visited England, nothing somuch surprised and delighted her as the gay flower-filled gardens of ourcottagers. Many other travellers, from almost all parts of the world, have experienced and expressed the same sensations on visiting ourshores, and it would be easy to compile a voluminous collection of theirpublished tributes of admiration. To a foreign visitor the whole countryseems a garden--in the words of Shakespeare--"a _sea-walled garden_. "

In the year 1843, on a temporary return to England after a long Indianexile, I travelled by railway for the first time in my life. As I glidedon, as smoothly as in a sledge, over the level iron road, with suchmagical rapidity--from the pretty and cheerful town of Southampton tothe greatest city of the civilized world--every thing was new to me, andI gave way to child-like wonder and child-like exultation. [002] What aquick succession of lovely landscapes greeted the eye on either side?What a garden-like air of universal cultivation! What beautiful smoothslopes! What green, quiet meadows! What rich round trees, brooding overtheir silent shadows! What exquisite dark nooks and romantic lanes! Whatan aspect of unpretending happiness in the clean cottages, with theirlittle trim gardens! What tranquil grandeur and rural luxury in thenoble mansions and glorious parks of the British aristocracy! How thelove of nature thrilled my heart with a gentle and delicious agitation, and how proud I felt of my dear native land! It is, indeed, a fine thingto be an Englishman. Whether at home or abroad, he is made conscious ofthe claims of his country to respect and admiration. As I fed my eyes onthe loveliness of Nature, or turned to the miracles of Art and Scienceon every hand, I had always in my mind a secret reference to the effectwhich a visit to England must produce upon an intelligent and observantforeigner. 

 Heavens! what a goodly prospect spreads around Of hills and dales and woods and lawns and spires, And glittering towns and gilded streams, 'till all The stretching landscape into smoke decays! Happy Brittannia! where the Queen of Arts, Inspiring vigor, Liberty, abroad Walks unconfined, even to thy farthest cots, And scatters plenty with unsparing hand. 

_Thomson_. 

And here let me put in a word in favor of the much-abused Englishclimate. I cannot echo the unpatriotic discontent of Byron when hespeaks of

 The cold and cloudy clime Where he was born, but where he would not die. 

Rather let me say with the author of "_The Seasons_, " in his address toEngland. 

 Rich is thy soil and merciful thy clime. 

King Charles the Second when he heard some foreigners condemning ourclimate and exulting in their own, observed that in his opinion that wasthe best climate in which a man could be out in the open air withpleasure, or at least without trouble and inconvenience, the most daysof the year and the most hours of the day; and this he held was the casewith the climate of England more than that of any other country inEurope. To say nothing of the lovely and noble specimens of human natureto which it seems so congenial, I may safely assert that it ispeculiarly favorable, with, rare exceptions, to the sweet children ofFlora. There is no country in the world in which there are at this daysuch innumerable tribes of flowers. There are in England two thousandvarieties of the rose alone, and I venture to express a doubt whetherthe richest gardens of Persia or Cashmere could produce finer specimensof that universal favorite than are to be found in some of the small buthighly cultivated enclosures of respectable English rustics. 

The actual beauty of some of the commonest flowers in our gardens can bein no degree exaggerated--even in the daydreams of the most inspiredpoet. And when the author of Lalla Rookh talks so musically andpleasantly of the fragrant bowers of Amberabad, the country of Delight, a Province in Jinnistan or Fairy Land, he is only thinking of theshrubberies and flower-beds at Sloperton Cottage, and the green hillsand vales of Wiltshire. 

Sir William Temple observes that "besides the temper of our climatethere are two things particular to us, that contribute much to thebeauty and elegance of our gardens--which are, _the gravel of our walksand the fineness and almost perpetual greenness of our turf_. "

"The face of England is so beautiful, " says Horace Walpole, "that I donot believe that Tempe or Arcadia was half so rural; for both lying inhot climates must have wanted _the moss of our gardens_. " Meyer, aGerman, a scientific practical gardener, who was also a writer ongardening, and had studied his art in the Royal Gardens at Paris, andafterwards visited England, was a great admirer of English Gardens, butdespaired of introducing our style of gardening into Germany, _chieflyon account of its inferior turf for lawns_. "Lawns and gravel walks, "says a writer in the _Quarterly Review_, "are the pride of EnglishGardens, " "The smoothness and verdure of our lawns, " continues the samewriter, "is the first thing in our gardens that catches the eye of aforeigner; the next is the fineness and firmness of our gravel walks. "Mr. Charles Mackintosh makes the same observation. "In no other countryin the world, " he says, "do such things exist. " Mrs. Stowe, whose _UncleTom_ has done such service to the cause of liberty in America, on hervisit to England seems to have been quite as much enchanted with ourscenery, as was her countrywoman, Miss Sedgwick. I am pleased to findMrs. Stowe recognize the superiority of English landscape-gardening andof our English verdure. She speaks of, "the princely art oflandscape-gardening, for which England is so famous, " and of "_vistas ofverdure and wide sweeps of grass, short, thick, and vividly green_ as thevelvet moss sometimes seen growing on rocks in new England. " "Grass, " sheobserves, "is an art and a science in England--it is an institution. Thepains that are taken in sowing, tending, cutting, clipping, rolling andotherwise nursing and coaxing it, being seconded by the often-fallingtears of the climate, produce results which must be seen to beappreciated. " This is literally true: any sight more inexpressiblyexquisite than that of an English lawn in fine order is what I am quiteunable to conceive. [003]

I recollect that in one of my visits to England, (in 1827) I attemptedto describe the scenery of India to William Hazlitt--not the living sonbut the dead father. Would that he were still in the land of the livingby the side of his friend Leigh Hunt, who has been pensioned by theGovernment for his support of that cause for which they were both sobitterly persecuted by the ruling powers in days gone by. I flatteredmyself into the belief that Hazlitt was interested in some of mydescriptions of Oriental scenes. What moved him most was an account ofthe dry, dusty, burning, grassless plains of Bundelcund in the hotseason. I told him how once while gasping for breath in a hot verandahand leaning over the rails I looked down upon the sun-baked ground. 

 "A change came o'er the spirit of my dream. "

I suddenly beheld with all the distinctness of reality the rich, cool, green, unrivalled meads of England. But the vision soon melted away, andI was again in exile. I wept like a child. It was like a beautifulmirage of the desert, or one of those waking dreams of home which havesometimes driven the long-voyaging seaman to distraction and urged himby an irresistible impulse to plunge headlong into the ocean. 

When I had once more crossed the wide Atlantic--and (not by thenecromancy of imagination but by a longer and more tedious transit)found myself in an English meadow, --I exclaimed with the poet, Thou art free My country! and 'tis joy enough and pride For one hour's perfect bliss, _to tread the grass Of England once again_. 

I felt my childhood for a time renewed, and was by no means disposed tosecond the assertion that

 "Nothing can bring back the hour Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower. "

I have never beheld any thing more lovely than scenerycharacteristically English; and Goldsmith, who was something of atraveller, and had gazed on several beautiful countries, was justifiedin speaking with such affectionate admiration of our still morebeautiful England, Where lawns extend that scorn Arcadian pride. 

It is impossible to put into any form of words the faintestrepresentation of that delightful summer feeling which, is excited infine weather by the sight of the mossy turf of our country. It is sweetindeed to go, Musing through the _lawny_ vale:

alluded to by Warton, or over Milton's "level downs, " or to climb upThomson's

 Stupendous rocks That from the sun-redoubling valley lift Cool to the middle air their _lawny_ tops. 

It gives the Anglo-Indian Exile the heart-ache to think of theseramblings over English scenes. 

ENGLAND. 

 Bengala's plains are richly green, Her azure skies of dazzling sheen, Her rivers vast, her forests grand. Her bowers brilliant, --but the land, Though dear to countless eyes it be, And fair to mine, hath not for me The charm ineffable of _home_; For still I yearn to see the foam Of wild waves on thy pebbled shore, Dear Albion! to ascend once more Thy snow-white cliffs; to hear again The murmur of thy circling main-- To stroll down each romantic dale Beloved in boyhood--to inhale Fresh life on green and breezy hills-- To trace the coy retreating rills-- To see the clouds at summer-tide Dappling all the landscape wide-- To mark the varying gloom and glow As the seasons come and go-- Again the green meads to behold Thick strewn with silvery gems and gold, Where kine, bright-spotted, large, and sleek, Browse silently, with aspect meek, Or motionless, in shallow stream Stand mirror'd, till their twin shapes seem, Feet linked to feet, forbid to sever, By some strange magic fixed for ever. 

 And oh! once more I fain would see (Here never seen) a poor man _free_, [004] And valuing more an humble name, But stainless, than a guilty fame, How sacred is the simplest cot, Where Freedom dwells!--where she is not How mean the palace! Where's the spot She loveth more than thy small isle, Queen of the sea? Where hath her smile So stirred man's inmost nature? Where Are courage firm, and virtue fair, And manly pride, so often found As in rude huts on English ground, Where e'en the serf who slaves for hire May kindle with a freeman's fire?

 How proud a sight to English eyes Are England's village families! The patriarch, with his silver hair, The matron grave, the maiden fair. The rose-cheeked boy, the sturdy lad, On Sabbath day all neatly clad:-- Methinks I see them wend their way On some refulgent morn of May, By hedgerows trim, of fragrance rare, Towards the hallowed House of Prayer!

 I can love _all_ lovely lands, But England _most_; for she commands. As if she bore a parent's part, The dearest movements of my heart; And here I may not breathe her name. Without a thrill through all my frame. 

 Never shall this heart be cold To thee, my country! till the mould (Or _thine_ or _this_) be o'er it spread. And form its dark and silent bed. I never think of bliss below But thy sweet hills their green heads show, Of love and beauty never dream. But English faces round me gleam!

D. L. R. 

I have often observed that children never wear a more charming aspectthan when playing in fields and gardens. In another volume I haverecorded some of my impressions respecting the prominent interestexcited by these little flowers of humanity in an English landscape. 

 * * * * *

THE RETURN TO ENGLAND. 

When I re-visited my dear native country, after an absence of many wearyyears, and a long dull voyage, my heart was filled with unutterabledelight and admiration. The land seemed a perfect paradise. It was inthe spring of the year. The blue vault of heaven--the clearatmosphere--the balmy vernal breeze--the quiet and picturesque cattle, browsing on luxuriant verdure, or standing knee deep in a crystallake--the hills sprinkled with snow-white sheep and sometimes partiallyshadowed by a wandering cloud--the meadows glowing with golden butter-cupsand be-dropped with daisies--the trim hedges of crisp and sparklingholly--the sound of near but unseen rivulets, and the songs offoliage-hidden birds--the white cottages almost buried amidst trees, likehappy human nests--the ivy-covered church, with its old grey spire"pointing up to heaven, " and its gilded vane gleaming in the light--thesturdy peasants with their instruments of healthy toil--the white-cappedmatrons bleaching their newly-washed garments in the sun, and throwingthem like snow-patches on green slopes, or glossy garden shrubs--thesun-browned village girls, resting idly on their round elbows at smallopen casements, their faces in sweet keeping with the trellisedflowers:--all formed a combination of enchantments that would mock thehappiest imitative efforts of human art. But though the bare enumerationof the details of this English picture, will, perhaps, awaken many dearrecollections in the reader's mind, I have omitted by far the mostinteresting feature of the whole scene--_the rosy children, loiteringabout the cottage gates, or tumbling gaily on the warm grass_. [005][006]

Two scraps of verse of a similar tendency shall follow this prosedescription:--

AN ENGLISH LANDSCAPE. 

 I stood, upon an English hill, And saw the far meandering rill, A vein of liquid silver, run Sparkling in the summer sun; While adown that green hill's side, And along the valley wide, Sheep, like small clouds touched with light, Or like little breakers bright, Sprinkled o'er a smiling sea, Seemed to float at liberty. 

 Scattered all around were seen, White cots on the meadows green. Open to the sky and breeze, Or peeping through the sheltering trees, On a light gate, loosely hung, Laughing children gaily swung; Oft their glad shouts, shrill and clear, Came upon the startled ear. Blended with the tremulous bleat, Of truant lambs, or voices sweet, Of birds, that take us by surprise, And mock the quickly-searching eyes. 

 Nearer sat a fair-haired boy, Whistling with a thoughtless joy; A shepherd's crook was in his hand, Emblem of a mild command; And upon his rounded cheek Were hues that ripened apples streak. Disease, nor pain, nor sorrowing, Touched that small Arcadian king; His sinless subjects wandered free-- Confusion without anarchy. Happier he upon his throne. The breezy hill--though all alone-- Than the grandest monarchs proud Who mistrust the kneeling crowd. 

 On a gently rising ground, The lovely valley's farthest bound, Bordered by an ancient wood, The cots in thicker clusters stood; And a church, uprose between, Hallowing the peaceful scene. Distance o'er its old walls threw A soft and dim cerulean hue, While the sun-lit gilded spire Gleamed as with celestial fire!

 I have crossed the ocean wave, Haply for a foreign grave; Haply never more to look On a British hill or brook; Haply never more to hear Sounds unto my childhood dear; Yet if sometimes on my soul Bitter thoughts beyond controul Throw a shade more dark than night, Soon upon the mental sight Flashes forth a pleasant ray Brighter, holier than the day; And unto that happy mood All seems beautiful and good. 

D. L. R. 

LINES TO A LADY, WHO PRESENTED THE AUTHOR WITH SOME ENGLISH FRUITS AND FLOWERS. 

 Green herbs and gushing springs in some hot waste Though, grateful to the traveller's sight and taste, Seem far less sweet and fair than fruits and flowers That breathe, in foreign lands, of English bowers. 

 Thy gracious gift, dear lady, well recalls Sweet scenes of home, --the white cot's trellised walls-- The trim red garden path--the rustic seat-- The jasmine-covered arbour, fit retreat For hearts that love repose. Each spot displays Some long-remembered charm. In sweet amaze I feel as one who from a weary dream Of exile wakes, and sees the morning beam Illume the glorious clouds of every hue That float o'er scenes his happy childhood knew. 

 How small a spark may kindle fancy's flame And light up all the past! The very same Glad sounds and sights that charmed my heart of old Arrest me now--I hear them and behold. 

 Ah! yonder is the happy circle seated Within, the favorite bower! I am greeted With joyous shouts; my rosy boys have heard A father's voice--their little hearts are stirred With eager hope of some new toy or treat And on they rush, with never-resting feet!

 * * * * *

 Gone is the sweet illusion--like a scene Formed by the western vapors, when between The dusky earth, and day's departing light The curtain falls of India's sudden night. 

D. L. R. 

The verdant carpet embroidered with little stars of gold and silver--theshort-grown, smooth, and close-woven, but most delicate and elasticfresh sward--so soothing to the dazzled eye, so welcome to the weariedlimbs--so suggestive of innocent and happy thoughts, --so refreshing tothe freed visitor, long pent up in the smoky city--is surely no where tobe seen in such exquisite perfection as on the broad meadows andsoftly-swelling hills of England. And perhaps in no country in the worldcould _pic-nic_ holiday-makers or playful children with more perfectsecurity of life and health stroll about or rest upon Earth's richlyenamelled floor from sunrise to sunset on a summer's day. No Englishmanwould dare to stretch himself at full length and address himself to sleepupon an Oriental meadow unless he were perfectly indifferent to lifeitself and could see nothing terrible in the hostility of the deadliestreptiles. When wading through the long grass and thick jungles of Bengal, he is made to acknowledge the full force of the true and beautifulexpression--"_In the midst of life we are in death_. " The British Indianexile on his return home is delighted with the "sweet security" of hisnative fields. He may then feel with Wordsworth how

 Dear is the forest frowning o'er his head. And dear _the velvet greensward_ to his tread. 

Or he may exclaim in the words of poor Keats--now slumbering under aforeign turf--

 Happy is England! I could be content To see no other verdure than her own. 

It is a pleasing proof of the fine moral influence of natural scenerythat the most ceremonious strangers can hardly be long seated togetherin the open air on the "velvet greensward" without casting off for awhile the cold formalities of artificial life, and becoming as frank andsocial as ingenuous school-boys. Nature breathes peace and genialityinto almost every human heart. 

"John Thelwall, " says Coleridge, "had something very good about him. Wewere sitting in a beautiful recess in the Quantocks when I said to him'Citizen John, this is a fine place to talk treason in!' 'Nay, CitizenSamuel, ' replied he, 'it is rather a place to make us forget that thereis any necessity for treason!'"

Leigh Hunt, who always looks on nature with the eye of a true painterand the imagination of a true poet, has represented with delightfulforce and vividness some of those accidents of light and shade thatdiversify an English meadow. 

RAIN AND SUNSHINE IN MAY. 

"Can any thing be more lovely, than the meadows between the rains ofMay, when the sun smites them on the sudden like a painter, and theylaugh up at him, as if he had lighted a loving cheek!

I speak of a season when the returning threats of cold and the resistingwarmth of summer time, make robust mirth in the air; when the windsimitate on a sudden the vehemence of winter; and silver-white clouds areabrupt in their coming down and shadows on the grass chase one another, panting, over the fields, like a pursuit of spirits. With undulatingnecks they pant forward, like hounds or the leopard. 

See! the cloud is after the light, gliding over the country like theshadow of a god; and now the meadows are lit up here and there withsunshine, as if the soul of Titian were standing in heaven, and playinghis fancies on them. Green are the trees in shadow; but the trees in thesun how twenty-fold green _they_ are--rich and variegated with gold!"

One of the many exquisite out-of-doors enjoyments for the observers ofnature, is the sight of an English harvest. How cheering it is to beholdthe sickles flashing in the sun, as the reapers with well sinewed arm, and with a sweeping movement, mow down the close-arrayed ranks of theharvest field! What are "the rapture of the strife" and all the "pomp, pride and circumstance of glorious war, " that bring death to some andagony and grief to others, compared with the green and golden trophiesof the honest Husbandman whose bloodless blade makes no wife a widow, nochild an orphan, --whose office is not to spread horror and desolationthrough shrieking cities, but to multiply and distribute the riches ofnature over a smiling land. 

But let us quit the open fields for a time, and turn again to theflowery retreats of

 Retired Leisure That in trim gardens takes his pleasure. 

In all ages, in all countries, in all creeds, a garden is represented asthe scene not only of earthly but of celestial enjoyment. The ancientshad their Elysian Fields and the garden of the Hesperides, the Christianhas his Garden of Eden, the Mahommedan his Paradise of groves andflowers and crystal fountains and black eyed Houries. 

"God Almighty, " says Lord Bacon, "first planted a garden; and indeed itis the purest of all pleasures: it is the greatest refreshment to thespirits of man. " Bacon, though a utilitarian philosopher, was such alover of flowers that he was never satisfied unless he saw them inalmost every room of his house, and when he came to discourse of them inhis Essays, his thoughts involuntarily moved harmonious numbers. Hownaturally the following prose sentence in Bacon's Essay on Gardensalmost resolves itself into verse. 

"For the heath which was the first part of our plot, I wish it to beframed as much as may be to a natural wildness. Trees I would have nonein it, but some thickets made only of sweet briar and honeysuckle, andsome wild vine amongst; and the ground set with violets, strawberriesand primroses; for these are sweet, and prosper in the shade. "

 "For the heath which was the third part of our plot-- I wish it to be framed As much as may be to a natural wildness. Trees I'd have none in't, but some thickets made Only of sweet-briar and honey-suckle, And some wild vine amongst; and the ground set With violets, strawberries, and primroses; For these are sweet and prosper in the shade. "

It has been observed that the love of gardens is the only passion whichincreases with age. It is generally the most indulged in the twoextremes of life. In middle age men are often too much involved in theaffairs of the busy world fully to appreciate the tranquil pleasures inthe gift of Flora. Flowers are the toys of the young and a source of thesweetest and serenest enjoyments for the old. But there is no season oflife for which they are unfitted and of which they cannot increase thecharm. 

"Give me, " says the poet Rogers, "a garden well kept, however small, twoor three spreading trees and a mind at ease, and I defy the world. " Thepoet adds that he would not have his garden, too much extended. He seemsto think it possible to have too much of a good thing. "Three acres offlowers and a regiment of gardeners, " he says, "bring no more pleasurethan a sufficiency. " "A hundred thousand roses, " he adds, "which we lookat _en masse_, do not identify themselves in the same manner as even avery small border; and hence, if the cottager's mind is properlyattuned, the little cottage-garden may give him more real delight thanbelongs to the owner of a thousand acres. " In a smaller garden "webecome acquainted, as it were, " says the same poet, "and even formfriendships with, individual flowers. " It is delightful to observe hownature thus adjusts the inequalities of fortune and puts the poor man, in point of innocent happiness, on a level with the rich. The man of themost moderate means may cultivate many elegant tastes, and may haveflowers in his little garden that the greatest sovereign in the worldmight enthusiastically admire. Flowers are never vulgar. A rose from apeasant's patch of ground is as fresh and elegant and fragrant as if ithad been nurtured in a Royal parterre, and it would not be out of placein the richest porcelain vase of the most aristocratical drawing-room inEurope. The poor man's flower is a present for a princess, and of allgifts it is the one least liable to be rejected even by the haughty. Itmight he worn on the fair brow or bosom of Queen Victoria with a noblergrace than the costliest or most elaborate production of the goldsmithor the milliner. 

The majority of mankind, in the most active spheres of life, havemoments in which they sigh for rural retirement, and seldom dream ofsuch a retreat without making a garden the leading charm of it. SirHenry Wotton says that Lord Bacon's garden was one of the best that hehad seen either at home or abroad. Evelyn, the author of "Sylva, or aDiscourse of Forest Trees, " dwells with fond admiration, and a pleasingegotism, on the charms of his own beautiful and highly cultivated estateat Wooton in the county of Surrey. He tells us that the house is largeand ancient and is "sweetly environed with delicious streams andvenerable woods. " "I will say nothing, " he continues, "of the air, because the pre-eminence is universally given to Surrey, the soil beingdry and sandy; but I should speak much of the gardens, fountains andgroves that adorn it, were they not generally known to be amongst themost natural, and (till this later and universal luxury of the wholenation, since abounding in such expenses) the most magnificent thatEngland afforded, and which indeed gave one of the first examples tothat elegancy, since so much in vogue and followed, for the managing oftheir waters and other elegancies of that nature. " Before he came intothe possession of his paternal estate he resided at _Say's Court_, nearDeptford, an estate which he possessed by purchase, and where he had asuperb holly hedge four hundred feet long, nine feet high and five feetbroad. Of this hedge, he was particularly proud, and he exultantly asks, "Is there under heaven a more glorious and refreshing object of thekind?" When the Czar of Muscovy visited England in 1698 to instructhimself in the art of ship-building, he had the use of Evelyn's houseand garden, at _Say's Court_, and while there did so much damage to thelatter that the owner loudly and bitterly complained. At last theGovernment gave Evelyn £150 as an indemnification. Czar Peter's favoriteamusement was to ride in a wheel barrow through what its owner had oncecalled the "impregnable hedge of holly. " Evelyn was passionately fond ofgardening. "The life and felicity of an excellent gardener, " heobserves, "is preferable to all other diversions. " His faith in the artof Landscape-gardening was unwavering. It could _remove mountains_. Hereis an extract from his Diary. 

 "Gave his brother some directions about his garden" (at Wooton Surrey), "which, he was desirous to put into some form, for which he was to remove a mountain overgrown with large trees and thickets and a moat within ten yards of the house. "

No sooner said than done. His brother dug down the mountain and"flinging it into a rapid stream (which carried away the sand) filled upthe moat and levelled that noble area where now the garden and fountainis. "

Though Evelyn dearly loved a garden, his chief delight was not inflowers but in forest trees, and he was more anxious to improve thegrowth of plants indigenous to the soil than to introduce exotics. [007]

Sir William Temple was so attached to his garden, that he leftdirections in his will that his heart should be buried there. It wasenclosed in a silver box and placed under a sun-dial. 

Dr. Thomson Reid, the eminent Scottish metaphysician, used to be foundworking in his garden in his eighty-seventh year. 

The name of Chatham is in the long list of eminent men who have enjoyeda garden. We are told that "he loved the country: took peculiar pleasurein gardening; and had an extremely happy taste in laying out grounds. "What a delightful thing it must have been for that great statesman, thusto relieve his mind from the weight of public care in the midst of quietbowers planted and trained by his own hand!

Burton, in his _Anatomy of Melancholy_, notices the attractions of agarden as amongst the finest remedies for depression of the mind. I mustgive the following extracts from his quaint but interesting pages. 

 "To see the pleasant fields, the crystal fountains, And take the gentle air amongst the mountains. 

"To walk amongst orchards, gardens, bowers, mounts, and arbours, artificial wildernesses, green thickets, arches, groves, lawns, rivulets, fountains, and such like pleasant places, (like thatAntiochian Daphne, ) brooks, pools, fishponds, between wood and water, ina fair meadow, by a river side, _ubi variae avium cantationes, florumcolores, pratorum frutices_, &c. To disport in some pleasant plain, orpark, run up a steep hill sometimes, or sit in a shady seat, must needsbe a delectable recreation. _Hortus principis et domus ad delectationemfacta, cum sylvâ, monte et piscinâ, vulgò la montagna_: the prince'sgarden at Ferrara, Schottus highly magnifies, with the groves, mountains, ponds, for a delectable prospect; he was much affected withit; a Persian paradise, or pleasant park, could not be more delectablein his sight. St. Bernard, in the description of his monastery, isalmost ravished with the pleasures of it. "A sick man (saith he) sitsupon a green bank, and when the dog-star parcheth the plains, and driesup rivers, he lies in a shady bower, " _Fronde sub arborea ferventiatemperat astra_, "and feeds his eyes with variety of objects, herbs, trees, to comfort his misery; he receives many delightsome smells, andfills his ears with that sweet and various harmony of birds; _good God_, (saith he), _what a company of pleasures hast thou made for man!_"

 * * * * *

"The country hath his recreations, the city his several gymnics andexercises, May games, feasts, wakes, and merry meetings to solacethemselves; the very being in the country; that life itself is asufficient recreation to some men, to enjoy such pleasures, as those oldpatriarchs did. Dioclesian, the emperor, was so much affected with it, that he gave over his sceptre, and turned gardener. Constantine wrotetwenty books of husbandry. Lysander, when ambassadors came to see him, bragged of nothing more than of his orchard, _hi sunt ordines mei_. Whatshall I say of Cincinnatus, Cato, Tully, and many such? how they havebeen pleased with it, to prune, plant, inoculate and graft, to show somany several kinds of pears, apples, plums, peaches, &c. "

The Romans of all ranks made use of flowers as ornaments and emblems, but they were not generally so fond of directing or assisting thegardener, or taking the spade or hoe into their own hands, as are theBritish peasantry, gentry and nobility of the present day. They were notamateur Florists. They prized highly their fruit trees and pastures andcool grottoes and umbrageous groves; but they expended comparativelylittle time, skill or taste upon the flower-garden. Even their love ofnature, though thoroughly genuine as far as it went, did not imply thatminute and exact knowledge of her charms which characterizes some of ourbest British poets. They had no Thompson or Cowper. Their country seatswere richer in architectural than floral beauty. Tully's Tuscan Villa, so fondly and minutely described by the proprietor himself, would appearto little advantage in the eyes of a true worshipper of Flora, ifcompared with Pope's retreat at Twickenham. The ancients had a taste forthe _rural_, not for the _gardenesque_, nor perhaps even for the_picturesque_. The English have a taste for all three. Hence they havegood landscape-gardeners and first-rate landscape-painters. The oldRomans had neither. But though, some of our Spitalfields weavers haveshown a deeper love, and perhaps even a finer taste, for flowers, thanwere exhibited by the citizens of Rome, abundant evidence is furnishedto us by the poets in all ages and in all countries that nature, in someform or another has ever charmed the eye and the heart of man. Thefollowing version of a famous passage in Virgil, especially the lines inItalics, may give the English reader some idea of a Roman's dream of

RURAL HAPPINESS. 

 Ah! happy Swains! if they their bliss but knew, Whom, far from boisterous war, Earth's bosom true With easy food supplies. If they behold No lofty dome its gorgeous gates unfold And pour at morn from all its chambers wide Of flattering visitants the mighty tide; Nor gaze on beauteous columns richly wrought, Or tissued robes, or busts from Corinth brought; Nor their white wool with Tyrian poison soil, Nor taint with Cassia's bark their native oil; _Yet peace is theirs; a life true bliss that yields; And various wealth; leisure mid ample fields, Grottoes, and living lakes, and vallies green, And lowing herds; and 'neath a sylvan screen, Delicious slumbers. There the lawn and cave With beasts of chase abound. _ The young ne'er crave A prouder lot; their patient toil is cheered; Their Gods are worshipped and their sires revered; And there when Justice passed from earth away She left the latest traces of her sway. 

D. L. R. 

Lord Bacon was perhaps the first Englishman who endeavored to reform theold system of English gardening, and to show that it was contrary togood taste and an insult to nature. "As for making knots or figures, " hesays, "with divers colored earths, that may lie under the windows of thehouse on that side on which the garden stands, they be but toys: you maysee as good sights many times in tarts. " Bacon here alludes, I suppose, to the old Dutch fashion of dividing flowerbeds into many compartments, and instead of filling them with flowers, covering one with red brickdust, another with charcoal, a third with yellow sand, a fourth withchalk, a fifth with broken China, and others with green glass, or withspars and ores. But Milton, in his exquisite description of the gardenof Eden, does not allude to the same absurd fashion when he speaks of"curious knots, "

 Which not nice art, In beds and _curious knots_, but nature boon Poured forth profuse on hill and dale and plain. 

By these _curious knots_ the poet seems to allude, not to figures of"divers colored earth, " but to the artificial and complicatedarrangements and divisions of flowers and flower-beds. 

Though Bacon went not quite so freely to nature as our latestlandscape-gardeners have done, he made the _first step_ in the rightdirection and deserves therefore the compliment which Mason has paid himin his poem of _The English Garden_. 

 On thy realm Philosophy his sovereign lustre spread; Yet did he deign to light with casual glance The wilds of Taste, Yes, sagest Verulam, 'Twas thine to banish from the royal groves Each childish vanity of crisped knot[008]

 And sculptured foliage; to the lawn restore Its ample space, and bid it feast the sight With verdure pure, unbroken, unabridged; For verdure soothes the eye, as roseate sweets The smell, or music's melting strains the ear. 

Yes--"_verdure soothes the eye_:"--and the mind too. Bacon himselfobserves, that "nothing is more pleasant to the eye than green grasskept finely shorn. " Mason slightly qualifies his commendation of "thesage" by admitting that he had not quite completed his emancipation fromthe bad taste of his day. 

 Witness his high arched hedge In pillored state by carpentry upborn, With colored mirrors decked and prisoned birds. But, when our step has paced the proud parterre, And reached the heath, then Nature glads our eye Sporting in all her lovely carelessness, There smiles in varied tufts the velvet rose, There flaunts the gadding woodbine, swells the ground In gentle hillocks, and around its sides Through blossomed shades the secret pathway steals. 

_The English Garden_. 

In one of the notes to _The English Garden_ it is stated that "Bacon wasthe prophet, Milton the herald of modern Gardening; and Addison, Pope, and Kent the champions of true taste. " Kent was by profession both aPainter and a Landscape-Gardener. Addison who had a pretty littleretreat at Bilton, near Rugby, evinces in most of his occasionalallusions to gardens a correct judgment. He complains that even in _his_time our British gardeners, instead of humouring nature, loved todeviate from it as much as possible. The system of verdant sculpture hadnot gone out of fashion. Our trees still rose in cones, globes, andpyramids. The work of the scissors was on every plant and bush. It wasPope, however, who did most to bring the topiary style into contempt andto encourage a more natural taste, by his humorous paper in the_Guardian_ and his poetical Epistle to the Earl of Burlington. Gray, thepoet, observes in one of his letters, that "our skill in gardening, orrather laying out grounds, is the only taste we can call our own; theonly proof of original talent in matters of pleasure. This is no smallhonor to us;" he continues, "since neither France nor Italy, has everhad the least notion of it. " "Whatever may have been reported, whethertruly or falsely" (says a contributor to _The World_) "of the Chinesegardens, it is certain that we are the first of the Europeans who havefounded this taste; and we have been so fortunate in the genius of thosewho have had the direction of some of the finest spots of ground, thatwe may now boast a success equal to that profusion of expense which hasbeen destined to promote the rapid progress of this happy enthusiasm. Our gardens are already the astonishment of foreigners, and, inproportion as they accustom themselves to consider and understand themwill become their admiration. " The periodical from which this is takenwas published exactly a century ago, and the writer's prophecy has beenlong verified. Foreigners send to us for gardeners to help them to layout their grounds in the English fashion. And we are told by the writerof an interesting article on gardens, in the _Quarterly Review_, that"the lawns at Paris, to say nothing of Naples, are regularly irrigatedto keep up even the semblance of English verdure; and at the gardens ofVersailles, and Caserta, near Naples, the walks have been supplied fromthe Kensington gravel-pits. " "It is not probably known, " adds the samewriter, "that among our exportations every year is a large quantity ofevergreens for the markets of France and Germany, and that there aresome nurserymen almost wholly engaged in this branch of trade. "

Pomfret, a poet of small powers, if a poet at all, has yet contrived toproduce a popular composition in verse--_The Choice_--because he hastouched with great good fortune on some of the sweetest domestic hopesand enjoyments of his countrymen. 

 If Heaven the grateful liberty would give That I might choose my method how to live; And all those hours propitious Fate should lend In blissful ease and satisfaction spend; Near some fair town I'd have a private seat Built uniform; not little; nor too great: Better if on a rising ground it stood, On this side fields, on that a neighbouring wood. 

_The Choice_. 

Pomfret perhaps illustrates the general taste when he places his garden"_near some fair town_. " Our present laureate, though a truly inspiredpoet, and a genuine lover of Nature even in her remotest retreats, hasthe garden of his preference, "_not quite beyond the busy world_. "

 Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite Beyond it, blooms the garden that I love, News from the humming city comes to it In sound of funeral or of marriage bells; And sitting muffled in dark leaves you hear The windy clanging of the minster clock; Although between it and the garden lies A league of grass. 

Even "sounds inharmonious in themselves and harsh" are often pleasingwhen mellowed by the space of air through which they pass. 

 'Tis distance lends enchantment to the _sound_. 

Shelley, in one of his sweetest poems, speaking of a scene in theneighbourhood of Naples, beautifully says:--

 Like many a voice of one delight, The winds, the birds, the ocean floods, _The city's voice itself is soft_, like solitude's. 

No doubt the feeling that we are _near_ the crowd but not _in_ it, maydeepen the sense of our own happy rural seclusion and doubly endear thatpensive leisure in which we can "think down hours to moments, " and in

 This our life, exempt from public haunt, Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in every thing. 

_Shakespeare_. 

Besides, to speak truly, few men, however studious or philosophical, desire a total isolation from the world. It is pleasant to be able totake a sort of side glance at humanity, even when we are most in lovewith nature, and to feel that we can join our fellow creatures againwhen the social feeling returns upon us. Man was not made to live alone. Cowper, though he clearly loved retirement and a garden, did not desireto have the pleasure entirely to himself. "Grant me, " he says, "a friendin my retreat. "

 To whom to whisper solitude is sweet. 

Cowper lived and died a bachelor. In the case of a married man and afather, garden delights are doubled by the presence of the family andfriends, if wife and children happen to be what they should be, and thefriends are genuine and genial. 

All true poets delight in gardens. The truest that ever lived spent hislatter days at New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon. He had a spacious andbeautiful garden. Charles Knight tells us that "the Avon washed itsbanks; and within its enclosures it had its sunny terraces and greenlawns, its pleached alleys and honeysuckle bowers, " In this gardenShakespeare planted with his own hands his celebrated Mulberry tree. Itwas a noble specimen of the black Mulberry introduced into England in1548[009]. In 1605, James I. Issued a Royal edict recommending thecultivation of silkworms and offering packets of mulberry seeds to thoseamongst his subjects who were willing to sow them. Shakespeare's treewas planted in 1609. Mr. Loudon, observes that the black Mulberry hasbeen known from the earliest records of antiquity and that it is twicementioned in the Bible: namely, in the second Book of Samuel and in thePsalms. When New Place was in the possession of Sir Hough Clopton, whowas proud of its interesting association with the history of our greatpoet, not only were Garrick and Macklin most hospitably entertainedunder the Mulberry tree, but all strangers on a proper application wereadmitted to a sight of it. But when Sir Hough Clopton was succeeded bythe Reverend Francis Gastrell, that gentleman, to save himself thetrouble of showing the tree to visitors, had "the gothic barbarity" tocut down and root up that interesting--indeed _sacred_ memorial--of thePride of the British Isles. The people of Stratford were so enraged atthis sacrilege that they broke Mr. Gastrell's windows. That prosaicpersonage at last found the place too hot for him, and took hisdeparture from a town whose inhabitants "doated on his very absence;"but before he went he completed the fall sum of his sins against goodtaste and good feeling by pulling to the ground the house in whichShakespeare had lived and died. This was done, it is said, out of sheerspite to the towns-people, with some of whom Mr. Gastrell had had adispute about the rate at which the house was taxed. His change ofresidence was no great relief to him, for the whole British public feltsorely aggrieved, and wherever he went he was peppered with all sorts ofsquibs and satires. He "slid into verse, " and "hitched in a rhyme. "

 Sacred to ridicule his whole life long, And the sad burden of a merry song. 

Thomas Sharp, a watchmaker, got possession of the fragments ofShakespeare's Mulberry tree, and worked them into all sorts of elegantornaments and toys, and disposed of them at great prices. Thecorporation of Stratford presented Garrick with the freedom of the townin a box made of the wood of this famous tree, and the compliment seemsto have suggested to him his public festival or pageant in honor of thepoet. This Jubilee, which was got up with great zeal, and at greatexpense and trouble, was attended by vast throngs of the admirers ofShakespeare from all parts of the kingdom. It was repeated on the stageand became so popular as a theatrical exhibition that it was representednight after night for more than half a season to crowded audiences. 

Upon the subject of gardens, let us hear what has been said by theself-styled "melancholy Cowley. " When in the smoky city pent, amidst thebusy hum of men, he sighed unceasingly for some green retreat. As he pacedthe crowded thorough-fares of London, he thought of the velvet turf andthe pure air of the country. His imagination carried him into secludedgroves or to the bank of a murmuring river, or into some trim and quietgarden. "I never, " he says, "had any other desire so strong and so liketo covetousness, as that one which I have had always, that I might bemaster at last of a small house and a large garden, with very moderateconveniences joined to them, and there dedicate the remainder of my lifeonly to the culture of them and the study of nature, " The late MissMitford, whose writings breathe so freshly of the nature that she lovedso dearly, realized for herself a similar desire. It is said that shehad the cottage of a peasant with the garden of a Duchess. Cowley is notcontented with expressing in plain prose his appreciation of gardenenjoyments. He repeatedly alludes to them in verse. 

 Thus, thus (and this deserved great Virgil's praise) The old Corycian yeoman passed his days; Thus his wise life Abdolonymus spent; Th' ambassadors, which the great emperor sent To offer him a crown, with wonder found The reverend gardener, hoeing of his ground; Unwillingly and slow and discontent From his loved cottage to a throne he went; And oft he stopped, on his triumphant way: And oft looked back: and oft was heard to say Not without sighs, Alas! I there forsake A happier kingdom than I go to take. 

_Lib. IV. Plantarum_. 

Here is a similar allusion by the same poet to the delights which greatmen amongst the ancients have taken in a rural retirement. 

 Methinks, I see great Dioclesian walk In the Salonian garden's noble shade Which by his own imperial hands was made, I see him smile, methinks, as he does talk With the ambassadors, who come in vain To entice him to a throne again. 

 "If I, my friends, " said he, "should to you show All the delights which in these gardens grow, 'Tis likelier much that you should with me stay, Than 'tis that you should carry me away: And trust me not, my friends, if every day I walk not here with more delight, Than ever, after the most happy sight In triumph to the Capitol I rode, To thank the gods, and to be thought myself almost a god, "

_The Garden_. 

Cowley does not omit the important moral which a garden furnishes. 

 Where does the wisdom and the power divine In a more bright and sweet reflection shine? Where do we finer strokes and colors see Of the Creator's real poetry. Than when we with attention look Upon the third day's volume of the book? If we could open and intend our eye _We all, like Moses, might espy, E'en in a bush, the radiant Deity_. 

In Leigh Hunt's charming book entitled _The Town_, I find the followingnotice of the partiality of poets for houses with gardens attached tothem:--

"It is not surprizing that _garden-houses_ as they were called; shouldhave formerly abounded in Holborn, in Bunhill Row, and other (at thattime) suburban places. We notice the fact, in order to observe _how fondthe poets were of occupying houses of this description. Milton seems tohave made a point of having one_. The only London residence of Chapmanwhich is known, was in Old Street Road; doubtless at that time a ruralsuburb. Beaumont and Fletcher's house, on the Surrey side of the Thames, (for they lived as well as wrote together, ) most probably had a garden;and Dryden's house in Gerard Street looked into the garden of themansion built by the Earls of Leicester. A tree, or even a flower, putin a window in the streets of a great city, (and the London citizens, totheir credit, are fond of flowers, ) affects the eye something in thesame way as the hand-organs, which bring unexpected music to the ear. They refresh the common-places of life, shed a harmony through the busydiscord, and appeal to those first sources of emotion, which areassociated with the remembrance of all that is young and innocent. "

Milton must have been a passionate lover of flowers and flower-gardensor he could never have exhibited the exquisite taste and genial feelingwhich characterize all the floral allusions and descriptions with whichso much of his poetry is embellished. He lived for some time in a housein Westminster over-looking the Park. The same house was tenanted byJeremy Bentham for forty years. It would be difficult to meet with anytwo individuals of more opposite temperaments than the author of_Paradise Lost_ and the Utilitarian Philosopher. There is or was a stonein the wall at the end of the garden inscribed TO THE PRINCE OF POETS. Two beautiful cotton trees overarched the inscription, "and to show"says Hazlitt, (who subsequently lived in the same house himself, ) "howlittle the refinements of taste or fancy entered Bentham's system, heproposed at one time to cut down these beautiful trees, to convert thegarden, where he had breathed an air of truth and heaven for near half acentury, into a paltry Chreistomathic School, and to make Milton's house(the cradle of _Paradise Lost_) a thoroughfare, like a three-stalledstable, for the idle rabble of Westminster to pass backwards andforwards to it with their cloven hoofs!"

No poet, ancient or modern, has described a garden on a large scale inso noble a style as Milton. He has anticipated the finest conceptions ofthe latest landscape-gardeners, and infinitely surpassed all theaccounts we have met with of the gardens of the olden time before us. His Paradise is a

 Spot more delicious than those gardens feigned Or of revived Adonis or renowned Alcinous, host of old Laertes' son Or that, not mystic, where the sapient King Held dalliance with his fair Egyptian spouse[010]

The description is too long to quote entire, but I must make room for adelightful extract. Familiar as it must be to all lovers of poetry, whowill object to read it again and again? Genuine poetry is like amasterpiece of the painter's art:--we can gaze with admiration for thehundredth time on a noble picture. The mind and the eye are neversatiated with the truly beautiful. "A thing of beauty is a joy forever. "

PARADISE. [011]

 So on he fares, and to the border comes Of Eden, where delicious Paradise, Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green, As with a rural mound, the champaign head Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild, Access denied: and overhead up grew Insuperable height of loftiest shade, Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm, A sylvan scene; and as, the ranks ascend Shade above shade, a woody theatre Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops, The verdurous wall of Paradise up-sprung: Which to our general sire gave prospect large Into his nether empire neighbouring round; And higher than that wall a circling row Of goodliest trees, loaden with fairest fruit, Blossoms and fruits at once, of golden hue, Appear'd, with gay enamell'd colours mix'd; On which the sun more glad impress'd his beams, Than on fair evening cloud, or humid bow. When God hath shower'd the earth; so lovely seem'd That landscape: and of pure now purer air Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires Vernal delight and joy, able to drive All sadness but despair: now gentle gales, Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense Native perfumes and whisper whence they stole Those balmy spoils. As when to them who sail Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past Mozambic, off at sea north-east winds blow Sabean odours from the spicy shore Of Araby the Blest; with such delay Well pleased they slack their course, and many a league Cheer'd with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiles. 

 * * * * *

 Southward through Eden went a river large, Nor changed his course, but through the shaggy hill Pass'd underneath ingulf'd; for God had thrown That mountain as his garden mould, high raised Upon the rapid current, which through veins Of porous earth with kindly thirst up-drawn, Rose a fresh fountain, and with many a rill Water'd the garden; thence united fell Down the steep glade, and met the nether flood, Which from his darksome passage now appears; And now, divided into four main streams, Runs diverse, wandering many a famous realm And country, whereof here needs no account; But rather to tell how, if art could tell, How from that sapphire fount the crisped brooks, Rolling on orient pearl and sands of gold, With mazy error under pendent shades, Ran nectar, visiting each plant, and fed Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice art In beds and curious knots, but nature boon Pour'd forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain, Both where the morning sun first warmly smote The open field, and where the unpierced shade Imbrown'd the noontide bowers; thus was this place A happy rural seat of various view; Groves whose rich, trees wept odorous gums and balm; Others whose fruit, burnish'd with golden rind, Hung amiable, Hesperian fables true, If true, here only, and of delicious taste: Betwixt them lawns, or level downs, and flocks Grazing the tender herb, were interposed; Or palmy hillock, or the flowery lap Of some irriguous valley spread her store, Flowers of all hue, and without thorn the rose: Another side, umbrageous grots and caves Of cool recess, o'er which the mantling vine Lays forth her purple grape, and gently creeps Luxuriant; meanwhile murmuring waters fall Down the slope hills, dispersed, or in a lake, That to the fringed bank with myrtle crown'd Her crystal mirror holds, unite their streams. The birds their quire apply; airs, vernal airs, Breathing the smell of field and grove attune, The trembling leaves, while universal Pan, Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance, Led on the eternal Spring. 

Pope in his grounds at Twickenham, and Shenstone in his garden farm ofthe Leasowes, taught their countrymen to understand how much taste andrefinement of soul may be connected with the laying out of gardens andthe cultivation of flowers. I am sorry to learn that the famous retreatsof these poets are not now what they were. The lovely nest of the littleNightingale of Twickenham has fallen into vulgar hands. And when Mr. Loudon visited (in 1831) the once beautiful grounds of Shenstone, he"found them in a state of indescribable neglect and ruin. "

Pope said that of all his works that of which he was proudest was hisgarden. It was of but five acres, or perhaps less, but to this he issaid to have given a charming variety. He enumerates amongst the friendswho assisted him in the improvement of his grounds, the gallant Earl ofPeterborough "whose lightnings pierced the Iberian lines. "

 Know, all the distant din that world can keep, Rolls o'er my grotto, and but soothes my sleep. There my retreat the best companions grace Chiefs out of war and statesmen out of place. There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl The feast of reason and the flow of soul; And he whose lightnings pierced the Iberian lines Now forms my quincunx and now ranks my vines; Or tames the genius of the stubborn plain Almost as quickly as he conquered Spain. 

Frederick Prince of Wales took a lively interest in Pope's tastefulTusculanum and made him a present of some urns or vases either for his"laurel circus or to terminate his points. " His famous grotto, which heis so fond of alluding to, was excavated to avoid an inconvenience. Hisproperty lying on both sides of the public highway, he contrived hishighly ornamented passage under the road to preserve privacy and toconnect the two portions of his estate. 

The poet has given us in one of his letters a long and livelydescription of his subterranean embellishments. But his verse will livelonger than his prose. He has immortalized this grotto, so radiant withspars and ores and shells, in the following poetical inscription:--

 Thou, who shalt stop, where Thames' translucent wave Shines a broad mirror through the shadowy cave, Where lingering drops from mineral roofs distil, And pointed crystals break the sparkling rill, Unpolished gems no ray on pride bestow, And latent metals innocently glow, Approach! Great Nature studiously behold, And eye the mine without a wish for gold Approach--but awful! Lo, the Egerian grot, Where, nobly pensive, ST JOHN sat and thought, Where British sighs from dying WYNDHAM stole, And the bright flame was shot thro' MARCHMONT'S soul; Let such, such only, tread this sacred floor Who dare to love their country, and be poor. 

Horace Walpole, speaking of the poet's garden, tells us that "thepassing through the gloom from the grotto to the opening day, theretiring and again assembling shades, the dusky groves, the larger lawn, and the solemnity at the cypresses that led up to his mother's tomb, were managed with exquisite judgment. "

 Cliveden's proud alcove, The bower of wanton Shrewsbury and love, alluded to by Pope in his sketch of the character of Villiers, Duke ofBuckingham, though laid out by Kent, was probably improved by the poet'ssuggestions. Walpole seems to think that the beautiful grounds atRousham, laid out for General Dormer, were planned on the model of thegarden at Twickenham, at least the opening and retiring "shades ofVenus's Vale. " And these grounds at Rousham were pronounced "the mostengaging of all Kent's works. " It is said that the design of the gardenat Carlton House, was borrowed from that of Pope. 

Wordsworth was correct in his observation that "Landscape gardening is aliberal art akin to the arts of poetry and painting. " Walpole describesit as "an art that realizes painting and improves nature. " "Mahomet, " headds, "imagined an Elysium, but Kent created many. "

Pope's mansion was not a very spacious one, but it was large enough fora private gentleman of inexpensive habits. After the poet's death it waspurchased by Sir William Stanhope who enlarged both the house andgarden. [012] A bust of Pope, in white marble, has been placed over anarched way with the following inscription from the pen of Lord Nugent:

 The humble roof, the garden's scanty line, Ill suit the genius of the bard divine; But fancy now displays a fairer scope And Stanhope's plans unfold the soul of Pope. 

I have not heard who set up this bust with its impudent inscription. Ihope it was not Stanhope himself. I cannot help thinking that it wouldhave been a truer compliment to the memory of Pope if the house andgrounds had been kept up exactly as he had left them. Most people, Isuspect, would greatly have preferred the poet's own "unfolding of hissoul" to that "_unfolding_" attempted for him by a Stanhope andcommemorated by a Nugent. Pope exhibited as much taste in laying out hisgrounds as in constructing his poems. Sir William, after his attempt tomake the garden more worthy of the original designer, might just asmodestly have undertaken to enlarge and improve the poetry of Pope onthe plea that it did not sufficiently _unfold his soul_. A line of LordNugent's might in that case have been transferred from the marble bustto the printed volume:

 His fancy now displays a fairer scope. 

Or the enlarger and improver might have taken his motto fromShakespeare:

 To my _unfolding_ lend a gracious ear. 

This would have been an appropriate motto for the title-page of "_ThePoems of Pope: enlarged and improved: or The Soul of the PoetUnfolded_. "

But in sober truth, Pope, whether as a gardener or as a poet, requiredno enlarger or improver of his works. After Sir William Stanhope hadleft Pope's villa it came into the possession of Lord Mendip, whoexhibited a proper respect for the poet's memory; but when in 1807 itwas sold to the Baroness Howe, that lady pulled down the house and builtanother. The place subsequently came into the possession of a Mr. Young. The grounds have now no resemblance to what the taste of Pope had oncemade them. Even his mother's monument has been removed! Few things wouldhave more deeply touched the heart of the poet than the anticipation ofthis insult to the memory of so revered a parent. His filial piety wasas remarkable as his poetical genius. No passages in his works do himmore honor both as a man and as a poet than those which are mellowedinto a deeper tenderness of sentiment and a softer and sweeter music byhis domestic affections. There are probably few readers of Englishpoetry who have not the following lines by heart, Me, let the tender office long engage To rock the cradle of reposing age; With lenient arts extend a mother's breath; Make langour smile, and smooth the bed of death; Explore the thought, explain the asking eye, And keep at least one parent from the sky. 

In a letter to Swift (dated March 29, 1731) begun by Lord Bolingbrokeand concluded by Pope, the latter speaks thus touchingly of his dear oldparent:

"My Lord has spoken justly of his lady; why not I of my mother?Yesterday was her birth-day, now entering on the ninety-first year ofher age; her memory much diminished, but her senses very little hurt, her sight and hearing good; she sleeps not ill, eats moderately, drinkswater, says her prayers; this is all she does. I have reason to thankGod for continuing so long to me a very good and tender parent, and forallowing me to exercise for some years those cares which are now asnecessary to her, as hers have been to me. "

Pope lost his mother two years, two months, and a few days after thedate of this letter. Three days after her death he entreated Richardson, the painter, to take a sketch of her face, as she lay in her coffin: andfor this purpose Pope somewhat delayed her interment. "I thank God, " hesays, "her death was as easy as her life was innocent; and as it costher not a groan, nor even a sigh, there is yet upon her countenance suchan expression of tranquillity, nay almost of pleasure, that it is evenamiable to behold it. It would afford the finest image of a saintexpired, that ever painting drew, and it would be the greatestobligation which even that obliging art could ever bestow upon a friendif you would come and sketch it for me. " The writer adds, "I shall hopeto see you this evening, as late as you will, or to-morrow morning asearly, _before this winter flower is faded_. "

On the small obelisk in the garden, erected by Pope to the memory of hismother, he placed the following simple and pathetic inscription. 

 AH! EDITHA! MATRUM OPTIMA! MULIERUM AMANTISSIMA! VALE!

I wonder that any one could have had the heart to remove or to destroyso interesting a memorial. 

It is said that Pope planted his celebrated weeping willow at Twickenhamwith his own hands, and that it was the first of its particular speciesintroduced into England. Happening to be with Lady Suffolk when shereceived a parcel from Spain, he observed that it was bound with greentwigs which looked as if they might vegetate. "Perhaps, " said he, "thesemay produce something that we have not yet in England. " He tried acutting, and it succeeded. The tree was removed by some person asbarbarous as the reverend gentleman who cut down Shakespeare's MulberryTree. The Willow was destroyed for the same reason, as the MulberryTree--because the owner was annoyed at persons asking to see it. TheWeeping Willow

 That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream, [013]

has had its interest with people in general much increased by itsassociation with the history of Napoleon in the Island of St. Helena. The tree whose boughs seemed to hang so fondly over his remains has nowits scions in all parts of the world. Few travellers visited the tombwithout taking a small cutting of the Napoleon Willow for cultivation intheir own land. Slips of the Willow at Twickenham, like those of theWillow at St. Helena, have also found their way into many countries. In1789 the Empress of Russia had some of them planted in her garden at St. Petersburgh. 

Mr. Loudon tells us that there is an old _oak_ in Binfield Wood, WindsorForest, which is called _Pope's Oak_, and which bears the inscription"HERE POPE SANG:"[014] but according to general tradition it was a_beech_ tree, under which Pope wrote his "Windsor Forest. " It is saidthat as that tree was decayed, Lady Gower had the inscription alluded tocarved upon another tree near it. Perhaps the substituted tree was anoak. 

I may here mention that in the Vale of Avoca there is a tree celebratedas that under which Thomas Moore wrote the verses entitled "The meetingof the Waters. "

The allusion to _Pope's Oak_ reminds me that Chaucer is said to haveplanted three oak trees in Donnington Park near Newbury. Not one of themis now, I believe, in existence. There is an oak tree in Windsor Forestabove 1000 years old. In the hollow of this tree twenty people might beaccommodated with standing room. It is called _King's Oak_: it wasWilliam the Conqueror's favorite tree. _Herne's Oak_ in Windsor Park, issaid by some to be still standing, but it is described as a mereanatomy. 

 ----An old oak whose boughs are mossed with age, And high top bald with dry antiquity. 

_As You Like it_. 

"It stretches out its bare and sapless branches, " says Mr. Jesse, "likethe skeleton arms of some enormous giant, and is almost fearful in itsdecay. " _Herne's Oak_, as every one knows, is immortalised byShakespeare, who has spread its fame over many lands. 

 There is an old tale goes that Herne the hunter, Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest, Doth all the winter time, at still midnight, Walk round about an oak, with great ragg'd horns, And there he blasts the trees, and takes the cattle; And makes milch cows yield blood, and shakes a chain In a most hideous and dreadful manner. You have heard of such a spirit; and well you know, The superstitious, idle-headed eld Received, and did deliver to our age, This tale of Herne the Hunter for a truth. 

_Merry Wives of Windsor_. 

"Herne, the hunter" is said to have hung himself upon one of thebranches of this tree, and even, ----Yet there want not many that do fear, In deep of night to walk by this Herne's Oak. 

_Merry Wives of Windsor_. 

It was not long ago visited by the King of Prussia to whom Shakespearehad rendered it an object of great interest. 

It is unpleasant to add that there is considerable doubt and dispute asto its identity. Charles Knight and a Quarterly Reviewer both maintainthat _Herne's Oak_ was cut down with a number of other old trees inobedience to an order from George the Third when he was not in his rightmind, and that his Majesty deeply regretted the order he had given whenhe found that the most interesting tree in his Park had been destroyed. Mr. Jesse, in his _Gleanings in Natural History_, says that after somepains to ascertain the truth, he is convinced that this story is notcorrect, and that the famous old tree is still standing. He adds thatGeorge the Fourth often alluded to the story and said that though one ofthe trees cut down was supposed to have been _Herne's Oak_, it was notso in reality. George the Third, it is said, once called the attentionof Mr. Ingalt, the manager of Windsor Home Park to a particular tree, and said "I brought you here to point out this tree to you. I commit itto your especial charge; and take care that no damage is ever done toit. I had rather that every tree in the park should be cut down thanthat this tree should be hurt. _This is Hernes Oak_. "

Sir Philip Sidney's Oak at Penshurst mentioned by Ben Jonson--

 That taller tree, of which the nut was set At his great birth, where all the Muses met--

is still in existence. It is thirty feet in circumference. Waller alsoalludes to

 Yonder tree which stands the sacred mark Of noble Sidney's birth. 

Yardley Oak, immortalized by Cowper, is now in a state of decay. 

 Time made thee what thou wert--king of the woods! And time hath made thee what thou art--a cave For owls to roost in. 

_Cowper_. 

The tree is said to be at least fifteen hundred years old. It cannothold its present place much longer; but for many centuries to come itwill

 Live in description and look green in song. 

It stands on the grounds of the Marquis of Northampton; and to preventpeople from cutting off and carrying away pieces of it as relics, thefollowing notice has been painted on a board and nailed to thetree:--"_Out of respect to the memory of the poet Cowper, the Marquis ofNorthampton is particularly desirous of preserving this Oak_. "

Lord Byron, in early life, planted an oak in the garden at Newstead andindulged the fancy, that as that flourished so should he. The oak hassurvived the poet, but it will not outlive the memory of its planter oreven the boyish verses which he addressed to it. 

Pope observes, that "a tree is a nobler object than a prince in hiscoronation robes. " Yet probably the poet had never seen any tree largerthan a British oak. What would he have thought of the Baobab tree inAbyssinia, which measures from 80 to 120 feet in girth, and sometimesreaches the age of five thousand years. We have no such sylvan patriarchin Europe. The oldest British tree I have heard of, is a yew tree ofFortingall in Scotland, of which the age is said to be two thousand fivehundred years. If trees had long memories and could converse with man, what interesting chapters these survivors of centuries might add to thehistory of the world!

Pope was not always happy in his Twickenham Paradise. His rural delightswere interrupted for a time by an unrequited passion for the beautifuland highly-gifted but eccentric Lady Mary Wortley Montague. 

 Ah! friend, 'tis true--this truth you lovers know; In vain my structures rise, my gardens grow; In vain fair Thames reflects the double scenes Of hanging mountains and of sloping greens; Joy lives not here, to happier seats it flies, And only dwells where Wortley casts her eyes. 

 What are the gay parterre, the chequered shade, The morning bower, the evening colonnade, But soft recesses of uneasy minds, To sigh unheard in to the passing winds?

 So the struck deer, in some sequestered part, Lies down to die, the arrow at his heart; He, stretched unseen, in coverts hid from day, Bleeds drop by drop, and pants his life away. 

These are exquisite lines, and have given delight to innumerablereaders, but they gave no delight to Lady Mary. In writing to hersister, the Countess of Mar, then at Paris, she says in allusion tothese "most musical, most melancholy" verses--"_I stifled them here; andI beg they may die the same death at Paris_. " It is not, however, quiteso easy a thing as Lady Mary seemed to think, to "stifle" such poetry asPope's. 

Pope's notions respecting the laying out of gardens are well expressedin the following extract from the fourth Epistle of his MoralEssays. [015] This fourth Epistle was addressed, as most readers willremember, to the accomplished Lord Burlington, who, as Walpole says, "had every quality of a genius and an artist, except envy. Though hisown designs were more chaste and classic than Kent's, he entertained himin his house till his death, and was more studious to extend hisfriend's fame than his own. "

 Something there is more needful than expense, And something previous e'en to taste--'tis sense; Good sense, which only is the gift of Heaven, And though no science fairly worth the seven; A light, which in yourself you must perceive; Jones and Le Nôtre have it not to give. To build, or plant, whatever you intend, To rear the column or the arch to bend; To swell the terrace, or to sink the grot; In all let Nature never be forgot. But treat the goddess like a modest fair, Nor over dress nor leave her wholly bare; Let not each beauty every where be spied, Where half the skill is decently to hide. He gains all points, who pleasingly confounds, Surprizes, varies, and conceals the bounds. _Consult the genius of the place in all_;[016] That tells the waters or to rise or fall; Or helps the ambitious hill the heavens to scale, Or scoops in circling theatres the vale; Calls in the country, catches opening glades, Joins willing woods and varies shades from shades; Now breaks, or now directs, th' intending lines; Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs. Still follow sense, of every art the soul; Parts answering parts shall slide into a whole, Spontaneous beauties all around advance, Start e'en from difficulty, strike from chance; Nature shall join you; time shall make it grow A work to wonder at--perhaps a STOWE. [017] Without it proud Versailles![018] Thy glory falls; And Nero's terraces desert their walls. The vast parterres a thousand hands shall make, Lo! Cobham comes and floats them with a lake; Or cut wide views through mountains to the plain, You'll wish your hill or sheltered seat again. 

Pope is in most instances singularly happy in his compliments, but theallusion to STOWE--as "_a work to wonder at_"--has rather an equivocalappearance, and so also has the mention of Lord Cobham, the proprietorof the place. In the first draught of the poem, the name of Bridgemanwas inserted where Cobham's now stands, but as Bridgeman mistook thecompliment for a sneer, the poet thought the landscape-gardener hadproved himself undeserving of the intended honor, and presented thesecond-hand compliment to the peer. The grounds at Stowe, more praisedby poets than any other private estate in England, extend to 400 acres. There are many other fine estates in our country of far greater extent, but of less celebrity. Some of them are much too extensive, perhaps, fortrue enjoyment. The Earl of Leicester, when he had completed his seat atHolkham, observed, that "It was a melancholy thing to stand alone inone's country. I look round; not a house is to be seen but mine. I amthe Giant of Giant-castle and have ate up all my neighbours. " The Earlmust have felt that the political economy of Goldsmith in his _DesertedVillage_ was not wholly the work of imagination. 

 Sweet smiling village! Loveliest of the lawn, Thy sports are fled and all thy charms withdrawn; Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen And desolation saddens all the green, -- _One only master grasps thy whole domain_. 

 * * * * *

 Where then, ah! where shall poverty reside, To scape the pressure of contiguous pride?

"Hearty, cheerful Mr. Cotton, " as Lamb calls him, describes Stowe as aParadise. 

ON LORD COBHAM'S GARDEN. 

 It puzzles much the sage's brains Where Eden stood of yore, Some place it in Arabia's plains, Some say it is no more. 

 But Cobham can these tales confute, As all the curious know; For he hath proved beyond dispute, That Paradise is STOWE. 

Thomson also calls the place a paradise:

 Ye Powers That o'er the garden and the rural seat Preside, which shining through the cheerful land In countless numbers blest Britannia sees; O, lead me to the wide-extended walks, _The fair majestic paradise of Stowe!_ Not Persian Cyrus on Ionia's shore E'er saw such sylvan scenes; such various art By genius fired, such ardent genius tamed By cool judicious art, that in the strife All-beauteous Nature fears to be out-done. 

The poet somewhat mars the effect of this compliment to the charms ofStowe, by making it a matter of regret that the owner

 His verdant files Of ordered trees should here inglorious range, Instead of squadrons flaming o'er the field, And long embattled hosts. 

This representation of rural pursuits as inglorious, a sentiment so outof keeping with his subject, is soon after followed ratherinconsistently, by a sort of paraphrase of Virgil's celebrated pictureof rural felicity, and some of Thomson's own thoughts on the advantagesof a retreat from active life. 

 Oh, knew he but his happiness, of men The happiest he! Who far from public rage Deep in the vale, with a choice few retired Drinks the pure pleasures of the rural life, &c. 

Then again:--

 Let others brave the flood in quest of gain And beat for joyless months, the gloomy wave. _Let such as deem it glory to destroy, Rush into blood, the sack of cities seek; Unpierced, exulting in the widow's wail, The virgin's shriek and infant's trembling cry. _

 * * * * *

 While he, from all the stormy passions free That restless men involve, hears and _but_ hears, At distance safe, the human tempest roar, Wrapt close in conscious peace. The fall of kings, The rage of nations, and the crush of states, Move not the man, who from the world escaped, In still retreats and flowery solitudes, To nature's voice attends, from month to month, And day to day, through the revolving year; Admiring sees her in her every shape; Feels all her sweet emotions at his heart; Takes what she liberal gives, nor asks for more. He, when young Spring, protudes the bursting gems Marks the first bud, and sucks the healthful gale Into his freshened soul; her genial hour He full enjoys, and not a beauty blows And not an opening blossom breathes in vain. 

Thomson in his description of Lord Townshend's seat of Rainham--anotherEnglish estate once much celebrated and still much admired--exclaims:

 Such are thy beauties, Rainham, such the haunts Of angels, in primeval guiltless days When man, imparadised, conversed with God. 

And Broome after quoting the whole description in his dedication of hisown poems to Lord Townshend, observes, in the old fashioned fulsomestrain, "This, my lord, is but a faint picture of the place of yourretirement which no one ever enjoyed more elegantly. "[019] "A faintpicture!" What more would the dedicator have wished Thomson to say?Broome, if not contented with his patron's seat being described as anearthly Paradise, must have desired it to be compared with Heavenitself, and thus have left his Lordship no hope of the enjoyment of abetter place than he already possessed. 

Samuel Boyse, who when without a shirt to his back sat up in his bed towrite verses, with his arms through two holes in his blanket, and whenhe went into the streets wore paper collars to conceal the saddeficiency of linen, has a poem of considerable length entitled _TheTriumphs of Nature_. It is wholly devoted to a description of thismagnificent garden, [020] in which, amongst other architecturalornaments, was a temple dedicated to British worthies, where the bustsof Pope and Congreve held conspicuous places. I may as well give aspecimen of the lines of poor Boyse. Here is his description of thatpart of Lord Cobham's grounds in which is erected to the Goddess ofLove, a Temple containing a statue of the Venus de Medicis. 

 Next to the fair ascent our steps we traced, Where shines afar the bold rotunda placed; The artful dome Ionic columns bear Light as the fabric swells in ambient air. Beneath enshrined the Tuscan Venus stands And beauty's queen the beauteous scene commands: The fond beholder sees with glad surprize, Streams glisten, lawns appear, and forests rise-- Here through thick shades alternate buildings break, There through the borders steals the silver lake, A soft variety delights the soul, And harmony resulting crowns the whole. 

Congreve in his Letter in verse addressed to Lord Cobham asks him to

 Tell how his pleasing Stowe employs his time. 

It would seem that the proprietor of Stowe took particular interest inthe disposition of the water on his grounds. Congreve enquires

 Or dost thou give the winds afar to blow Each vexing thought, and heart-devouring woe, And fix thy mind alone on rural scenes, _To turn the level lawns to liquid plains_? To raise the creeping rills from humble beds And force the latent spring to lift their heads, On watery columns, capitals to rear, That mix their flowing curls with upper air?

 * * * * *

 Or slowly walk along the mazy wood To meditate on all that's wise and good. 

The line:--

 To turn the level lawn to liquid plains--

Will remind the reader of Pope's

 Lo! Cobham comes and floats them with a lake--

And it might be thought that Congreve had taken the hint from the bardof Twickenham if Congreve's poem had not preceded that of Pope. The onewas published in 1729, the other in 1731. 

Cowper is in the list of poets who have alluded to "Cobham's groves" andPope's commemoration of them. 

 And _Cobham's groves_ and Windsor's green retreats When Pope describes them have a thousand sweets. 

"Magnificence and splendour, " says Mr. Whately, the author of_Observations on Modern Gardening_, "are the characteristics of Stowe. It is like one of those places celebrated in antiquity which weredevoted to the purposes of religion, and filled with sacred groves, hallowed fountains, and temples dedicated to several deities; the resortof distant nations and the object of veneration to half the heathenworld: the pomp is, at Stowe, blended with beauty; and the place isequally distinguished by its amenity and grandeur. " Horace Walpolespeaks of its "visionary enchantment. " "I have been strolling about inBuckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, from garden to garden, " says Pope inone of his letters, "but still returning to Lord Cobham's with freshsatisfaction. "[021]

The grounds at Stowe, until the year 1714, were laid out in the oldformal style. Bridgeman then commenced the improvements and Kentsubsequently completed them. 

Stowe is now, I believe, in the possession of the Marquis of Chandos, son of the Duke of Buckingham. It is melancholy to state that thelibrary, the statues, the furniture, and even some of the timber on theestate, were sold in 1848 to satisfy the creditors of the Duke. 

Pope was never tired of improving his own grounds. "I pity you, Sir, "said a friend to him, "because you have now completed every thingbelonging to your gardens. "[022] "Why, " replied Pope, "I really shall beat a loss for the diversion I used to take in carrying out and finishingthings: I have now nothing left me to do but to add a little ornament ortwo along the line of the Thames. " I dare say Pope was by no means sonear the end of his improvements as he and his friend imagined. Onelittle change in a garden is sure to suggest or be followed by another. Garden-improvements are "never ending, still beginning. " The late Dr. Arnold, the famous schoolmaster, writing to a friend, says--"The gardenis a constant source of amusement to us both (self and wife); there arealways some little alterations to be made, some few spots where anadditional shrub or two would be ornamental, something coming intoblossom; so that I can always delight to go round and see how things aregoing on. " A garden is indeed a scene of continual change. Nature, evenwithout the aid of the gardener, has "infinite variety, " and supplies "aperpetual feast of nectared sweets where no crude surfeit reigns. "

Spence reports Pope to have said: "I have sometimes had an idea ofplanting an old gothic cathedral in trees. Good large poplars, withtheir white stems, cleared of boughs to a proper height would serve verywell for the columns, and might form the different aisles orperistilliums, by their different distances and heights. These wouldlook very well near, and the dome rising all in a proper tuft in themiddle would look well at a distance. " This sort of verdant architecturewould perhaps have a pleasing effect, but it is rather too much in theartificial style, to be quite consistent with Pope's own idea oflandscape-gardening. And there are other trees that would form a noblernatural cathedral than the formal poplar. Cowper did not think of thepoplar, when he described a green temple-roof. 

 How airy and how light the graceful arch, Yet awful as the consecrated roof Re-echoing pious anthems. 

Almost the only traces of Pope's garden that now remain are the splendidSpanish chesnut-trees and some elms and cedars planted by the poethimself. A space once laid out in winding walks and beautifulshrubberies is now a potatoe field! The present proprietor, Mr. Young, is a wholesale tea-dealer. Even the bones of the poet, it is said, havebeen disturbed. The skull of Pope, according to William Howitt, is nowin the private collection of a phrenologist! The manner in which it wasobtained, he says, is this:--On some occasion of alteration in thechurch at Twickenham, or burial of some one in the same spot, the coffinof Pope was disinterred, and opened to see the state of the remains. Bya bribe of £50 to the Sexton, possession of the skull was obtained forone night; another skull was then returned instead of the poet's. 

It has been stated that the French term _Ferme Ornée_ was first used inEngland by Shenstone. It exactly expressed the character of his grounds. Mr. Repton said that he never strolled over the scenery of the Leasoweswithout lamenting the constant disappointment to which Shenstone exposedhimself by a vain attempt to unite the incompatible objects of ornamentand profit. "Thus, " continued Mr. Repton, "the poet lived under thecontinual mortification of disappointed hope, and with a mindexquisitely sensible, he felt equally the sneer of the great man at themagnificence of his attempt and the ridicule of the farmer at themisapplication of his paternal acres. " The "sneer of the great man. " isperhaps an allusion to what Dr. Johnson says of Lord Lyttelton:--that he"looked with disdain" on "the petty State" of his neighbour. "For awhile, " says Dr. Johnson, "the inhabitants of Hagley affected to telltheir acquaintance of the little fellow that was trying to make himselfadmired; but when by degrees the Leasowes forced themselves into notice, they took care to defeat the curiosity which they could not suppress, byconducting their visitants perversely to inconvenient points of view, and introducing them at the wrong end of a walk to detect a deception;injuries of which Shenstone would heavily complain. " Mr. Graves, thezealous friend of Shenstone, indignantly denies that any of theLyttelton family had evinced so ungenerous a feeling towards theproprietor of the Leasowes who though his "empire" was less "spaciousand opulent" had probably a larger share of true taste than even theproprietor of Hagley, the Lyttelton domain--though Hagley has been much, and I doubt not, deservedly, admired. [023]

Dr. Johnson states that Shenstone's expenses were beyond his means, --that he spent his estate in adorning it--that at last the clamours ofcreditors "overpowered the lamb's bleat and the linnet's song; and thathis groves were haunted by beings very different from fauns andfairies. " But this is gross exaggeration. Shenstone was occasionally, indeed, in slight pecuniary difficulties, but he could always haveprotected himself from the intrusion of the myrmidons of the law byraising money on his estate; for it appears that after the payment ofall his debts, he left legacies to his friends and annuities to hisservants. 

Johnson himself is the most scornful of the critics upon Shenstone'srural pursuits. "The pleasure of Shenstone, " says the Doctor, "was allin his eye: he valued what he valued merely for its looks. Nothingraised his indignation more than to ask if there were any fishes in hiswater. " Dr. Johnson would have seen no use in the loveliest piece ofrunning water in the world if it had contained nothing that he couldmasticate! Mrs. Piozzi says of him, "The truth is, he hated to hearabout prospects and views, and laying out grounds and taste ingardening. " "That was the best garden, " he said, "which produced mostroots and fruits; and that water was most to be prized which containedmost fish. " On this principle of the valuelessness of those pleasureswhich enter the mind through the eye, Dr. Johnson should have blamed thelovers of painting for dwelling with such fond admiration on the canvasof his friend Sir Joshua Reynolds. In point of fact, Dr. Johnson had nomore sympathy with the genius of the painter or the musician than withthat of the Landscape gardener, for he had neither an eye nor an ear forArt. He wondered how any man could be such a fool as to be moved totears by music, and observed, that, "one could not fill one's belly withhearing soft murmurs or looking at rough cascades. " No; the lovelinessof nature does not satisfy the thirst and hunger of the body, but it_does_ satisfy the thirst and hunger of the soul. No one can findwheaten bread or wine or venison or beef or plum-pudding or turtle-soupin mere sounds and sights, however exquisite--neither can any one findsuch substantial diet within the boards of a book--no not even on thepages of Shakespeare, or even those of the Bible itself, --but men canfind in sweet music and lovely scenery and good books somethinginfinitely more precious than all the wine, venison, beef, orplum-pudding, or turtle-soup that could be swallowed during a long life bythe most craving and capacious alderman of London! Man is of a dualnature: he is not all body. He has other and far higher wants andenjoyments than the purely physical--and these nobler appetites aregratified by the charms of nature and the creations of inspired genius. 

Dr. Johnson's gastronomic allusions to nature recal the old story of apoet pointing out to a utilitarian friend some white lambs frolicking ina meadow. "Aye, " said, the other, "only think of a quarter of one ofthem with asparagus and mint sauce!" The story is by some supposed tohave had a Scottish origin, and a prosaic North Briton is made to saythat the pretty little lambs, sporting amidst the daisies andbuttercups, would "_mak braw pies_. "

A profound feeling for the beautiful is generally held to be anessential quality in the poet. It is a curious fact, however, that thereare some who aspire to the rank of poet, and have their claims allowed, who yet cannot be said to be poetical in their nature--for how can thatnature be, strictly speaking, _poetical_ which denies the sentiment ofKeats, that

 A thing of beauty is a joy for ever?

Both Scott and Byron very earnestly admired Dr. Johnson's "_London_" and"_The Vanity of Human Wishes_. " Yet the sentiments just quoted from theauthor of those productions are far more characteristic of a utilitarianphilosopher than of one who has been endowed by nature with

 The vision and the faculty divine, and made capable, like some mysterious enchanter, of

 Clothing the palpable and the familiar With golden exhalations of the dawn. 

Crabbe, also a prime favorite with the authors of the _Lay of the LastMinstrel_, and _Childe Harold_, is recorded by his biographer--his ownson--to have exhibited "a remarkable indifference to all the properobjects of taste;" to have had "no real love for painting, or music, orarchitecture or for what a painter's eye considers as the beauties oflandscape. " "In botany, grasses, the most _useful_ but the leastornamental, were his favorites. " "He never seemed to be captivated withthe mere beauty of natural objects or even to catch any taste for thearrangement of his specimens. Within, the house was a kind of scientificconfusion; in the garden the usual showy foreigners gave place to themost scarce flowers, especially to the rarer weeds, of Britain; and werescattered here and there only for preservation. In fact he neither lovedorder for its own sake nor had any very high opinion of that passion inothers. "[024] Lord Byron described Crabbe to be

 Though nature's sternest painter, yet _the best_. 

What! was he a better painter of nature than Shakespeare? The truth isthat Byron was a wretched critic, though a powerful poet. His praisesand his censures were alike unmeasured. 

 His generous ardor no cold medium knew. 

He seemed to recognize no great general principles of criticism, but tofound all his judgments on mere prejudice and passion. He thought Cowper"no poet, " pronounced Spenser "a dull fellow, " and placed Pope aboveShakespeare. Byron's line on Crabbe is inscribed on the poet's tombstoneat Trowbridge. Perhaps some foreign visitor on reading the inscriptionmay be surprized at his own ignorance when he learns that it is not theauthor of _Macbeth_ and _Othello_ that he is to regard as the bestpainter of nature that England has produced, but the author of the_Parish Register_ and the _Tales of the Hall_. Absurd and indiscriminatelaudations of this kind confound all intellectual distinctions and makecriticism ridiculous. Crabbe is unquestionably a vigorous and truthfulwriter, but he is not the _best_ we have, in any sense of the word. 

Though Dr. Johnson speaks so contemptuously of Shenstone's ruralpursuits, he could not help acknowledging that when the poet began "topoint his prospects, to diversify his surface, to entangle his walks andto wind his waters, " he did all this with such judgment and fancy as"made his little domain the envy of the great and the admiration of theskilful; a place to be visited by travellers, and copied by designers. "

Mason, in his _English Garden_, a poem once greatly admired, but nowrarely read, and never perhaps with much delight, does justice to thetaste of the Poet of the Leasowes. 

 Nor, Shenstone, thou Shalt pass without thy meed, thou son of peace! Who knew'st, perchance, to harmonize thy shades Still softer than thy song; yet was that song Nor rude nor inharmonious when attuned To pastoral plaint, or tale of slighted love. 

English pleasure-gardens have been much imitated by the French. ViscomteGirardin, at his estate of Ermenonville, dedicated an inscription inamusing French-English to the proprietor of the Leasowes--

 THIS PLAIN STONE TO WILLIAM SHENSTONE; IN HIS WRITINGS HE DISPLAYED A MIND NATURAL; AT LEASOWES HE LAID ARCADIAN GREENS RURAL. 

The Viscomte, though his English composition was so quaint andimperfect, was an elegant writer in his own language, and showed greattaste and skill in laying out his grounds. He had visited England, andcarefully studied our modern style of gardening. He had personallyconsulted Shenstone, Mason, Whateley and other English authors onsubjects of rural taste. He published an eloquent description of his ownestate. His famous friend Rousseau wrote the preface to it. The book wastranslated into English. Rousseau spent his last days at Ermenonvilleand was buried there in what is called _The Isle of Poplars_. The gardenis now in a neglected state, but the tomb of Rousseau remains uninjured, and is frequently visited by the admirers of his genius. 

"Dr. Warton, " says Bowles, "mentions Milton and Pope as the poets towhom English Landscape is indebted, but _he forgot poor Shenstone_. " Alater writer, however, whose sympathy for genius communicates such acharm to all his anecdotes and comments in illustration of the literarycharacter, has devoted a chapter of his _Curiosities of Literature_ to anotice of the rural tastes of the proprietor of the Leasowes. I mustgive a brief extract from it. 

"When we consider that Shenstone, in developing his fine pastoral ideasin the Leasowes, educated the nation into that taste forlandscape-gardening, which has become the model of all Europe, this itselfconstitutes a claim on the gratitude of posterity. Thus the privatepleasures of a man of genius may become at length those of a wholepeople. The creator of this new taste appears to have received far lessnotice than he merited. The name of Shenstone does not appear in theEssay on Gardening, by Lord Orford; even the supercilious Gray onlybestowed a ludicrous image on these pastoral scenes, which, however, hisfriend Mason has celebrated; and the genius of Johnson, incapacitated bynature to touch on objects of rural fancy, after describing some of theoffices of the landscape designer, adds, that 'he will not inquirewhether they demand any great powers of mind. ' Johnson, however, conveysto us his own feelings, when he immediately expresses them under thecharacter of 'a sullen and surly speculator. ' The anxious life ofShenstone would indeed have been remunerated, could he have read theenchanting eulogium of Whateley on the Leasowes; which, said he, 'is aperfect picture of his mind--simple, elegant and amiable; and willalways suggest a doubt whether the spot inspired his verse, or whetherin the scenes which he formed, he only realised the pastoral imageswhich abound in his songs. ' Yes! Shenstone had been delighted could hehave heard that Montesquieu, on his return home, adorned his 'ChateauGothique, mais orné de bois charmans, don't j'ai pris l'idée enAngleterre;' and Shenstone, even with his modest and timid nature, hadbeen proud to have witnessed a noble foreigner, amidst memorialsdedicated to Theocritus and Virgil, to Thomson and Gesner, raising inhis grounds an inscription, in bad English, but in pure taste, toShenstone himself; for having displayed in his writings 'a mindnatural, ' and in his Leasowes 'laid Arcadian greens rural;' and recentlyPindemonte has traced the taste of English gardening to Shenstone. A manof genius sometimes receives from foreigners, who are placed out of theprejudices of his compatriots, the tribute of posterity!"

"The Leasowes, " says William Howitt, "now belongs to the Atwood family;and a Miss Atwood resides there occasionally. But the whole place bearsthe impress of desertion and neglect. The house has a dull look; thesame heavy spirit broods over the lawns and glades: And it is only whenyou survey it from a distance, as when approaching Hales-Owen fromHagley, that the whole presents an aspect of unusual beauty. "

Shenstone was at least as proud of his estate of the Leasowes as wasPope of his Twickenham Villa--perhaps more so. By mere men of the world, this pride in a garden may be regarded as a weakness, but if it be aweakness it is at least an innocent and inoffensive one, and it has beenassociated with the noblest intellectual endowments. Pitt and Fox andBurke and Warren Hastings were not weak men, and yet were they allextremely proud of their gardens. Every one, indeed, who takes an activeinterest in the culture and embellishment of his garden, finds his pridein it and his love for it increase daily. He is delighted to see itflourish and improve beneath his care. Even the humble mechanic, in hisfondness for a garden, often indicates a feeling for the beautiful, anda genial nature. If a rich man were openly to boast of his plate or hisequipages, or a literary man of his essays or his sonnets, as lovers offlowers boast of their geraniums or dahlias or rhododendrons, they woulddisgust the most indulgent hearer. But no one is shocked at theexultation of a gardener, amateur or professional, when in the fulnessof his heart he descants upon the unrivalled beauty of his favoriteflowers:

 'Plants of his hand, and children of his care. '

"I have made myself two gardens, " says Petrarch, "and I do not imaginethat they are to be equalled in all the world. I should feel myselfinclined to be angry with fortune if there were any so beautiful out ofItaly. " "I wish, " says poor Kirke White writing to a friend, "I wish youto have a taste of these (rural) pleasures with me, and if ever I shouldlive to be blessed with a quiet parsonage, and _another great object ofmy ambition--a garden_, I have no doubt but we shall be for some shortintervals at least two quite contented bodies. " The poet Young, in thelatter part of his life, after years of vain hopes and worldlystruggles, gave himself up almost entirely to the sweet seclusion of agarden; and that peace and repose which cannot be found in courts andpolitical cabinets, he found at last

 In sunny garden bowers Where vernal winds each tree's low tones awaken, And buds and bells with changes mark the hours. 

He discovered that it was more profitable to solicit nature than toflatter the great. 

 For Nature never did betray The heart that loved her. 

People of a poetical temperament--all true lovers of nature--can afford, far better than more essentially worldly beings, to exclaim withThomson. 

 I care not Fortune what you me deny, You cannot bar me of free Nature's grace, You cannot shut the windows of the sky Through which Aurora shows her brightening face: You cannot bar my constant feet to trace The woods and lawns and living streams at eve: Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace, And I their toys to the _great children_ leave:-- Of fancy, reason, virtue, nought can me bereave. 

The pride in a garden laid out under one's own directions and partlycultivated by one's own hand has been alluded to as in some degreeunworthy of the dignity of manhood, not only by mere men of the world, or silly coxcombs, but by people who should have known better. Even SirWilliam Temple, though so enthusiastic about his fruit-trees, tells usthat he will not enter upon any account of _flowers_, having onlypleased himself with seeing or smelling them, and not troubled himselfwith the care of them, which he observes "_is more the ladies part thanthe men's_. " Sir William makes some amends for this almost contemptuousallusion to flowers in particular by his ardent appreciation of the useof gardens and gardening in general. He thus speaks of their attractionsand advantages: "The sweetness of the air, the pleasantness of thesmell, the verdure of plants, the cleanness and lightness of food, theexercise of working or walking, but above all, the exemption from caresand solicitude, seem equally to favor and improve both contemplation andhealth, the enjoyment of sense and imagination, and thereby the quietand ease of the body and mind. " Again: "As gardening has been theinclination of kings and the choice of philosophers, so it has been thecommon favorite of public and private men, a pleasure of the greatestand the care of the meanest; and indeed _an employment and a possessionfor which no man is too high or too low_. " This is just and liberal;though I can hardly help still feeling a little sore at Sir William'shaving implied in the passage previously quoted, that the care offlowers is but a feminine occupation. As an elegant amusement, it issurely equally well fitted for all lovers of the beautiful, withoutreference to their sex. 

It is not women and children only who delight in flower-gardens. LordBacon and William Pitt and the Earl of Chatham and Fox and Burke andWarren Hastings--all lovers of flowers--were assuredly not men offrivolous minds or of feminine habits. They were always eager to exhibitto visitors the beauty of their parterres. In his declining years thestately John Kemble left the stage for his garden. That sturdy Englishyeoman, William Cobbett, was almost as proud of his beds of flowers asof the pages of his _Political Register_. He thus speaks of gardening:

"Gardening is a source of much greater profit than is generallyimagined; but, merely as an amusement or recreation it is a thing ofvery great value. It is not only compatible with but favorable to thestudy of any art or science; it is conducive to health by means of theirresistible temptation which it offers to early rising; to the stirringabroad upon one's legs, for a man may really ride till he cannot walk, sit till he cannot stand, and lie abed till he cannot get up. It tendsto turn the minds of youth from amusements and attachments of afrivolous and vicious nature, it is a taste which is indulged at home;it tends to make home pleasant, and to endear to us the spot on which itis our lot to live, --and as to the _expenses_ attending it, what are allthese expenses compared with those of the short, the unsatisfactory, theinjurious enjoyment of the card-table, and the rest of those amusementswhich are sought from the town. " _Cobbett's English Gardener_. 

"Other fine arts, " observes Lord Kames, "may be perverted to exciteirregular and even vicious emotions: but gardening, which inspires thepurest and most refined pleasures, cannot fail to promote every goodaffection. The gaiety and harmony of mind it produceth, inclining thespectator to communicate his satisfaction to others, and to make themhappy as he is himself, tend naturally to establish in him a habit ofhumanity and benevolence. "

Every thoughtful mind knows how much the face of nature has to do withhuman happiness. In the open air and in the midst of summer-flowers, weoften feel the truth of the observation that "a fair day is a kind ofsensual pleasure, and of all others the most innocent. " But it is alsosomething more, and better. It kindles a spiritual delight. At such atime and in such a scene every observer capable of a religious emotionis ready to exclaim--

 Oh! there is joy and happiness in every thing I see, Which bids my soul rise up and bless the God that blesses me

_Anon. _

The amiable and pious Doctor Carey of Serampore, in whose grounds sprangup that dear little English daisy so beautifully addressed by hispoetical proxy, James Montgomery of Sheffield, in the stanzascommencing:--

 Thrice welcome, little English flower! My mother country's white and red--

was so much attached to his Indian garden, that it was always in hisheart in the intervals of more important cares. It is said that heremembered it even upon his death-bed, and that it was amongst his lastinjunctions to his friends that they should see to its being kept upwith care. He was particularly anxious that the hedges or railingsshould always be in such good order as to protect his favorite shrubsand flowers from the intrusion of Bengalee cattle. 

A garden is a more interesting possession than a gallery of pictures ora cabinet of curiosities. Its glories are never stationary or stale. Ithas infinite variety. It is not the same to-day as it was yesterday. Itis always changing the character of its charms and always increasingthem in number. It delights all the senses. Its pleasures are not of anunsocial character; for every visitor, high or low, learned orilliterate, may be fascinated with the fragrance and beauty of a garden. But shells and minerals and other curiosities are for the man of scienceand the connoisseur. And a single inspection of them is generallysufficient: they never change their aspect. The Picture-Gallery maycharm an instructed eye but the multitude have little relish for humanArt, because they rarely understand it:--while the skill of the GreatLimner of Nature is visible in every flower of the garden even to thehumblest swain. 

It is pleasant to read how the wits and beauties of the time of QueenAnne used to meet together in delightful garden-retreats, 'like thecompanies in Boccaccio's Decameron or in one of Watteau's pictures. 'Ritchings Lodge, for instance, the seat of Lord Bathurst, was visited bymost of the celebrities of England, and frequently exhibited brightgroups of the polite and accomplished of both sexes; of mendistinguished for their heroism or their genius, and of women eminentfor their easy and elegant conversation, or for gaiety and grace ofmanner, or perfect loveliness of face and form--all in harmonious unionwith the charms of nature. The gardens at Ritchings were enriched withInscriptions from the pens of Congreve and Pope and Gay and Addison andPrior. When the estate passed into the possession of the Earl ofHertford, his literary lady devoted it to the Muses. "She invited everysummer, " says Dr. Johnson, "some poet into the country to hear herverses and assist her studies. " Thomson, who praises her so lavishly inhis "Spring, " offended her ladyship by allowing her too clearly toperceive that he was resolved not to place himself in the dilemma ofwhich Pope speaks so feelingly with reference to other poetasters. 

 Seized and tied down to judge, how wretched I, Who can't be silent, and who will not lie. I sit with sad civility, I read With honest anguish and an aching head. 

But though "the bard more fat than bard beseems" was restive under herladyship's "poetical operations, " and too plainly exhibited a desire toescape the infliction, preferring the Earl's claret to the lady'srhymes, she should have been a little more generously forgiving towardsone who had already made her immortal. It is stated, that she neverrepeated her invitation to the Poet of the Seasons, who though soimpatient of the sound of her tongue when it "rolled" her own"raptures, " seems to have been charmed with her _at a distance_--whilemeditating upon her excellencies in the seclusion of his own study. Thecompliment to the Countess is rather awkwardly wedged in betweendescriptions of "gentle Spring" with her "shadowing roses" and "surlyWinter" with his "ruffian blasts. " It should have commenced the poem. 

 O Hertford, fitted or to shine in courts With unaffected grace, or walk the plain, With innocence and meditation joined In soft assemblage, listen to my song, Which thy own season paints; when nature all Is blooming and benevolent like thee. 

Thomson had no objection to strike off a brief compliment in verse, buthe was too indolent to keep up _in propriâ personâ_ an incessant fire ofcompliments, like the _bon bons_ at a Carnival. It was easier to writeher praises than listen to her verses. Shenstone seems to have been morepliable. He was personally obsequious, lent her recitations an attentiveear, and was ever ready with the expected commendation. It is not likelythat her ladyship found much, difficulty in collecting around her acrowd of critics more docile than Thomson and quite as complaisant asShenstone. Let but a _Countess_

 Once own the happy lines, How the wit brightens, how the style refines!

Though Thomson's first want on his arrival in London from the North wasa pair of shoes, and he lived for a time in great indigence, he wascomfortable enough at last. Lord Lyttleton introduced him to the Princeof Wales (who professed himself the patron of literature) and when hisHighness questioned him about the state of his affairs, Thomson assuredhim that they "were in a more poetical posture than formerly. " Theprince bestowed upon the poet a pension of a hundred pounds a year, andwhen his friend Lord Lyttleton was in power his Lordship obtained forhim the office of Surveyor General of the Leeward Islands. He sent adeputy there who was more trustworthy than Thomas Moore's at Bermuda. Thomson's deputy after deducting his own salary remitted his principalthree hundred pounds per annum, so that the bard 'more fat than bardbeseems' was not in a condition to grow thinner, and could afford tomake his cottage a Castle of Indolence. Leigh Hunt has versified ananecdote illustrative of Thomson's luxurious idleness. He who coulddescribe "_Indolence_" so well, and so often appeared in the parthimself, Slippered, and with hands, Each in a waistcoat pocket, (so that all Might yet repose that could) was seen one morn Eating a wondering peach from off the tree. 

A little summer-house at Richmond which Thomson made his study is stillpreserved, and even some articles of furniture, just as he leftthem. [025] Over the entrance is erected a tablet on which is thefollowing inscription:

 HERE THOMSON SANG THE SEASONS AND THEIR CHANGE. 

Thomson was buried in Richmond Church. Collins's lines to his memory, beginning

 In yonder grave a Druid lies, are familiar to all readers of English poetry. 

Richmond Hill has always been the delight not of poets only but ofpainters. Sir Joshua Reynolds built a house there, and one of the onlythree landscapes which seem to have survived him, is a view from thewindow of his drawing-room. Gainsborough was also a resident inRichmond. Richmond gardens laid out or rather altered by Brown, are nowunited with those of Kew. 

Savage resided for some time at Richmond. It was the favorite haunt ofCollins, one of the most poetical of poets, who, as Dr. Johnson says, "delighted to rove through the meanders of enchantment, to gaze on themagnificence of golden palaces, to repose by the waterfalls of Elysiangardens. " Wordsworth composed a poem upon the Thames near Richmond inremembrance of Collins. Here is a stanza of it. 

 Glide gently, thus for ever glide, O Thames, that other bards may see As lovely visions by thy side As now fair river! come to me; O glide, fair stream for ever so, Thy quiet soul on all bestowing, Till all our minds for ever flow As thy deep waters now are flowing. 

Thomson's description of the scenery of Richmond Hill perhaps hardlydoes it justice, but the lines are too interesting to be omitted. 

 Say, shall we wind Along the streams? or walk the smiling mead? Or court the forest-glades? or wander wild Among the waving harvests? or ascend, While radiant Summer opens all its pride, Thy hill, delightful Shene[026]? Here let us sweep The boundless landscape now the raptur'd eye, Exulting swift, to huge Augusta send, Now to the sister hills[027] that skirt her plain, To lofty Harrow now, and now to where Majestic Windsor lifts his princely brow In lovely contrast to this glorious view Calmly magnificent, then will we turn To where the silver Thames first rural grows There let the feasted eye unwearied stray, Luxurious, there, rove through the pendent woods That nodding hang o'er Harrington's retreat, And stooping thence to Ham's embowering walks, Beneath whose shades, in spotless peace retir'd, With her the pleasing partner of his heart, The worthy Queensbury yet laments his Gay, And polish'd Cornbury woos the willing Muse Slow let us trace the matchless vale of Thames Fair winding up to where the Muses haunt In Twit nam's bowers, and for their Pope implore The healing god[028], to loyal Hampton's pile, To Clermont's terrass'd height, and Esher's groves; Where in the sweetest solitude, embrac'd By the soft windings of the silent Mole, From courts and senates Pelham finds repose Enchanting vale! beyond whate'er the Muse Has of Achaia or Hesperia sung! O vale of bliss! O softly swelling hills! On which the _Power of Cultivation_ lies, And joys to see the wonders of his toil. 

The Revd. Thomas Maurice wrote a poem entitled _Richmond Hill_, but itcontains nothing deserving of quotation after the above passage fromThomson. In the _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ the labors ofMaurice are compared to those of Sisyphus

 So up thy hill, ambrosial Richmond, heaves Dull Maurice, all his granite weight of leaves. 

Towards the latter part of the last century the Empress of Russia(Catherine the Second) expressed in a French letter to Voltaire heradmiration of the style of English Gardening. [029] "I love todistraction, " she writes, "the present English taste in gardening. Theircurved lines, their gentle slopes, their pieces of water in the shape oflakes, their picturesque little islands. I have a great contempt forstraight lines and parallel walks. I hate those fountains which torturewater into forms unknown to nature. I have banished all the statues tothe vestibules and to the galleries. In a word English tastepredominates in my _plantomanie_. "[030]

I omitted when alluding to those Englishmen in past times whoanticipated the taste of the present day in respect to laying outgrounds, to mention the ever respected name of John Evelyn, and as allother writers before me, I believe, who have treated upon gardening, have been guilty of the same oversight, I eagerly make his memory someslight amends by quoting the following passage from one of his lettersto his friend Sir Thomas Browne. 

"I might likewise hope to refine upon some particulars, especiallyconcerning the ornaments of gardens, which I shall endeavor so to handleas that they may become useful and practicable, as well as magnificent, and that persons of all conditions and faculties, which delight ingardens, may therein encounter something for their owne advantage. Themodell, which I perceive you have seene, will aboundantly testifie myabhorrency of those painted and formal projections of our cockneygardens and plotts, which appeare like gardens of past-board andmarchpane, and smell more of paynt then of flowers and verdure; ourdrift is a noble, princely, and universal Elysium, capable of all theamoenities that can naturally be introduced into gardens of pleasure, and such as may stand in competition with all the august designes andstories of this nature, either of antient or moderne tymes; yet so as tobecome useful and significant to the least pretences and faculties. Wewill endeavour to shew how the air and genious of gardens operat uponhumane spirits towards virtue and sanctitie: I mean in a remote, preparatory and instrumentall working. How caves, grotts, mounts, andirregular ornaments of gardens do contribute to contemplative andphilosophicall enthusiasme; how _elysium, antrum, nemus, paradysus, hortus, lucus_, &c. , signifie all of them _rem sacram it divinam_; forthese expedients do influence the soule and spirits of men, and preparethem for converse with good angells; besides which, they contribute tothe lesse abstracted pleasures, phylosophy naturall; and longevitie: andI would have not onely the elogies and effigie of the antient and famousgarden heroes, but a society of the _paradisi cultores_ persons ofantient simplicity, Paradisean and Hortulan saints, to be a society oflearned and ingenuous men, such as Dr. Browne, by whome we might hope toredeeme the tyme that has bin lost, in pursuing _Vulgar Errours_, andstill propagating them, as so many bold men do yet presume to do. "

The English style of landscape-gardening being founded on naturalprinciples must be recognized by true taste in all countries. Even inRome, when art was most allowed to predominate over nature, there wereoccasional instances of that correct feeling for rural beauty which theEnglish during the last century and a half have exhibited moreconspicuously than other nations. Atticus preferred Tully's villa atArpinum to all his other villas; because at Arpinum, Nature predominatedover art. Our Kents and Browns[031] never expressed a greater contempt, than was expressed by Atticus, for all formal and artificial decorationsof natural scenery. 

The spot where Cicero's villa stood, was, in the time of Middleton, possessed by a convent of monks and was called the Villa of St. Dominic. It was built, observes Mr. Dunlop, in the year 1030, from the fragmentsof the Arpine Villa!

 Art, glory, Freedom, fail--but Nature still is fair. 

"Nothing, " says Mr. Kelsall, "can be imagined finer than the surroundinglandscape. The deep azure of the sky, unvaried by a single cloud--Soraon a rock at the foot of the precipitous Appennines--both banks of theGarigliano covered with vineyards--the _fragor aquarum_, alluded to byAtticus in his work _De Legibus_--the coolness, the rapidity andultramarine hue of the Fibrenus--the noise of its cataracts--the richturquoise color of the Liris--the minor Appennines round Arpino, crownedwith umbrageous oaks to the very summits--present scenery hardlyelsewhere to be equalled, certainly not to be surpassed, even in Italy. "

This description of an Italian landscape can hardly fail to charm theimagination of the coldest reader; but after all, I cannot helpconfessing to so inveterate a partiality for dear old England as to bedelighted with the compliment which Gray, the poet, pays to Englishscenery when he prefers it to the scenery of Italy. "Mr. Walpole, "writes the poet from Italy, "says, our _memory_ sees more than our eyesin this country. This is extremely true, since for _realities_ WINDSORor RICHMOND HILL is infinitely preferable to ALBANO or FRESCATI. "

Sir Walter Scott, with all his patriotic love for his own romantic land, could not withhold his tribute to the loveliness of Richmond Hill, --its"_unrivalled landscape_" its "_sea of verdure_. "

 "They" (The Duke of Argyle and Jeanie Deans) "paused for a moment on the brow of a hill, to gaze on the unrivalled landscape it presented. A huge sea of verdure, with crossing and intersecting promontories of massive and tufted groves was tenanted by numberless flocks and herds which seemed to wander unrestrained and unbounded through the rich pastures. The Thames, here turreted with villas, and there garlanded with forests, moved on slowly and placidly, like the mighty monarch of the scene, to whom all its other beauties were but accessaries, and bore on its bosom an hundred barks and skiffs whose white sails and gaily fluttering pennons gave life to the whole. " _The Heart of Mid-Lothian_. 

It must of course be admitted that there are grander, more sublime, morevaried and extensive prospects in other countries, but it would bedifficult to persuade me that the richness of English verdure could besurpassed or even equalled, or that any part of the world can exhibitlandscapes more truly _lovely_ and _loveable_, than those of England, ormore calculated to leave a deep and enduring impression upon the heart. Mr. Kelsall speaks of an Italian sky "_uncovered by a single cloud_, "but every painter and poet knows how much variety and beauty of effectare bestowed upon hill and plain and grove and river by passing clouds;and even our over-hanging vapours remind us of the veil upon the cheekof beauty; and ever as the sun uplifts the darkness the glory of thelandscape seems renewed and freshened. It would cheer the saddest heartand send the blood dancing through the veins, to behold after a dullmisty dawn, the sun break out over Richmond Hill, and with one broadlight make the whole landscape smile; but I have been still moreinterested in the prospect when on a cloudy day the whole "sea ofverdure" has been swayed to and fro into fresher life by the fitfulbreeze, while the lights and shadows amidst the foliage and on the lawnshave been almost momentarily varied by the varying sky. These changesfascinate the eye, keep the soul awake, and save the scenery from thecomparatively monotonous character of landscapes in less varying climes. And for my own part, I cordially echo the sentiment of Wordsworth, whowhen conversing with Mrs. Hemans about the scenery of the Lakes in theNorth of England, observed: "I would not give up the mists that_spiritualize_ our mountains for all the blue skies of Italy. "

Though Mrs. Stowe, the American authoress already quoted as one of theadmirers of England, duly appreciates the natural grandeur of her ownland, she was struck with admiration and delight at the aspect of ourEnglish landscapes. Our trees, she observes, "are of an order ofnobility and they wear their crowns right kingly. " "Leaving out ofaccount, " she adds, "our _mammoth arboria_, the English Parks have treesas fine and effective as ours, and when I say their trees are of anorder of nobility, I mean that they (the English) pay a reverence tothem such as their magnificence deserves. "

Walter Savage Landor, one of the most accomplished and most highlyendowed both by nature and by fortune of our living men of letters, hasdone, or rather has tried to do, almost as much for his country in theway of enriching its collection of noble trees as Evelyn himself. Helaid out £70, 000 on the improvement of an estate in Monmouthshire, wherehe planted and fenced half a million of trees, and had a million moreready to plant, when the conduct of some of his tenants, who spitefullyuprooted them and destroyed the whole plantation, so disgusted him withthe place, that he razed to the ground the house which had cost him£8, 000, and left the country. He then purchased a beautiful estate inItaly, which is still in possession of his family. He himself has longsince returned to his native land. Landor loves Italy, but he lovesEngland better. In one of his _Imaginary Conversations_ he tells anItalian nobleman:

"The English are more zealous of introducing new fruits, shrubs andplants, than other nations; you Italians are less so than any civilizedone. Better fruit is eaten in Scotland than in the most fertile andcultivated parts of your peninsula. _As for flowers, there is a greatervariety in the worst of our fields than in the best of your gardens. _ Asfor shrubs, I have rarely seen a lilac, a laburnum, a mezereon, in anyof them, and yet they flourish before almost every cottage in ourpoorest villages. "

"We wonder in England, when we hear it related by travellers, thatpeaches in Italy are left under the trees for swine; but, when weourselves come into the country, our wonder is rather that the swine donot leave them for animals less nice. "

Landor acknowledges that he has eaten better pears and cherries in Italythan in England, but that all the other kinds of fruitage in Italyappeared to him unfit for dessert. 

The most celebrated of the private estates of the present day in Englandis Chatsworth, the seat of the Duke of Devonshire. The mansion, calledthe Palace of the Peak, is considered one of the most splendidresidences in the land. The grounds are truly beautiful and mostcarefully attended to. The elaborate waterworks are perhaps not in theseverest taste. Some of them are but costly puerilities. There is awater-work in the form of a tree that sends a shower from every branchon the unwary visitor, and there are snakes that spit forth jets uponhim as he retires. This is silly trifling: but ill adapted to interestthose who have passed their teens; and not at all an agreeable sort ofhospitality in a climate like that of England. It is in the style of thewater-works at Versailles, where wooden soldiers shoot from theirmuskets vollies of water at the spectators. [032]

It was an old English custom on certain occasions to sprinkle water overthe company at a grand entertainment. Bacon, in his Essay on Masques, seems to object to getting drenched, when he observes that "some sweetodours suddenly coming forth, _without any drops falling_, are in sucha company as there is steam and heat, things of great pleasure andrefreshment. " It was a custom also of the ancient Greeks and Romans tosprinkle their guests with fragrant waters. The Gascons had once thesame taste: "At times, " says Montaigne, "from the bottom of the stage, they caused sweet-scented waters to spout upwards and dart their threadto such a prodigious height, as to sprinkle and perfume the vastmultitudes of spectators. " The Native gentry of India always slightlysprinkle their visitors with rose-water. It is flung from a small silverutensil tapering off into a sort of upright spout with a pierced top inthe fashion of that part of a watering pot which English gardeners callthe _rose_. 

The finest of the water-works at Chatsworth is one called the _EmperorFountain_ which throws up a jet 267 feet high. This height exceeds thatof any fountain in Europe. There is a vast Conservatory on the estate, built of glass by Sir Joseph Paxton, who designed and constructed theCrystal Palace. His experience in the building of conservatories nodoubt suggested to him the idea of the splendid glass edifice in HydePark. The conservatory at Chatsworth required 70, 000 square feet ofglass. Four miles of iron tubing are used in heating the building. Thereis a broad carriage way running right through the centre of theconservatory. [033] This conservatory is peculiarly rich in exotic plantsof all kinds, collected at an enormous cost. This most princely estate, contrasted with the little cottages and cottage-gardens in theneighbourhood, suggested to Wordsworth the following sonnet. 

CHATSWORTH. 

 Chatsworth! thy stately mansion, and the pride Of thy domain, strange contrast do present To house and home in many a craggy tent Of the wild Peak, where new born waters glide Through fields whose thrifty occupants abide As in a dear and chosen banishment With every semblance of entire content; So kind is simple Nature, fairly tried! Yet he whose heart in childhood gave his troth To pastoral dales, then set with modest farms, May learn, if judgment strengthen with his growth, That not for Fancy only, pomp hath charms; And, strenuous to protect from lawless harms The extremes of favored life, may honour both. 

The two noblest of modern public gardens in England are those atKensington and Kew. Kensington Gardens were begun by King William theIII, but were originally only twenty-six acres in extent. Queen Anneadded thirty acres more. The grounds were laid out by the well-knowngarden-designers, London and Wise. [034] Queen Caroline, who formed theSerpentine River by connecting several detached pieces of water intoone, and set the example of a picturesque deviation from the straightline, [035] added from Hyde Park no less than three hundred acres whichwere laid out by Bridgeman. This was a great boon to the Londoners. Horace Walpole says that Queen Caroline at first proposed to shut up St. James's Park and convert it into a private garden for herself, but whenshe asked Sir Robert Walpole what it would cost, he answered--"Onlythree Crowns. " This changed her intentions. 

The reader of Pope will remember an allusion to the famous Ring in HydePark. The fair Belinda was sometimes attended there by her guardianSylphs:

 The light militia of the lower sky. 

They guarded her from 'the white-gloved beaux, '

 These though unseen are ever on the wing, Hang o'er the box, _and hover o'er the Ring_. 

It was here that the gallantries of the "Merry Monarch" were but toooften exhibited to his people. "After dinner, " says the right garrulousPepys in his journal, "to Hyde Parke; at the Parke was the King, and inanother Coach, Lady Castlemaine, they greeting one another at everyturn. "

The Gardens at Kew "Imperial Kew, " as Darwin styles it, are the richestin the world. They consist of one hundred and seventy acres. They wereonce private gardens, and were long in the possession of Royalty, untilthe accession of Queen Victoria, who opened the gardens to the publicand placed them under the control of the Commissioners of Her Majesty'sWoods and Forests, "with a view of rendering them available to thegeneral good. "

 She hath left you all her walks, Her private arbors and new planted orchards On this side Tiber. She hath left them you And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures To walk abroad and recreate yourselves. 

They contain a large Palm-house built in 1848. [036] The extent of glassfor covering the building is said to be 360, 000 square feet. MyMahomedan readers in Hindostan, (I hope they will be numerous, ) willperhaps be pleased to hear that there is an ornamental mosque in thesegardens. On each of the doors of this mosque is an Arabic inscription ingolden characters, taken from the Koran. The Arabic has been thustranslated:--

 LET THERE BE NO FORCE IN RELIGION. THERE IS NO OTHER GOD EXCEPT THE DEITY. MAKE NOT ANY LIKENESS UNTO GOD. 

The first sentence of the translation is rather ambiguously worded. Thesentiment has even an impious air: an apparent meaning very differentfrom that which was intended. Of course the original text _means_, though the English translator has not expressed that meaning--"Let therebe no force _used_ in religion. "

When William Cobbett was a boy of eleven years of age he worked in thegarden of the Bishop of Winchester at Farnham. Having heard much of Kewgardens he resolved to change his locality and his master. He startedoff for Kew, a distance of about thirty miles, with only thirteen pencein his pocket. The head gardener at Kew at once engaged his services. Afew days after, George the Fourth, then Prince of Wales, saw the boysweeping the lawns, and laughed heartily at his blue smock frock andlong red knotted garters. But the poor gardener's boy became a publicwriter, whose productions were not exactly calculated to excite themerriment of princes. 

Most poets have a painter's eye for the disposition of forms andcolours. Kent's practice as a painter no doubt helped to make him whathe was as a landscape-gardener. When an architect was consulted aboutlaying out the grounds at Blenheim he replied, "you must send for alandscape-painter:" he might have added--"_or a poet_. "

Our late Laureate, William Wordsworth, exhibited great taste in hissmall garden at Rydal Mount. He said of himself--very truly though notvery modestly perhaps, --but modesty was never Wordsworth'sweakness--that nature seemed to have fitted him for three callings--thatof the poet, the critic on works of art, and the landscape-gardener. The poet's nest--(Mrs. Hemans calls it 'a lovely cottage-likebuilding'[037])--is almost hidden in a rich profusion of roses and ivyand jessamine and virginia-creeper. Wordsworth, though he passionatelyadmired the shapes and hues of flowers, knew nothing of their fragrance. In this respect knowledge at one entrance was quite shut out. He hadpossessed at no time of his life the sense of smell. To make up for thisdeficiency, he is said (by De Quincey) to have had "a peculiar depth oforganic sensibility of form and color. "

Mr. Justice Coleridge tells us that Wordsworth dealt withshrubs, flower-beds and lawns with the readiness of a practisedlandscape-gardener, and that it was curious to observe how he had imparteda portion of his taste to his servant, James Dixon. In fact, honest Jamesregarded himself as a sort of Arbiter Elegantiarum. The master and hisservant often discussed together a question of taste. Wordsworthcommunicated to Mr. Justice Coleridge how "he and James" were once "in apuzzle" about certain discolored spots upon the lawn. "Cover them withsoap-lees, " said the master. "That will make the green there darker thanthe rest, " said the gardener. "Then we must cover the whole. " "That willnot do, " objects the gardener, "with reference to the little lawn towhich you pass from this. " "Cover that, " said the poet. "You will then, "replied the gardener, "have an unpleasant contrast with the foliagesurrounding it. "

Pope too had communicated to his gardener at Twickenham something of hisown taste. The man, long after his master's death, in reference to thetraining of the branches of plants, used to talk of their being made tohang "_something poetical_". 

It would have grieved Shakespeare and Pope and Shenstone had theyanticipated the neglect or destruction of their beloved retreats. Wordsworth said, "I often ask myself what will become of Rydal Mountafter our day. Will the old walls and steps remain in front of the houseand about the grounds, or will they be swept away with all the beautifulmosses and ferns and wild geraniums and other flowers which their rudeconstruction suffered and encouraged to grow among them. This littlewild flower, _Poor Robin_, is here constantly courting my attention andexciting what may be called a domestic interest in the varying aspect ofits stalks and leaves and flowers. " I hope no Englishman meditating toreside on the grounds now sacred to the memory of a national poet willever forget these words of the poet or treat his cottage and garden atRydal Mount as some of Pope's countrymen have treated the house andgrounds at Twickenham. [038] It would be sad indeed to hear, after this, that any one had refused to spare the _Poor Robins_ and _wild geraniums_of Rydal Mount. Miss Jewsbury has a poem descriptive of "the Poet'sHome. " I must give the first stanza:--

WORDSWORTH'S COTTAGE. 

 Low and white, yet scarcely seen Are its walls of mantling green; Not a window lets in light But through flowers clustering bright, Not a glance may wander there But it falls on something fair; Garden choice and fairy mound Only that no elves are found; Winding walk and sheltered nook For student grave and graver book, Or a bird-like bower perchance Fit for maiden and romance. 

Another lady-poet has poured forth in verse her admiration of

THE RESIDENCE OF WORDSWORTH. 

 Not for the glory on their heads Those stately hill-tops wear, Although the summer sunset sheds Its constant crimson there: Not for the gleaming lights that break The purple of the twilight lake, Half dusky and half fair, Does that sweet valley seem to be A sacred place on earth to me. 

 The influence of a moral spell Is found around the scene, Giving new shadows to the dell, New verdure to the green. With every mountain-top is wrought The presence of associate thought, A music that has been; Calling that loveliness to life, With which the inward world is rife. 

 His home--our English poet's home-- Amid these hills is made; Here, with the morning, hath he come, There, with the night delayed. On all things is his memory cast, For every place wherein he past, Is with his mind arrayed, That, wandering in a summer hour, Asked wisdom of the leaf and flower. 

L. E. L. 

The cottage and garden of the poet are not only picturesque anddelightful in themselves, but from their position in the midst of someof the finest scenery of England. One of the writers in the bookentitled '_The Land we Live in_' observes that the bard of the mountainsand the lakes could not have found a more fitting habitation had thewhole land been before him, where to choose his place of rest. "Snuglysheltered by the mountains, embowered among trees, and having in itselfprospects of surpassing beauty, it also lies in the midst of the verynoblest objects in the district, and in one of the happiest socialpositions. The grounds are delightful in every respect; but oneview--that from the terrace of moss-like grass--is, to our thinking, themost exquisitely graceful in all this land of beauty. It embraces thewhole valley of Windermere, with hills on either side softened intoperfect loveliness. "

Eustace, the Italian tourist, seems inclined to deprive the English ofthe honor of being the first cultivators of the natural style ingardening, and thinks that it was borrowed not from Milton but fromTasso. I suppose that most genuine poets, in all ages and in allcountries, when they give full play to the imagination, have glimpses ofthe truly natural in the arts. The reader will probably be glad to renewhis acquaintance with Tasso's description of the garden of Armida. Ishall give the good old version of Edward Fairfax from the edition of1687. Fairfax was a true poet and wrote musically at a time whensweetness of versification was not so much aimed at as in a later day. Waller confessed that he owed the smoothness of his verse to the exampleof Fairfax, who, as Warton observes, "well vowelled his lines. "

THE GARDEN OF ARMIDA. 

 When they had passed all those troubled ways, The Garden sweet spread forth her green to shew; The moving crystal from the fountains plays; Fair trees, high plants, strange herbs and flowerets new, Sunshiny hills, vales hid from Phoebus' rays, Groves, arbours, mossie caves at once they view, And that which beauty most, most wonder brought, No where appear'd the Art which all this wrought. 

 So with the rude the polished mingled was, That natural seem'd all and every part, Nature would craft in counterfeiting pass, And imitate her imitator Art: Mild was the air, the skies were clear as glass, The trees no whirlwind felt, nor tempest's smart, But ere the fruit drop off, the blossom comes, This springs, that falls, that ripeneth and this blooms. 

 The leaves upon the self-same bough did hide, Beside the young, the old and ripened fig, Here fruit was green, there ripe with vermeil side; The apples new and old grew on one twig, The fruitful vine her arms spread high and wide, That bended underneath their clusters big; The grapes were tender here, hard, young and sour, There purple ripe, and nectar sweet forth pour. 

 The joyous birds, hid under green-wood shade, Sung merry notes on every branch and bow, The wind that in the leaves and waters plaid With murmer sweet, now sung and whistled now; Ceaséd the birds, the wind loud answer made: And while they sung, it rumbled soft and low; Thus were it hap or cunning, chance or art, The wind in this strange musick bore his part. 

 With party-coloured plumes and purple bill, A wondrous bird among the rest there flew, That in plain speech sung love-lays loud and shrill, Her leden was like humane language true; So much she talkt, and with such wit and skill, That strange it seeméd how much good she knew; Her feathered fellows all stood hush to hear, Dumb was the wind, the waters silent were. 

 The gently budding rose (quoth she) behold, That first scant peeping forth with virgin beams, Half ope, half shut, her beauties doth upfold In their dear leaves, and less seen, fairer seems, And after spreads them forth more broad and bold, Then languisheth and dies in last extreams, Nor seems the same, that deckéd bed and bower Of many a lady late, and paramour. 

 So, in the passing of a day, doth pass The bud and blossom of the life of man, Nor ere doth flourish more, but like the grass Cut down, becometh wither'd, pale and wan: O gather then the rose while time thou hast, Short is the day, done when it scant began; Gather the rose of love, while yet thou may'st Loving be lov'd; embracing, be embrac'd. 

 He ceas'd, and as approving all he spoke, The quire of birds their heav'nly tunes renew, The turtles sigh'd, and sighs with kisses broke, The fowls to shades unseen, by pairs withdrew; It seem'd the laurel chaste, and stubborn oak, And all the gentle trees on earth that grew, It seem'd the land, the sea, and heav'n above, All breath'd out fancy sweet, and sigh'd out love. 

_Godfrey of Bulloigne_

I must place near the garden of Armida, Ariosto's garden of Alcina. "Ariosto, " says Leigh Hunt, "cared for none of the pleasures of thegreat, except building, and was content in Cowley's fashion, with "asmall house in a large garden. " He loved gardening better than heunderstood it, was always shifting his plants, and destroying the seeds, out of impatience to see them germinate. He was rejoicing once on thecoming up of some "capers" which he had been visiting every day, to seehow they got on, when it turned out that his capers were elder trees!"

THE GARDEN OF ALCINA. 

 'A more delightful place, wherever hurled, Through the whole air, Rogero had not found; And had he ranged the universal world, Would not have seen a lovelier in his round, Than that, where, wheeling wide, the courser furled His spreading wings, and lighted on the ground Mid cultivated plain, delicious hill, Moist meadow, shady bank, and crystal rill;

 'Small thickets, with the scented laurel gay, Cedar, and orange, full of fruit and flower, Myrtle and palm, with interwoven spray, Pleached in mixed modes, all lovely, form a bower; And, breaking with their shade the scorching ray, Make a cool shelter from the noon-tide hour. And nightingales among those branches wing Their flight, and safely amorous descants sing. 

 'Amid red roses and white lilies _there_, Which the soft breezes freshen as they fly, Secure the cony haunts, and timid hare, And stag, with branching forehead broad and high. These, fearless of the hunter's dart or snare, Feed at their ease, or ruminating lie; While, swarming in those wilds, from tuft or steep, Dun deer or nimble goat disporting leap. '

_Rose's Orlando Furioso_. 

Spenser's description of the garden of Adonis is too long to giveentire, but I shall quote a few stanzas. The old story on which Spenserfounds his description is told with many variations of circumstance andmeaning; but we need not quit the pages of the Faerie Queene to loseourselves amidst obscure mythologies. We have too much of these indeedeven in Spenser's own version of the fable. 

THE GARDEN OF ADONIS. 

 Great enimy to it, and all the rest That in the Gardin of Adonis springs, Is wicked Time; who with his scythe addrest Does mow the flowring herbes and goodly things, And all their glory to the ground downe flings, Where they do wither and are fowly mard He flyes about, and with his flaggy wings Beates downe both leaves and buds without regard, Ne ever pitty may relent his malice hard. 

 * * * * *

 But were it not that Time their troubler is, All that in this delightful gardin growes Should happy bee, and have immortall blis: For here all plenty and all pleasure flowes; And sweete Love gentle fitts emongst them throwes, Without fell rancor or fond gealosy. Franckly each paramour his leman knowes, Each bird his mate; ne any does envy Their goodly meriment and gay felicity. 

 There is continual spring, and harvest there Continuall, both meeting at one tyme: For both the boughes doe laughing blossoms beare. And with fresh colours decke the wanton pryme, And eke attonce the heavy trees they clyme, Which seeme to labour under their fruites lode: The whiles the ioyous birdes make their pastyme Emongst the shady leaves, their sweet abode, And their trew loves without suspition tell abrode. 

 Right in the middest of that Paradise There stood a stately mount, on whose round top A gloomy grove of mirtle trees did rise, Whose shady boughes sharp steele did never lop, Nor wicked beastes their tender buds did crop, But like a girlond compasséd the hight, And from their fruitfull sydes sweet gum did drop, That all the ground, with pretious deaw bedight, Threw forth most dainty odours and most sweet delight. 

 And in the thickest covert of that shade There was a pleasaunt arber, not by art But of the trees owne inclination made, Which knitting their rancke braunches part to part, With wanton yvie-twine entrayld athwart, And eglantine and caprifole emong, Fashioned above within their inmost part, That neither Phoebus beams could through them throng, Nor Aeolus sharp blast could worke them any wrong. 

 And all about grew every sort of flowre, To which sad lovers were transformde of yore, Fresh Hyacinthus, Phoebus paramoure And dearest love; Foolish Narcisse, that likes the watry shore; Sad Amaranthus, made a flowre but late, Sad Amaranthus, in whose purple gore Me seemes I see Amintas wretched fate, To whom sweet poet's verse hath given endlesse date. 

_Fairie Queene, Book III. Canto VI_. 

I must here give a few stanzas from Spenser's description of the _Bowerof Bliss_

 In which whatever in this worldly state Is sweet and pleasing unto living sense, Or that may dayntiest fantasy aggrate Was pouréd forth with pleantiful dispence. 

The English poet in his Fairie Queene has borrowed a great deal fromTasso and Ariosto, but generally speaking, his borrowings, like those ofmost true poets, are improvements upon the original. 

THE BOWER OF BLISS. 

 There the most daintie paradise on ground Itself doth offer to his sober eye, In which all pleasures plenteously abownd, And none does others happinesse envye; The painted flowres; the trees upshooting hye; The dales for shade; the hilles for breathing-space; The trembling groves; the christall running by; And that which all faire workes doth most aggrace, The art, which all that wrought, appearéd in no place. 

 One would have thought, (so cunningly the rude[039] And scornéd partes were mingled with the fine, ) That Nature had for wantonesse ensude Art, and that Art at Nature did repine; So striving each th' other to undermine, Each did the others worke more beautify; So diff'ring both in willes agreed in fine; So all agreed, through sweete diversity, This Gardin to adorn with all variety. 

 And in the midst of all a fountaine stood, Of richest substance that on earth might bee, So pure and shiny that the silver flood Through every channel running one might see; Most goodly it with curious ymageree Was over-wrought, and shapes of naked boyes, Of which some seemed with lively iollitee To fly about, playing their wanton toyes, Whylest others did themselves embay in liquid ioyes. 

 * * * * *

 Eftsoones they heard a most melodious sound, Of all that mote delight a daintie eare, Such as attonce might not on living ground, Save in this paradise, be heard elsewhere: Right hard it was for wight which did it heare, To read what manner musicke that mote bee; For all that pleasing is to living eare Was there consorted in one harmonee; Birdes, voices, instruments, windes, waters all agree:

 The ioyous birdes, shrouded in chearefull shade, Their notes unto the voice attempred sweet; Th' angelicall soft trembling voyces made To th' instruments divine respondence meet; The silver-sounding instruments did meet With the base murmure of the waters fall; The waters fall with difference discreet, Now soft, now loud, unto the wind did call; The gentle warbling wind low answeréd to all. 

_The Faerie Queene, Book II. Canto XII. _

Every school-boy has heard of the gardens of the Hesperides. The storyis told in many different ways. According to some accounts, theHesperides, the daughters of Hesperus, were appointed to keep charge ofthe tree of golden apples which Jupiter presented to Juno on theirwedding day. A hundred-headed dragon that never slept, (the offspring ofTyphon, ) couched at the foot of the tree. It was one of the twelvelabors of Hercules to obtain possession of some of these apples. He slewthe dragon and gathered three golden apples. The gardens, according tosome authorities, were situated near Mount Atlas. 

Shakespeare seems to have taken _Hesperides_ to be the name of thegarden instead of that of its fair keepers. Even the learned Milton inhis _Paradise Regained_, (Book II) talks of _the ladies of theHesperides_, and appears to make the word Hesperides synonymous with"Hesperian gardens. " Bishop Newton, in a foot-note to the passage in"Paradise Regained, " asks, "What are the Hesperides famous for, but thegardens and orchards which _they had_ bearing golden fruit in thewestern Isles of Africa. " Perhaps after all there may be some goodauthority in favor of extending the names of the nymphs to the gardenitself. Malone, while condemning Shakespeare's use of the words asinaccurate, acknowledges that other poets have used it in the same way, and quotes as an instance, the following lines from Robert Greene:--

 Shew thee the tree, leaved with refined gold, Whereon the fearful dragon held his seat, That watched _the garden_ called the _Hesperides_. 

_Robert Greene_. 

 For valour is not love a Hercules, Still climbing trees in the Hesperides?

_Love's Labour Lost_. 

 Before thee stands this fair Hesperides, With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touched For death-like dragons here affright thee hard. 

_Pericles, Prince of Tyre_. 

Milton, after the fourth line of his Comus, had originally inserted, inhis manuscript draft of the poem, the following description of thegarden of the Hesperides. 

THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES

 Amid the Hesperian gardens, on whose banks Bedewed with nectar and celestial songs Eternal roses grow, and hyacinth, And fruits of golden rind, on whose fair tree The scaly harnessed dragon ever keeps His uninchanted eye, around the verge And sacred limits of this blissful Isle The jealous ocean that old river winds His far extended aims, till with steep fall Half his waste flood the wide Atlantic fills; And half the slow unfathomed Stygian pool But soft, I was not sent to court your wonder With distant worlds and strange removéd climes Yet thence I come and oft from thence behold The smoke and stir of this dim narrow spot

Milton subsequently drew his pen through these lines, for what reason isnot known. Bishop Newton observes, that this passage, saved fromintended destruction, may serve as a specimen of the truth of theobservation that

 Poets lose half the praise they should have got Could it be known what they discreetly blot. 

_Waller_. 

As I have quoted in an earlier page some unfavorable allusions toHomer's description of a Grecian garden, it will be but fair to followup Milton's picture of Paradise, and Tasso's garden of Armida, andAriosto's Garden of Alcina, and Spenser's Garden of Adonis and his Bowerof Bliss, with Homer's description of the Garden of Alcinous. Minervatells Ulysses that the Royal mansion to which the garden of Alcinous isattached is of such conspicuous grandeur and so generally known, thatany child might lead him to it;

 For Phoeacia's sons Possess not houses equalling in aught The mansion of Alcinous, the king. 

I shall give Cowper's version, because it may be less familiar to thereader than Pope's, which is in every one's hand. 

THE GARDEN OF ALCINOUS

 Without the court, and to the gates adjoined A spacious garden lay, fenced all around, Secure, four acres measuring complete, There grew luxuriant many a lofty tree, Pomgranate, pear, the apple blushing bright, The honeyed fig, and unctuous olive smooth. Those fruits, nor winter's cold nor summer's heat Fear ever, fail not, wither not, but hang Perennial, while unceasing zephyr breathes Gently on all, enlarging these, and those Maturing genial; in an endless course. Pears after pears to full dimensions swell, Figs follow figs, grapes clustering grow again Where clusters grew, and (every apple stripped) The boughs soon tempt the gatherer as before. There too, well rooted, and of fruit profuse, His vineyard grows; part, wide extended, basks In the sun's beams; the arid level glows; In part they gather, and in part they tread The wine-press, while, before the eye, the grapes Here put their blossoms forth, there gather fast Their blackness. On the garden's verge extreme Flowers of all hues[040] smile all the year, arranged With neatest art judicious, and amid The lovely scene two fountains welling forth, One visits, into every part diffused, The garden-ground, the other soft beneath The threshold steals into the palace court Whence every citizen his vase supplies. 

_Homer's Odyssey, Book VII_. 

The mode of watering the garden-ground, and the use made of the water bythe public--

 Whence every citizen his vase supplies--

can hardly fail to remind Indian and Anglo-Indian readers of a Hindugentleman's garden in Bengal. 

Pope first published in the _Guardian_ his own version of the account ofthe garden of Alcinous and subsequently gave it a place in his entiretranslation of Homer. In introducing the readers of the _Guardian_ tothe garden of Alcinous he observes that "the two most celebrated wits ofthe world have each left us a particular picture of a garden; whereinthose great masters, being wholly unconfined and pointing at pleasure, may be thought to have given a full idea of what seemed most excellentin that way. These (one may observe) consist entirely of the useful partof horticulture, fruit trees, herbs, waters, &c. The pieces I amspeaking of are Virgil's account of the garden of the old Corycian, andHomer's of that of Alcinous. The first of these is already known to theEnglish reader, by the excellent versions of Mr. Dryden and Mr. Addison. "

I do not think our present landscape-gardeners, or parterre-gardeners oreven our fruit or kitchen-gardeners can be much enchanted with Virgil'sideal of a garden, but here it is, as "done into English, " by JohnDryden, who describes the Roman Poet as "a profound naturalist, " and "_acurious Florist_. "

THE GARDEN OF THE OLD CORYCIAN. 

 I chanc'd an old Corycian swain to know, Lord of few acres, and those barren too, Unfit for sheep or vines, and more unfit to sow: Yet, lab'ring well his little spot of ground, Some scatt'ring pot-herbs here and there he found, Which, cultivated with his daily care And bruis'd with vervain, were his frugal fare. With wholesome poppy-flow'rs, to mend his homely board: For, late returning home, he supp'd at ease, And wisely deem'd the wealth of monarchs less: The little of his own, because his own, did please. To quit his care, he gather'd, first of all, In spring the roses, apples in the fall: And, when cold winter split the rocks in twain, And ice the running rivers did restrain, He stripp'd the bear's foot of its leafy growth, And, calling western winds, accus'd the spring of sloth He therefore first among the swains was found To reap the product of his labour'd ground, And squeeze the combs with golden liquor crown'd His limes were first in flow'rs, his lofty pines, With friendly shade, secur'd his tender vines. For ev'ry bloom his trees in spring afford, An autumn apple was by tale restor'd He knew to rank his elms in even rows, For fruit the grafted pear tree to dispose, And tame to plums the sourness of the sloes With spreading planes he made a cool retreat, To shade good fellows from the summer's heat

_Virgil's Georgics, Book IV_. 

An excellent Scottish poet--Allan Ramsay--a true and unaffecteddescriber of rural life and scenery--seems to have had as great adislike to topiary gardens, and quite as earnest a love of nature, asany of the best Italian poets. The author of the "Gentle Shepherd" tellsus in the following lines what sort of garden most pleased his fancy. 

ALLAN RAMSAY'S GARDEN. 

 I love the garden wild and wide, Where oaks have plum-trees by their side, Where woodbines and the twisting vine Clip round the pear tree and the pine Where mixed jonquils and gowans grow And roses midst rank clover grow Upon a bank of a clear strand, In wrimplings made by Nature's hand Though docks and brambles here and there May sometimes cheat the gardener's care, _Yet this to me is Paradise_, _Compared with prim cut plots and nice_, _Where Nature has to Act resigned, _ _Till all looks mean, stiff and confined_. 

I cannot say that I should wish to see forest trees and docks andbrambles in garden borders. Honest Allan here runs a little into theextreme, as men are apt enough to do, when they try to get as far aspossible from the side advocated by an opposite party. 

I shall now exhibit two paintings of bowers. I begin with one fromSpenser. 

A BOWER

 And over him Art stryving to compayre With Nature did an arber greene dispied[041] Framéd of wanton yvie, flouring, fayre, Through which the fragrant eglantine did spred His prickling armes, entrayld with roses red, Which daintie odours round about them threw And all within with flowers was garnishéd That, when myld Zephyrus emongst them blew, Did breathe out bounteous smels, and painted colors shew

 And fast beside these trickled softly downe A gentle streame, whose murmuring wave did play Emongst the pumy stones, and made a sowne, To lull him soft asleepe that by it lay The wearie traveiler wandring that way, Therein did often quench his thirsty head And then by it his wearie limbes display, (Whiles creeping slomber made him to forget His former payne, ) and wypt away his toilsom sweat. 

 And on the other syde a pleasaunt grove Was shott up high, full of the stately tree That dedicated is t'Olympick Iove, And to his son Alcides, [042] whenas hee In Nemus gaynéd goodly victoree Theirin the merry birds of every sorte Chaunted alowd their cheerful harmonee, And made emongst themselves a sweete consórt That quickned the dull spright with musicall comfórt. 

_Fairie Queene, Book 2 Cant. 5 Stanzas 29, 30 and 31. _

Here is a sweet picture of a "shady lodge" from the hand of Milton. 

EVE'S NUPTIAL BOWER. 

 Thus talking, hand in hand alone they pass'd On to their blissful bower. It was a place Chosen by the sov'reign Planter, when he framed All things to man's delightful use, the roof Of thickest covert was inwoven shade, Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew Of firm and fragrant leaf, on either side Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub, Fenced up the verdant wall, each beauteous flower Iris all hues, roses, and jessamine, Rear'd high their flourish'd heads between, and wrought Mosaic, under foot the violet, Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay Broider'd the ground, more colour'd than with stone Of costliest emblem other creature here, Beast, bird, insect, or worm, durst enter none, Such was their awe of man. In shadier bower More sacred and sequester'd, though but feign'd, Pan or Sylvanus never slept, nor nymph Nor Faunus haunted. Here, in close recess, With flowers, garlands, and sweet smelling herbs, Espoused Eve deck'd first her nuptial bed, And heavenly quires the hymenean sung

I have already quoted from Leigh Hunt's "Stories from the Italian poets"an amusing anecdote illustrative of Ariosto's ignorance of botany. Buteven in these days when all sorts of sciences are forced upon all sortsof students, we often meet with persons of considerable sagacity andmuch information of a different kind who are marvellously ignorant ofthe vegetable world. 

In the just published Memoirs of the late James Montgomery, ofSheffield, it is recorded that the poet and his brother Robert, atradesman at Woolwich, (not Robert Montgomery, the author of 'Satan, '&c. ) were one day walking together, when the trader seeing a field offlax in full flower, asked the poet what sort of corn it was. "Such cornas your shirt is made of, " was the reply. "But Robert, " observes awriter in the _Athenaeum_, "need not be ashamed of his simplicity. Rousseau, naturalist as he was, could hardly tell one berry fromanother, and three of our greatest wits disputing in the field whetherthe crop growing there was rye, barley, or oats, were set right by aclown, who truly pronounced it wheat. "

Men of genius who have concentrated all their powers on some onefavorite profession or pursuit are often thus triumphed over by thevulgar, whose eyes are more observant of the familiar objects anddetails of daily life and of the scenes around them. Wordsworth andColeridge, on one occasion, after a long drive, and in the absence of agroom, endeavored to relieve the tired horse of its harness. Aftertorturing the poor animal's neck and endangering its eyes by theirclumsy and vain attempts to slip off the collar, they at last gave upthe matter in despair. They felt convinced that the horse's head musthave swollen since the collar was put on. At last a servant-girl beheldtheir perplexity. "La, masters, " she exclaimed, "you dont set about itthe right way. " She then seized hold of the collar, turned it broad endup, and slipped it off in a second. The mystery that had puzzled two ofthe finest intellects of their time was a very simple matter indeed to acountry wench who had perhaps never heard that England possessed aShakespeare. 

James Montgomery was a great lover of flowers, and few of our Englishpoets have written about the family of Flora, the sweet wife of Zephyr, in a more genial spirit. He used to regret that the old Floral games andprocessions on May-day and other holidays had gone out of fashion. Southey tells us that in George the First's reign a grand Florist'sFeast was held at Bethnall Green, and that a carnation named after hisMajesty was _King of the Year_. The Stewards were dressed with laurelleaves and flowers. They carried gilded staves. Ninety cultivatorsfollowed in procession to the sound of music, each bearing his ownflowers before him. All elegant customs of this nature have fallen intodesuetude in England, though many of them are still kept up in otherparts of Europe. 

Chaucer who dearly loved all images associated with the open air and thedewy fields and bright mornings and radiant flowers makes the gentleEmily, That fairer was to seene Than is the lily upon his stalkie greene, rise early and do honor to the birth of May-day. All things now seem tobreathe of hope and joy. 

 Though long hath been The trance of Nature on the naked bier Where ruthless Winter mocked her slumbers drear And rent with icy hand her robes of green, That trance is brightly broken! Glossy trees, Resplendent meads and variegated flowers Flash in the sun and flutter in the breeze And now with dreaming eye the poet sees Fair shapes of pleasure haunt romantic bowers, And laughing streamlets chase the flying hours. 

D. L. R. 

The great describer of our Lost Paradise did not disdain to sing a

SONG ON MAY-MORNING. 

 Now the bright Morning star, Day's harbinger, Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her The flowery May, who from her green lap throws The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose Hail bounteous-May, that dost inspire Mirth and youth and warm desire; Woods and groves are of thy dressing, Hill and dale do boast thy blessing. Thus we salute thee with our early song, And welcome thee and wish thee long. 

Nor did the Poet of the World, William Shakespeare, hesitate to

 Do observance to a morn of May. 

He makes one of his characters (in _King Henry VIII_. ) complain that itis as impossible to keep certain persons quiet on an ordinary day, as itis to make them sleep on May-day--once the time of universal merriment--when every one was wont "_to put himself into triumph_. "

 'Tis as much impossible, Unless we sweep 'em from the doors with cannons To scatter 'em, _as 'tis to make 'em sleep On May-day Morning_. 

Spenser duly celebrates, in his "Shepheard's Calender, "

 Thilke mery moneth of May When love-lads masken in fresh aray, when "all is yclad with pleasaunce, the ground with grasse, the woodswith greene leaves, and the bushes with bloosming buds. "

 Sicker[043] this morowe, no longer agoe, I saw a shole of shepeardes outgoe With singing and shouting and iolly chere: Before them yode[044] a lustre tabrere, [045] That to the many a hornepype playd Whereto they dauncen eche one with his mayd. To see those folks make such iovysaunce, Made my heart after the pype to daunce. Tho[046] to the greene wood they speeden hem all To fetchen home May with their musicall; And home they bringen in a royall throne Crowned as king; and his queene attone[047] Was LADY FLORA. 

_Spenser_. 

This is the season when the birds seem almost intoxicated with delightat the departure of the dismal and cold and cloudy days of winter andthe return of the warm sun. The music of these little May musiciansseems as fresh as the fragrance of the flowers. The Skylark is theprince of British Singing-birds--the leader of their cheerful band. 

LINES TO A SKYLARK. 

 Wanderer through the wilds of air! Freely as an angel fair Thou dost leave the solid earth, Man is bound to from his birth Scarce a cubit from the grass Springs the foot of lightest lass-- _Thou_ upon a cloud can'st leap, And o'er broadest rivers sweep, Climb up heaven's steepest height, Fluttering, twinkling, in the light, Soaring, singing, till, sweet bird, Thou art neither seen nor heard, Lost in azure fields afar Like a distance hidden star, That alone for angels bright Breathes its music, sheds its light

 Warbler of the morning's mirth! When the gray mists rise from earth, And the round dews on each spray Glitter in the golden ray, And thy wild notes, sweet though high, Fill the wide cerulean, sky, Is there human heart or brain Can resist thy merry strain?

 But not always soaring high, Making man up turn his eye Just to learn what shape of love, Raineth music from above, -- All the sunny cloudlets fair Floating on the azure air, All the glories of the sky Thou leavest unreluctantly, Silently with happy breast To drop into thy lowly nest. 

 Though the frame of man must be Bound to earth, the soul is free, But that freedom oft doth bring Discontent and sorrowing. Oh! that from each waking vision, Gorgeous vista, gleam Elysian, From ambition's dizzy height, And from hope's illusive light, Man, like thee, glad lark, could brook Upon a low green spot to look, And with home affections blest Sink into as calm a nest! D. L. R. 

I brought from England to India two English skylarks. I thought theywould help to remind me of English meadows and keep alive many agreeablehome-associations. In crossing the desert they were carefully lashed onthe top of one of the vans, and in spite of the dreadful jolting and theheat of the sun they sang the whole way until night-fall. It waspleasant to hear English larks from rich clover fields singing sojoyously in the sandy waste. In crossing some fields between Cairo andthe Pyramids I was surprized and delighted with the songs of Egyptianskylarks. Their notes were much the same as those of the English lark. The lark of Bengal is about the size of a sparrow and has a poor weaknote. At this moment a lark from Caubul (larger than an English lark) isdoing his best to cheer me with his music. This noble bird, though sofar from his native fields, and shut up in his narrow prison, poursforth his rapturous melody in an almost unbroken stream from dawn tosunset. He allows no change of season to abate his minstrelsy, to anyobservable degree, and seems equally happy and musical all the yearround. I have had him nearly two years, and though of course he mustmoult his feathers yearly, I have not observed the change of plumage, nor have I noticed that he has sung less at one period of the year thananother. One of my two English larks was stolen the very day I landed inIndia, and the other soon died. The loss of an English lark is not to bereplaced in Calcutta, though almost every week, canaries, linnets, gold-finches and bull-finches are sold at public auctions here. 

But I must return to my main subject. --The ancients used to keep thegreat Feast of the goddess Flora on the 28th of April. It lasted tillthe 3rd of May. The Floral Games of antiquity were unhappily debased byindecent exhibitions; but they were not entirely devoid of bettercharacteristics. [048] Ovid describing the goddess Flora says that "whileshe was speaking she breathed forth vernal roses from her mouth. " Thesame poet has represented her in her garden with the Florae gatheringflowers and the Graces making garlands of them. The British borrowed theidea of this festival from the Romans. Some of our Kings and Queens used'_to go a Maying_, ' and to have feasts of wine and venison in the openmeadows or under the good green-wood. Prior says:

 Let one great day To celebrate sports and floral play Be set aside. 

But few people, in England, in these times, distinguish May-day from theinitial day of any other month of the twelve. I am old enough toremember _Jack-in-the-Green_. Nor have I forgotten the cheerfulclatter--the brush-and-shovel music--of our little Britishnegroes--"innocent blacknesses, " as Lamb calls them--thechimney-sweepers, --a class now almost _swept away_ themselves by_machinery_. One May-morning in the streets of London thesetinsel-decorated merry-makers with their sooty cheeks and black lipslined with red, and staring eyes whose white seemed whiter still bycontrast with the darkness of their cases, and their ivory teeth keptsound and brilliant with the professional powder, besieged George Selwynand his arm-in-arm companion, Lord Pembroke, for May-day boxes. Selwynmaking them a low bow, said, very solemnly "I have often heard of _thesovereignty of the people_, and I suppose you are some of the youngprinces in court mourning. "

My Native readers in Bengal can form no conception of the delight withwhich the British people at home still hail the spring of the year, orthe deep interest which they take in all "the Seasons and their change";though they have dropped some of the oldest and most romantic of theceremonies once connected with them. If there were an annual fall of theleaf in the groves of India, instead of an eternal summer, the nativeswould discover how much the charms of the vegetable world are enhancedby these vicissitudes, and how even winter itself can be madedelightful. My brother exiles will remember as long as life is in them, how exquisite, in dear old England, is the enjoyment of a brisk morningwalk in the clear frosty air, and how cheering and cosy is the socialevening fire! Though a cold day in Calcutta is not exactly like a coldday in London, it sometimes revives the remembrance of it. An Indianwinter, if winter it may be called, is indeed far less agreeable than awinter in England, but it is not wholly without its pleasures. It is, atall events, a grateful change--a welcome relief and refreshment after asultry summer or a _muggy_ rainy season. 

An Englishman, however, must always prefer the keener but more wholesomefrigidity of his own clime. There, the external gloom and bleakness of asevere winter day enhance our in-door comforts, and we do not miss sunnyskies when greeted with sunny looks. If we then see no blooming flowers, we see blooming faces. But as we have few domestic enjoyments in thiscountry--no social snugness, --no sweet seclusion--and as our houses areas open as bird-cages, --and as we almost live in public and in the openair--we have little comfort when compelled, with an enfeebled frame anda morbidly sensitive cuticle, to remain at home on what an Anglo-IndianInvalid calls a cold day, with an easterly wind whistling through everyroom. [049] In our dear native country each season has its peculiar moralor physical attractions. It is not easy to say which is the mostagreeable--its summer or its winter. Perhaps I must decide in favor ofthe first. The memory of many a smiling summer day still flashes upon mysoul. If the whole of human life were like a fine English day in June, we should cease to wish for "another and a better world. " It is oftenfrom dawn to sunset one revel of delight. How pleasantly, from the firstbreak of day, have I lain wide awake and traced the approach of thebreakfast hour by the increasing notes of birds and the advancingsun-light on my curtains! A summer feeling, at such a time, would make myheart dance within me, as I thought of the long, cheerful day to beenjoyed, and planned some rural walk, or rustic entertainment. The illsthat flesh is heir to, if they occurred for a moment, appeared like idlevisions. They were inconceivable as real things. As I heard the larksinging in "a glorious privacy of light, " and saw the boughs of thegreen and gold laburnum waving at my window, and had my fancy filledwith images of natural beauty, I felt a glow of fresh life in my veins, and my soul was inebriated with joy. It is difficult, amidst suchexhilarating influences, to entertain those melancholy ideas whichsometimes crowd upon, us, and appear so natural, at a less happy hour. Even actual misfortune comes in a questionable shape, when our physicalconstitution is in perfect health, and the flowers are in full bloom, and the skies are blue, and the streams are glittering in the sun. Sopowerfully does the light of external nature sometimes act upon themoral system, that a sweet sensation steals gradually over the heart, even when we think we have reason to be sorrowful, and while we almostaccuse ourselves of a want of feeling. The fretful hypochondriac woulddo well to bear this fact in mind, and not take it for granted that allare cold and selfish who fail to sympathize with his fantastic cares. Heshould remember that men are sometimes so buoyed up by the sense ofcorporeal power, and a communion with nature in her cheerful moods, thatthings connected with their own personal interests, and which at othertimes might irritate and wound their feelings, pass by them like theidle wind which they regard not. He himself must have had his intervalsof comparative happiness, in which the causes of his present grief wouldhave appeared trivial and absurd. He should not, then, expect personswhose blood is warm in their veins, and whose eyes are open to theblessed sun in heaven, to think more of the apparent causes of hissorrow than he would himself, were his mind and body in a healthfulstate. 

With what a light heart and eager appetite did I enter the littlebreakfast parlour of which the glass-doors opened upon a bright greenlawn, variegated with small beds of flowers! The table was spread withdewy and delicious fruits from our own garden, and gathered by fair andfriendly hands. Beautiful and luscious as were these garden dainties, they were of small account in comparison with the fresh cheeks andcherry lips that so frankly accepted the wonted early greeting. Alas!how that circle of early friends is now divided, and what a change hassince come over the spirit of our dreams! Yet still I cherish boyishfeelings, and the past is sometimes present. As I give an imaginary kissto an "old familiar face, " and catch myself almost unconsciously, yetliterally, returning imaginary smiles, my heart is as fresh and fervidas of yore. 

A lapse of fifteen years, and a distance of fifteen thousand miles, andthe glare of a tropical sky and the presence of foreign faces, need notmake an Indian Exile quite forgetful of home-delights. Parted friendsmay still share the light of love as severed clouds are equally kindledby the same sun. No number of miles or days can change or separatefaithful spirits or annihilate early associations. That strangemagician, Fancy, who supplies so many corporeal deficiencies andovercomes so many physical obstructions, and mocks at space and time, enables us to pass in the twinkling of an eye over the dreary waste ofwaters that separates the exile from the scenes and companions of hisyouth. He treads again his native shore. He sits by the hospitablehearth and listens to the ringing laugh of children. He exchangescordial greetings with the "old familiar faces. " There is a resurrectionof the dead, and a return of vanished years. He abandons himself to thesweet illusion, and again

 Lives over each scene, and is what he beholds. 

I must not be too egotistically garrulous in print, or I would nowattempt to describe the various ways in which I have spent a summer'sday in England. I would dilate upon my noon-day loiterings amidst wildruins, and thick forests, and on the shaded banks of rivers--the pic-nicparties--the gipsy prophecies--the twilight homeward walk--the socialtea-drinking, and, the last scene of all, the "rosy dreams and slumberslight, " induced by wholesome exercise and placid thoughts. [050] Butperhaps these few simple allusions are sufficient to awaken a train ofkindred associations in the reader's mind, and he will thank me forthose words and images that are like the keys of memory, and "open allher cells with easy force. "

If a summer's day be thus rife with pleasure, scarcely less so is a dayin winter, though with some little drawbacks, that give, by contrast, azest to its enjoyments. It is difficult to leave the warm morning bedand brave the external air. The fireless grate and frosted windows maywell make the stoutest shudder. But when we have once screwed ourcourage to the sticking place, and with a single jerk of the clothes, and a brisk jump from the bed, have commenced the operations of thetoilet, the battle is nearly over. The teeth chatter for a while, andthe limbs shiver, and we do not feel particularly comfortable whilebreaking the ice in our jugs, and performing our cold ablutions amidstthe sharp, glass-like fragments, and wiping our faces with a frozentowel. But these petty evils are quickly vanquished, and as we rush outof the house, and tread briskly and firmly on the hard ringing earth, and breathe our visible breath in the clear air, our strength andself-importance miraculously increase, and the whole frame begins to glow. The warmth and vigour thus acquired are inexpressibly delightful. As were-enter the house, we are proud of our intrepidity and vigour, and pitythe effeminacy of our less enterprising friends, who, though huddledtogether round the fire, like flies upon a sunny wall, still complain ofcold, and instead of the bloom of health and animation, exhibit pale andpinched and discolored features, and hands cold, rigid, and of a deadlyhue. Those who rise with spirit on a winter morning, and stir and thrillthemselves with early exercise, are indifferent to the cold for the restof the day, and feel a confidence in their corporeal energies, and alightness of heart that are experienced at no other season. 

But even the timid and luxurious are not without their pleasures. As theshades of evening draw in, the parlour twilight--the closedcurtains--and the cheerful fire--make home a little paradise to all. 

 Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round, And while the bubbling and loud hissing urn Throws up a steamy column, and the cups That cheer but not inebriate wait on each, So let us welcome peaceful evening in

_Cowper_. 

The warm and cold seasons of India have no charms like those of England, but yet people who are guiltless of what Milton so finely calls "asullenness against nature, " and who are willing, in a spirit of truephilosophy and piety, to extract good from every thing, may savethemselves from wretchedness even in this land of exile. While I amwriting this paragraph, a bird in my room, (not the Caubul songster thatI have already alluded to, but a fine little English linnet, ) who is asmuch a foreigner here as I am, is pouring out his soul in a flood ofsong. His notes ring with joy. He pines not for his native meadows--hecares not for his wiry bars--he envies not the little denizens of airthat sometimes flutter past my window, nor imagines, for a moment, thatthey come to mock him with their freedom. He is contented with hispresent enjoyments, because they are utterly undisturbed by idlecomparisons with those experienced in the past or anticipated in thefuture. He has no thankless repinings and no vain desires. Is intellector reason then so fatal, though sublime a gift that we cannot possess itwithout the poisonous alloy of care? Must grief and ingratitudeinevitably find entrance into the heart, in proportion to the loftinessand number of our mental endowments? Are we to seek for happiness inignorance? To these questions the reply is obvious. Every good qualitymay be abused, and the greatest, most; and he who perversely employs hispowers of thought and imagination to a wrong purpose deserves the miserythat he gains. Were we honestly to deduct from the ills of life allthose of our own creation, how trifling, in the majority of cases, theamount that would remain! We seem to invite and encourage sorrow, whilehappiness is, as it were, forced upon us against our will. It iswonderful how some men pertinaciously cling to care, and arguethemselves into a dissatisfaction with their lot. Thus it is really amatter of little moment whether fortune smile or frown, for it is invain to look for superior felicity amongst those who have more"appliances and means to boot, " than their fellow-men. Wealth, rank, andreputation, do not secure their possessors from the misery ofdiscontent. 

As happiness then depends upon the right direction and employment of ourfaculties, and not on worldly goods or mere localities, our countrymenmight be cheerful enough, even in this foreign land, if they would onlyaccustom themselves to a proper train of thinking, and be ready on everyoccasion to look on the brighter side of all things. [051] In revertingto home-scenes we should regard them for their intrinsic charms, and notturn them into a source of disquiet by mournfully comparing them withthose around us. India, let Englishmen murmur as they will, has someattractions, enjoyments and advantages. No Englishman is here in dangerof dying of starvation as some of our poets have done in theinhospitable streets of London. The comparatively princely and generousstyle in which we live in this country, the frank and familiar tone ofour little society, and the general mildness of the climate, (exceptinga few months of a too sultry summer) can hardly be denied by the mostdetermined malcontent. The weather is indeed too often a great dealwarmer than we like it; but if "the excessive heat" did not form aconvenient subject for complaint and conversation, it is perhapsdoubtful if it would so often be thought of or alluded to. But admit theobjection. What climate is without its peculiar evils? In the coldseason a walk in India either in the morning or the evening is oftenextremely pleasant in pleasant company, and I am glad to see manysensible people paying the climate the compliment of treating it likethat of England. It is now fashionable to use our limbs in the ordinaryway, and the "Garden of Eden"[052] has become a favorite promenade, particularly on the evenings when a band from the Fort fills the airwith a cheerful harmony and throws a fresher life upon the scene. It isnot to be denied that besides the mere exercise, pedestrians at homehave great advantages over those who are too indolent or aristocratic toleave their equipages, because they can cut across green and quietfields, enter rural by-ways, and enjoy a thousand little patches oflovely scenery that are secrets to the high-road traveller. But stillthe Calcutta pedestrian has also his gratifications. He can enjoy noexclusive prospects, but he beholds upon an Indian river a forest ofBritish masts--the noble shipping of the Queen of the Sea--and has afine panoramic view of this City of Palaces erected by his countrymen ona foreign shore;--and if he is fond of children, he must be delightedwith the numberless pretty and happy little faces--the fair forms ofSaxon men and women in miniature--that crowd about him on the greensward;--he must be charmed with their innocent prattle, their quick andgraceful movements, and their winning ways, that awaken a tone of tendersentiment in his heart, and rekindle many sweet associations. 

SONNETS, WRITTEN IN EXILE. 

 I. 

 Man's heart may change, but Nature's glory never;-- And while the soul's internal cell is bright, The cloudless eye lets in the bloom and light Of earth and heaven to charm and cheer us ever. Though youth hath vanished, like a winding river Lost in the shadowy woods; and the dear sight Of native hill and nest-like cottage white, 'Mid breeze-stirred boughs whose crisp leaves gleam and quiver, And murmur sea-like sounds, perchance no more My homeward step shall hasten cheerily; Yet still I feel as I have felt of yore, And love this radiant world. Yon clear blue sky-- These gorgeous groves--this flower-enamelled floor-- Have deep enchantments for my heart and eye. 

 II. 

 Man's heart may change, but Nature's glory never, Though to the sullen gaze of grief the sight Of sun illumined skies may _seem_ less bright, Or gathering clouds less grand, yet she, as ever, Is lovely or majestic. Though fate sever The long linked bands of love, and all delight Be lost, as in a sudden starless night, The radiance may return, if He, the giver Of peace on earth, vouchsafe the storm to still This breast once shaken with the strife of care Is touched with silent joy. The cot--the hill, Beyond the broad blue wave--and faces fair, Are pictured in my dreams, yet scenes that fill My waking eye can save me from despair. 

 III. 

 Man's heart may change, but Nature's glory never, -- Strange features throng around me, and the shore Is not my own dear land. Yet why deplore This change of doom? All mortal ties must sever. The pang is past, --and now with blest endeavour I check the ready tear, the rising sigh The common earth is here--the common sky-- The common FATHER. And how high soever O'er other tribes proud England's hosts may seem, God's children, fair or sable, equal find A FATHER'S love. Then learn, O man, to deem All difference idle save of heart or mind Thy duty, love--each cause of strife, a dream-- Thy home, the world--thy family, mankind. 

D. L. R. 

For the sake of my home readers I must now say a word or two on theeffect produced upon the mind of a stranger on his approach to Calcuttafrom the Sandheads. 

As we run up the Bay of Bengal and approach the dangerous Sandheads, thebeautiful deep blue of the ocean suddenly disappears. It turns into apale green. The sea, even in calm weather, rolls over soundings in longswells. The hue of the water is varied by different depths, and inpassing over the edge of soundings, it is curious to observe howdistinctly the form of the sands may be traced by the different shadesof green in the water above and beyond them. In the lower part of thebay, the crisp foam of the dark sea at night is instinct with phosphoriclustre. The ship seems to make her way through galaxies of little oceanstars. We lose sight of this poetical phenomenon as we approach themouth of the Hooghly. But the passengers, towards the termination oftheir voyage, become less observant of the changeful aspect of the sea. Though amused occasionally by flights of sea-gulls, immense shoals ofporpoises, apparently tumbling or rolling head over tail against thewind, and the small sprat-like fishes that sometimes play and glitter onthe surface, the stranger grows impatient to catch a glimpse of anIndian jungle; and even the swampy tiger-haunted Saugor Island isgreeted with that degree of interest which novelty usually inspires. 

At first the land is but little above the level of the water. It risesgradually as we pass up further from the sea. As we come still nearer toCalcutta, the soil on shore seems to improve in richness and the treesto increase in size. The little clusters of nest-like villages snuglysheltered in foliage--the groups of dark figures in white garments--thecattle wandering over the open plain--the emerald-colored fields ofrice--the rich groves of mangoe trees--the vast and magnificent banyans, with straight roots dropping from their highest branches, (hundreds ofthese branch-dropped roots being fixed into the earth and forming "apillared shade"), --the tall, slim palms of different characters and withcrowns of different forms, feathery or fan-like, --the many-stemmed andlong, sharp-leaved bamboos, whose thin pliant branches swing gracefullyunder the weight of the lightest bird, --the beautifully rounded andbright green peepuls, with their burnished leaves glittering in thesunshine, and trembling at the zephyr's softest touch with a pleasantrustling sound, suggestive of images of coolness and repose, --form astriking and singularly interesting scene (or rather succession ofscenes) after the monotony of a long voyage during which nothing hasbeen visible but sea and sky. 

But it is not until he arrives at a bend of the river called _GardenReach_, where the City of Palaces first opens on the view, that thestranger has a full sense of the value of our possessions in the East. The princely mansions on our right;--(residences of English gentry), with their rich gardens and smooth slopes verdant to the water'sedge, --the large and rich Botanic Garden and the Gothic edifice of Bishop'sCollege on our left--and in front, as we advance a little further, thecountless masts of vessels of all sizes and characters, and from almostevery clime, --Fort William, with its grassy ramparts and whitebarracks, --the Government House, a magnificent edifice in spite of manyimperfections, --the substantial looking Town Hall--the Supreme CourtHouse--the broad and ever verdant plain (or _madaun_) in front--and thenoble lines of buildings along the Esplanade and Chowringhee Road, --thenew Cathedral almost at the extremity of the plain, and half-hiddenamidst the trees, --the suburban groves and buildings of Kidderporebeyond, their outlines softened by the haze of distance, like scenescontemplated through colored glass--the high-sterned budgerows and smalltrim bauleahs along the edge of the river, --the neatly-paintedpalanquins and other vehicles of all sorts and sizes, --the variously-huedand variously-clad people of all conditions; the fair European, theblack and nearly naked Cooly, the clean-robed and lighter-skinned nativeBaboo, the Oriental nobleman with his jewelled turban and kincob vest, and costly necklace and twisted cummerbund, on a horse fantasticallycaparisoned, and followed in barbaric state by a train of attendantswith long, golden-handled punkahs, peacock feather chowries, and goldenchattahs and silver sticks, --present altogether a scene that iscalculated to at once delight and bewilder the traveller, to whom allthe strange objects before him have something of the enchantment andconfusion of an Arabian Night's dream. When he recovers from hissurprise, the first emotion in the breast of an Englishman is a feelingof national pride. He exults in the recognition of so many gloriousindications of the power of a small and remote nation that has founded asplendid empire in so strange and vast a land. 

When the first impression begins to fade, and he takes a closer view ofthe great metropolis of India--and observes what miserable straw hutsare intermingled with magnificent palaces--how much Oriental filth andsqualor and idleness and superstition and poverty and ignorance areassociated with savage splendour, and are brought into immediate andmost incongruous contact with Saxon energy and enterprize and taste andskill and love of order, and the amazing intelligence of the West inthis nineteenth century--and when familiarity breeds something likecontempt for many things that originally excited a vague and pleasingwonder--the English traveller in the East is apt to dwell tooexclusively on the worst side of the picture, and to become insensibleto the real interest, and blind to the actual beauty of much of thescene around him. Extravagant astonishment and admiration, under theinfluence of novelty, a strong re-action, and a subsequent feeling ofunreasonable disappointment, seem, in some degree, natural to all men;but in no other part of the world, and under no other circumstances, isthis peculiarity of our condition more conspicuously displayed than inthe case of Englishmen in India. John Bull, who is always a grumblereven on his own shores, is sure to become a still more inveterategrumbler in other countries, and perhaps the climate of Bengal, producing lassitude and low spirits, and a yearning for their nativeland, of which they are so justly proud, contribute to make ourcountrymen in the East even more than usually unsusceptible ofpleasurable emotions until at last they turn away in positive disgustfrom the scenes and objects which remind them that they are in a stateof exile. 

"There is nothing, " says Hamlet, "either good or bad, but thinking makesit so. " At every change of the mind's colored optics the scene before itchanges also. I have sometimes contemplated the vast metropolis ofEngland--or rather _of the world_--multitudinous and mighty LONDON--withthe pride and hope and exultation, not of a patriot only, but of acosmopolite--a man. Its grand national structures that seem built foreternity--its noble institutions, charitable, and learned, andscientific, and artistical--the genius and science and bravery and moralexcellence within its countless walls--have overwhelmed me with a senseof its glory and majesty and power. But in a less admiring mood, I havequite reversed the picture. Perhaps the following sonnet may seem toindicate that the writer while composing it, must have worn his coloredspectacles. 

LONDON, IN THE MORNING. 

 The morning wakes, and through the misty air In sickly radiance struggles--like the dream Of sorrow-shrouded hope. O'er Thames' dull stream, Whose sluggish waves a wealthy burden bear From every port and clime, the pallid glare Of early sun-light spreads. The long streets seem Unpeopled still, but soon each path shall teem With hurried feet, and visages of care. And eager throngs shall meet where dusky marts Resound like ocean-caverns, with the din Of toil and strife and agony and sin. Trade's busy Babel! Ah! how many hearts By lust of gold to thy dim temples brought In happier hours have scorned the prize they sought?

D. L. R. 

I now give a pair of sonnets upon the City of Palaces as viewed throughsomewhat clearer glasses. 

VIEW OF CALCUTTA. 

 Here Passion's restless eye and spirit rude May greet no kindred images of power To fear or wonder ministrant. No tower, Time-struck and tenantless, here seems to brood, In the dread majesty of solitude, O'er human pride departed--no rocks lower O'er ravenous billows--no vast hollow wood Rings with the lion's thunder--no dark bower The crouching tiger haunts--no gloomy cave Glitters with savage eyes! But all the scene Is calm and cheerful. At the mild command Of Britain's sons, the skilful and the brave, Fair palace-structures decorate the land, And proud ships float on Hooghly's breast serene!

D. L. R. 

SONNET, ON RETURNING TO CALCUTTA AFTER A VOYAGE TO THE STRAITS OFMALACCA. 

 Umbrageous woods, green dells, and mountains high, And bright cascades, and wide cerulean seas, Slumbering, or snow-wreathed by the freshening breeze, And isles like motionless clouds upon the sky In silent summer noons, late charmed mine eye, Until my soul was stirred like wind-touched trees, And passionate love and speechless ecstasies Up-raised the thoughts in spiritual depths that lie. Fair scenes, ye haunt me still! Yet I behold This sultry city on the level shore Not all unmoved; for here our fathers bold Won proud historic names in days of yore, And here are generous hearts that ne'er grow cold, And many a friendly hand and open door. 

D. L. R. 

There are several extremely elegant customs connected with some of theIndian Festivals, at which flowers are used in great profusion. Thesurface of the "sacred river" is often thickly strewn with them. In Mrs. Carshore's pleasing volume of _Songs of the East_[053] there is a longpoem (too long to quote entire) in which the _Beara Festival_ isdescribed. I must give the introductory passage. 

"THE BEARA FESTIVAL. 

 "Upon the Ganges' overflowing banks, Where palm trees lined the shore in graceful ranks, I stood one night amidst a merry throng Of British youths and maidens, to behold A witching Indian scene of light and song, Crowds of veiled native loveliness untold, Each streaming path poured duskily along. The air was filled with the sweet breath of flowers, And music that awoke the silent hours, It was the BEARA FESTIVAL and feast When proud and lowly, loftiest and least, Matron and Moslem maiden pay their vows, With impetratory and votive gift, And to the Moslem Jonas bent their brows. _Each brought her floating lamp of flowers_, and swift A thousand lights along the current drift, Till the vast bosom of the swollen stream, Glittering and gliding onward like a dream, Seems a wide mirror of the starry sphere Or more as if the stars had dropt from air, And in an earthly heaven were shining here, And far above were, but reflected there Still group on group, advancing to the brink, As group on group retired link by link; For one pale lamp that floated out of view Five brighter ones they quickly placed anew; At length the slackening multitudes grew less, And the lamps floated scattered and apart. As stars grow few when morning's footsteps press When a slight girl, shy as the timid halt, Not far from where we stood, her offering brought. Singing a low sweet strain, with lips untaught. Her song proclaimed, that 'twas not many hours Since she had left her childhood's innocent home; And now with Beara lamp, and wreathed flowers, To propitiate heaven, for wedded bliss had come"

To these lines Mrs. Carshore (who has been in this country, I believe, from her birth, and who ought to know something of Indian customs)appends the following notes. 

"_It was the Beara festival_. " Much has been said about the Beara orfloating lamp, but I have never yet seen a correct description. Moorementions that Lalla Rookh saw a solitary Hindoo girl bring her lamp tothe river. D. L. R. Says the same, whereas the Beara festival is a Moslemfeast that takes place once a year in the monsoons, when thousands offemales offer their vows to the patron of rivers. 

"_Moslem Jonas_" Khauj Khoddir is the Jonas of the Mussulman; he, likethe prophet of Nineveh, was for three days inside a fish, and for thatreason is called the patron of rivers. "

I suppose Mrs. Carshore alludes, in the first of these notes, to thefollowing passage in the prose part of Lalla Rookh:--

"As they passed along a sequestered river after sunset, they saw a youngHindoo girl upon the bank whose employment seemed to them so strangethat they stopped their palanquins to observe her. She had lighted asmall lamp, filled with oil of cocoa, and placing it in an eartherndish, adorned with a wreath of flowers, had committed it with atrembling hand to the stream: and was now anxiously watching itsprogress down the current, heedless of the gay cavalcade which had drawnup beside her. Lalla Rookh was all curiosity;--when one of herattendants, who had lived upon the banks of the Ganges, (where thisceremony is so frequent that often, in the dusk of evening, the river isseen glittering all over with lights, like the Oton-Jala or Sea ofStars, ) informed the Princess that it was the usual way, in which thefriends of those who had gone on dangerous voyages offered up vows fortheir safe return. If the lamp sunk immediately, the omen wasdisastrous; but if it went shining down the stream, and continued toburn till entirely out of sight, the return of the beloved object wasconsidered as certain. 

Lalla Rookh, as they moved on, more than once looked back, to observehow the young Hindoo's lamp proceeded: and while she saw with pleasurethat it was unextinguished, she could not help fearing that all the hopesof this life were no better than that feeble light upon the river. "

Moore prepared himself for the writing of Lalla Rookh by "long andlaborious reading. " He himself narrates that Sir James Mackintosh wasasked by Colonel Wilks, the Historian of British India, whether it wastrue that the poet had never been in the East. Sir James replied, "_Never_. " "Well, that shows me, " said Colonel Wilks, "that reading overD'Herbelot is as good as riding on the back of a camel. " Sir JohnMalcolm, Sir William Ouseley and other high authorities have testifiedto the accuracy of Moore's descriptions of Eastern scenes and customs. 

The following lines were composed on the banks of the Hooghly atCossipore, (many long years ago) just after beholding the river oneevening almost covered with floating lamps. [054]

A HINDU FESTIVAL. 

 Seated on a bank of green, Gazing on an Indian scene, I have dreams the mind to cheer, And a feast for eye and ear. At my feet a river flows, And its broad face richly glows With the glory of the sun, Whose proud race is nearly run

 Ne'er before did sea or stream Kindle thus beneath his beam, Ne'er did miser's eye behold Such a glittering mass of gold 'Gainst the gorgeous radiance float Darkly, many a sloop and boat, While in each the figures seem Like the shadows of a dream Swiftly, passively, they glide As sliders on a frozen tide. 

 Sinks the sun--the sudden night Falls, yet still the scene is bright Now the fire-fly's living spark Glances through the foliage dark, And along the dusky stream Myriad lamps with ruddy gleam On the small waves float and quiver, As if upon the favored river, And to mark the sacred hour, Stars had fallen in a shower. 

 For many a mile is either shore Illumined with a countless store Of lustres ranged in glittering rows, Each a golden column throws To light the dim depths of the tide, And the moon in all her pride Though beauteously her regions glow, Views a scene as fair below

D. L. R. 

Mrs. Carshore alludes, I suppose to the above lines, or the followingsonnet, or both perhaps, when she speaks of my erroneous Orientalism--

SCENE ON THE GANGES. 

 The shades of evening veil the lofty spires Of proud Benares' fanes! A thickening haze Hangs o'er the stream. The weary boatmen raise Along the dusky shore their crimson fires That tinge the circling groups. Now hope inspires Yon Hindu maid, whose heart true passion sways, To launch on Gungas flood the glimmering rays Of Love's frail lamp, --but, lo the light expires! Alas! what sudden sorrow fills her breast! No charm of life remains. Her tears deplore A lover lost and never, never more Shall hope's sweet vision yield her spirit rest! The cold wave quenched the flame--an omen dread That telleth of the faithless--_or the dead_!

D. L. R. 

Horace Hayman Wilson, a high authority on all Oriental customs, clearlyalludes in the following lines to the launching of floating lamps by_Hindu_ females. 

 Grave in the tide the Brahmin stands, And folds his cord or twists his hands, And tells his beads, and all unheard Mutters a solemn mystic word With reverence the Sudra dips, And fervently the current sips, That to his humbler hope conveys A future life of happier days. But chief do India's simple daughters Assemble in these hallowed waters, With vase of classic model laden Like Grecian girl or Tuscan maiden, Collecting thus their urns to fill From gushing fount or trickling rill, And still with pious fervour they To Gunga veneration pay And with pretenceless rite prefer, The wishes of their hearts to her The maid or matron, as she throws _Champae_ or lotus, _Bel_ or rose, Or sends the quivering light afloat In shallow cup or paper boat, Prays for a parent's peace and wealth Prays for a child's success and health, For a fond husband breathes a prayer, For progeny their loves to share, For what of good on earth is given To lowly life, or hoped in heaven, H. H. W. 

On seeing Miss Carshore's criticism I referred the subject to anintelligent Hindu friend from whom I received the following answer:--

 My dear Sir, The _Beara_, strictly speaking, is a Mahomedan festival. Some of the lower orders of the Hindus of the NW Provinces, who have borrowed many of their customs from the Mahomedans, celebrate the _Beara_. But it is not observed by the Hindus of Bengal, who have a festival of their own, similar to the _Beara_. It takes place on the evening of the _Saraswati Poojah_, when a small piece of the bark of the Plantain Tree is fitted out with all the necessary accompaniments of a boat, and is launched in a private tank with a lamp. The custom is confined to the women who follow it in their own house or in the same neighbourhood. It is called the _Sooa Dooa Breta_. 

 Yours truly, * * * * *

Mrs. Carshore it would seem is partly right and partly wrong. She isright in calling the _Beara_ a _Moslem_ Festival. It is so; but we havethe testimony of Horace Hayman Wilson to the fact that _Hindu maids andmatrons also launch their lamps upon the river_. My Hindu friendacknowledges that his countrymen in the North West Provinces haveborrowed many of their customs from the Mahomedans, and though he is notaware of it, it may yet be the case, that some of the Hindus of_Bengal_, as elsewhere, have done the same, and that they set lampsafloat upon the stream to discover by their continued burning or suddenextinction the fate of some absent friend or lover. I find very fewNatives who are able to give me any exact and positive informationconcerning their own national customs. In their explanations of suchmatters they differ in the most extraordinary manner amongst themselves. Two most respectable and intelligent Native gentlemen who were proposingto lay out their grounds under my directions, told me that I mustnot cut down a single cocoa-nut tree, as it would be dreadfulsacrilege--equal to cutting the throats of seven brahmins! Another equallyrespectable and intelligent Native friend, when I mentioned the fact, threw himself back in his chair to give vent to a hearty laugh. When hehad recovered himself a little from this risible convulsion he observedthat his father and his grandfather had cut down cocoa-nut trees inconsiderable numbers without the slightest remorse or fear. And yetagain, I afterwards heard that one of the richest Hindu families inCalcutta, rather than suffer so sacred an object to be injured, piouslysubmit to a very serious inconvenience occasioned by a cocoa-nut treestanding in the centre of the carriage road that leads to the portico oftheir large town palace. I am told that there are other sacred treeswhich must not be removed by the hands of Hindus of inferior caste, though in this case there is a way of getting over the difficulty, forit is allowable or even meritorious to make presents of these trees toBrahmins, who cut them down for their own fire-wood. But the cocoa-nuttree is said to be too sacred even for the axe of a Brahmin. 

I have been running away again from my subject;--I was discoursing uponMay-day in England. The season there is still a lovely and a merry one, though the most picturesque and romantic of its ancient observances, nowlive but in the memory of the "oldest inhabitants, " or on the page ofhistory. [055]

 See where, amidst the sun and showers, The Lady of the vernal hours, Sweet May, comes forth again with all her flowers. 

_Barry Cornwall_. 

The _May-pole_ on these days is rarely seen to rise up in English townswith its proper floral decorations[056]. In remote rural districts asolitary May-pole is still, however, occasionally discovered. "AMay-pole, " says Washington Irving, "gave a glow to my feelings and spreada charm over the country for the rest of the day: and as I traversed apart of the fair plains of Cheshire, and the beautiful borders of Walesand looked from among swelling hills down a long green valley, throughwhich the Deva wound its wizard stream, my imagination turned all into aperfect Arcadia. One can readily imagine what a gay scene old Londonmust have been when the doors were decked with hawthorn; and Robin Hood, Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, Morris dancers, and all the other fantasticdancers and revellers were performing their antics about the May-pole inevery part of the city. I value every custom which tends to infusepoetical feeling into the common people, and to sweeten and soften therudeness of rustic manners without destroying their simplicity. "

Another American writer--a poet--has expressed his due appreciation ofthe pleasures of the season. He thus addresses the merrie month ofMAY. [057]

MAY. 

 Would that thou couldst laugh for aye, Merry, ever merry May! Made of sun gleams, shade and showers Bursting buds, and breathing flowers, Dripping locked, and rosy vested, Violet slippered, rainbow crested; Girdled with the eglantine, Festooned with the dewy vine Merry, ever Merry May, Would that thou could laugh for aye!

_W. D. Gallagher. _

I must give a dainty bit of description from the poet of the poets--ourown romantic Spenser. 

 Then comes fair May, the fayrest mayde on ground, Decked with all dainties of the season's pryde, And throwing flowres out of her lap around. Upon two brethren's shoulders she did ride, The twins of Leda, which, on eyther side, Supported her like to their Sovereign queene Lord! how all creatures laught when her they spide, And leapt and danced as they had ravisht beene! And Cupid's self about her fluttred all in greene. 

Here are a few lines from Herrick. 

 Fled are the frosts, and now the fields appeare Re-clothed in freshe and verdant diaper; Thawed are the snowes, and now the lusty spring Gives to each mead a neat enameling, The palmes[058] put forth their gemmes, and every tree Now swaggers in her leavy gallantry. 

The Queen of May--Lady Flora--was the British representative of theHeathen Goddess Flora. May still returns and ever will return at herproper season, with all her bright leaves and fragrant blossoms, but mencease to make the same use of them as of yore. England is waxingutilitarian and prosaic. 

The poets, let others neglect her as they will, must ever do fittingobservance, in songs as lovely and fresh as the flowers of the hawthorn, To the lady of the vernal hours. 

Poor Keats, who was passionately fond of flowers, and everythingbeautiful or romantic or picturesque, complains, with a true poet'searnestness, that in _his_ day in England there were

 No crowds of nymphs, soft-voiced and young and gay In woven baskets, bringing ears of corn, Roses and pinks and violets, to adorn The shrine of Flora in her early May. 

The Floral Games--_Jeux Floraux_--of Toulouse--first celebrated at thecommencement of the fourteenth century, are still kept up annually withgreat pomp and spirit. Clemence Isaure, a French lady, bequeathed to theAcademy of Toulouse a large sum of money for the annual celebration ofthese games. A sort of College Council is formed, which not only confersdegrees on those poets who do most honor to the Goddess Flora, butsometimes grants them more substantial favors. In 1324 the poets wereencouraged to compete for a golden violet and a silver eglantine andpansy. A century later the prizes offered were an amaranthus of gold ofthe value of 400 livres, for the best ode, a violet of silver, valued at250 livres, for an essay in prose, a silver pansy, worth 200 livres, foran eclogue, elegy or idyl, and a silver lily of the value of sixtylivres, for the best sonnet or hymn in honor of the Virgin Mary, --forreligion is mixed up with merriment, and heathen with Christian rites. He who gained a prize three times was honored with the title of Doctor_en gaye science_, the name given to the poetry of the Provençaltroubadours. A mass, a sermon, and alms-giving, commence the ceremonies. The French poet, Ronsard who had gained a prize in the floral games, sodelighted Mary Queen of Scots with his verses on the Rose that shepresented him with a silver rose worth £500, with this inscription--"_ARonsard, l'Apollon de la source des Muses_. "

At Ghent floral festivals are held twice a year when amateur andprofessional florists assemble together and contribute each his share offlowers to the grand general exhibition which is under the directpatronage of the public authorities. Honorary medals are awarded to thepossessors of the finest flowers. 

The chief floral festival of the Chinese is on their new year's day, when their rivers are covered with boats laden with flowers, and gayflags streaming from every mast. Their homes and temples are richly hungwith festoons of flowers. Boughs of the peach and plum trees in blossom, enkíanthus quinque-flòra, camelias, cockscombs, magnolias, jonquils arethen exposed for sale in all the streets of Canton. Even the Chineseladies, who are visible at no other season, are seen on this occasion inflower-boats on the river or in the public gardens on the shore. 

The Italians, it is said, still have artificers called _Festaroli_, whose business it is to prepare festoons and garlands. The ancientRomans were very tasteful in their nosegays and chaplets. Pliny tells usthat the Sicyonians were especially celebrated for the graceful artexhibited in the arrangement of the varied colors of their garlands, andhe gives us the story of Glycera who, to please her lover Pausias, thepainter of Sicyon, used to send him the most exquisite chaplets of herown braiding, which he regularly copied on his canvas. He became veryeminent as a flower-painter. The last work of his pencil, and hismaster-piece, was a picture of his mistress in the act of arranging achaplet. The picture was called the _Garland Twiner_. It is related thatAntony for some time mistrusting Cleopatra made her taste in the firstinstance every thing presented to him at her banquets. One day "theSerpent of old Nile" after dipping her own coronet of flowers into hergoblet drank up the wine and then directed him to follow her example. Hewas off his guard. He dipped his chaplet in his cup. The leaves had beentouched with poison. He was just raising the cup to his lips when sheseized his arm, and said "Cease your jealous doubts, for know, that ifI had desired your death or wished to live without you, I could easilyhave destroyed you. " The Queen then ordered a prisoner to be broughtinto their presence, who being made to drink from the cup, instantlyexpired. [059]

Some of the nosegays made up by "flower-girls" in London and itsneighbourhood are sold at such extravagant prices that none but the verywealthy are in the habit of purchasing them, though sometimes a poorlover is tempted to present his mistress on a ball-night with a bouquetthat he can purchase only at the cost of a good many more leaves ofbread or substantial meals than he can well spare. He has to make everyday a banian-day for perhaps half a month that his mistress may wear anosegay for a few hours. However, a lover is often like a cameleon andcan almost live on air--_for a time_--"promise-crammed. " 'You cannotfeed capons so. '

At Covent Garden Market, (in London) and the first-rate Flower-shops, asingle wreath or nosegay is often made up for the head or hand at aprice that would support a poor labourer and his family for a month. Thecolors of the wreaths are artfully arranged, so as to suit differentcomplexions, and so also as to exhibit the most rare and costly flowersto the greatest possible advantage. 

All true poets

 --The sages Who have left streaks of light athwart their pages--

have contemplated flowers--with a passionate love, an ardent admiration;none more so than the sweet-souled Shakespeare. They are regarded by theimaginative as the fairies of the vegetable world--the physicalpersonifications of etherial beauty. In _The Winter's Tale_ our greatdramatic bard has some delightful floral allusions that cannot be toooften quoted. 

 Here's flowers for you, Hot lavender, mint, savory, majoram, The marigold, that goes to bed with the sun, And with him rises weeping these are flowers Of middle summer, and I think they are given To men of middle age. 

 * * * * *

 O, Proserpina, For the flowers now that, frighted, thou lett'st fall From Dis's waggon! Daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty, violets dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, Or Cytherea's breath, pale primroses, That die unmarried ere they can behold Great Phoebus in his strength, --a malady Most incident to maids, bold oxlips and The crown imperial, lilies of all kinds, The flower de luce being one

Shakespeare here, as elsewhere, speaks of "_pale_ primroses. " The poetsalmost always allude to the primrose as a _pale_ and interestinginvalid. Milton tells us of

 The yellow cowslip and the _pale_ primrose[060]

The poet in the manuscript of his _Lycidas_ had at first made theprimrose "_die unwedded_, " which was a pretty close copy of Shakespeare. Milton afterwards struck out the word "_unwedded_, " and substituted theword "_forsaken_. " The reason why the primrose was said to "dieunmarried, " is, according to Warton, because it grows in the shadeuncherished or unseen by the sun, who was supposed to be in love withcertain sorts of flowers. Ben Jonson, however, describes the primrose as_a wedded lady_--"the Spring's own _Spouse_"--though she is certainlymore commonly regarded as the daughter of Spring not the wife. JFletcher gives her the true parentage:--

 Primrose, first born child of Ver

There are some kinds of primroses, that are not _pale_. There is aspecies in Scotland, which is of a deep purple. And even in England (insome of the northern counties) there is a primrose, the bird's-eyeprimrose, (Primula farinosa, ) of which the blossom is lilac colored andthe leaves musk-scented. 

In Sweden they call the Primrose _The key of May_. 

The primrose is always a great favorite with imaginative and sensitiveobservers, but there are too many people who look upon the beautifulwith a utilitarian eye, or like Wordsworth's Peter Bell regard it withperfect indifference. 

 A primrose by the river's brim A yellow primrose was to him. And it was nothing more. 

I have already given one anecdote of a utilitarian; but I may as wellgive two more anecdotes of a similar character. Mrs. Wordsworth was in agrove, listening to the cooing of the stock-doves, and associating theirmusic with the remembrance of her husband's verses to a stock-dove, whena farmer's wife passing by exclaimed, "Oh, I do like stock-doves!" Thewoman won the heart of the poet's wife at once; but she did not longretain it. "Some people, " continued the speaker, "like 'em in a pie; formy part I think there's nothing like 'em stewed in inions. " This was arustic utilitarian. Here is an instance of a very different sort ofutilitarianism--the utilitarianism of men who lead a gay town life. SirW. H. Listened, patiently for some time to a poetical-minded friend whowas rapturously expatiating upon the delicious perfume of a bed ofviolets; "Oh yes, " said Sir W. At last, "its all very well, but for mypart I very much prefer the smell of a flambeau at the theatre. " Butintellects far more capacious than that of Sir W. H. Have exhibited thesame indifference to the beautiful in nature. Locke and Jeremy Benthamand even Sir Isaac Newton despised all poetry. And yet God never meantman to be insensible to the beautiful or the poetical. "Poetry, liketruth, " says Ebenezer Elliot, "is a common flower: God has sown it overthe earth, like the daisies sprinkled with tears or glowing in the sun, even as he places the crocus and the March frosts together andbeautifully mingles life and death. " If the finer and more spiritualfaculties of men were as well cultivated or exercised as are theircolder and coarser faculties there would be fewer utilitarians. But thehighest part of our nature is too much neglected in all our systems ofeducation. Of the beauty and fragrance of flowers all earthly creaturesexcept man are apparently meant to be unconscious. The cattle tread downor masticate the fairest flowers without a single "compunctious visitingof nature. " This excites no surprize. It is no more than natural. But itis truly painful and humiliating to see any human being as insensible asthe beasts of the field to that poetry of the world which God seems tohave addressed exclusively to the heart and soul of man. 

In South Wales the custom of strewing all kinds of flowers over thegraves of departed friends, is preserved to the present day. Shakespeare, it appears, knew something of the customs of that part ofhis native country and puts the following _flowery_ speech into themouth of the young Prince, Arviragus, who was educated there. 

 With fairest flowers, While summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele, I'll sweeten thy sad grave. Thou shalt not lack The flower that's like thy face, pale Primrose, nor The azured Harebell, like thy veins; no, nor The leaf of Eglantine; whom not to slander, Out-sweetened not thy breath. 

_Cymbeline_. 

Here are two more flower-passages from Shakespeare. 

 Here's a few flowers; but about midnight more; The herbs that have on them cold dew o' the night Are strewings fitt'st for graves. --Upon their faces:-- You were as flowers; now withered; even so These herblets shall, which we upon you strow. 

_Cymbeline_. 

 Sweets to the sweet. Farewell! I hoped thou shoulds't have been my Hamlet's wife; I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid, And not t' have strewed thy grave. 

_Hamlet_. 

Flowers are peculiarly suitable ornaments for the grave, for as Evelyntruly says, "they are just emblems of the life of man, which has beencompared in Holy Scripture to those fading creatures, whose roots beingburied in dishonor rise again in glory. "[061]

This thought is natural and just. It is indeed a most impressive sight, a most instructive pleasure, to behold some "bright consummate flower"rise up like a radiant exhalation or a beautiful vision--like good fromevil--with such stainless purity and such dainty loveliness, from thehot-bed of corruption. 

Milton turns his acquaintance with flowers to divine account in hisLycidas. 

 Return; Sicilian Muse, And call the vales, and bid them hither cast Their bells and flowerets of a thousand hues. Ye vallies low, where the mild whispers use Of shades and wanton winds, and gushing brooks, On whose fresh lap the swart-star sparely looks; Throw hither all your quaint enamelled eyes, That on the green turf suck the honied showers. And purple all the ground with vernal flowers. Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies. The tufted crow-toe, and pale jessamine, The white pink, and the pansy freaked with jet, The glowing violet, The musk-rose and the well-attired woodbine, With cowslips wan that hang the pensive head, [062] And every flower that sad embroidery wears; Bid Amaranthus all his beauty shed, And daffodillies fill their cups with tears, To strew the laureate hearse where Lycid lies, For, so to interpose a little ease, Let our frail thoughts dally with faint surmise

Here is a nosegay of spring-flowers from the hand of Thomson:--

 Fair handed Spring unbosoms every grace, Throws out the snow drop and the crocus first, the daisy, primrose, violet darkly blue, And polyanthus of unnumbered dyes, The yellow wall flower, stained with iron brown, And lavish stock that scents the garden round, From the soft wing of vernal breezes shed, Anemonies, auriculas, enriched With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves And full ranunculus of glowing red Then comes the tulip race, where Beauty plays Her idle freaks from family diffused To family, as flies the father dust, The varied colors run, and while they break On the charmed eye, the exulting Florist marks With secret pride, the wonders of his hand Nor gradual bloom is wanting, from the bird, First born of spring, to Summer's musky tribes Nor hyacinth, of purest virgin white, Low bent, and, blushing inward, nor jonquils, Of potent fragrance, nor Narcissus fair, As o'er the fabled fountain hanging still, Nor broad carnations, nor gay spotted pinks; Nor, showered from every bush, the damask rose. Infinite varieties, delicacies, smells, With hues on hues expression cannot paint, The breath of Nature and her endless bloom. 

Here are two bouquets of flowers from the garden of Cowper

 Laburnum, rich In streaming gold, syringa, ivory pure, The scentless and the scented rose, this red, And of an humbler growth, the other[063] tall, And throwing up into the darkest gloom Of neighboring cypress, or more sable yew, Her silver globes, light as the foamy surf That the wind severs from the broken wave, The lilac, various in array, now white, Now sanguine, and her beauteous head now set With purple spikes pyramidal, as if Studious of ornament yet unresolved Which hue she most approved, she chose them all, Copious of flowers the woodbine, pale and wan, But well compensating her sickly looks With never cloying odours, early and late, Hypericum all bloom, so thick a swarm Of flowers, like flies clothing her slender rods, That scarce a loaf appears, mezereon too, Though leafless, well attired, and thick beset With blushing wreaths, investing every spray, Althaea with the purple eye, the broom Yellow and bright, as bullion unalloy'd, Her blossoms, and luxuriant above all The jasmine, throwing wide her elegant sweets, The deep dark green of whose unvarnish'd leaf Makes more conspicuous, and illumines more, The bright profusion of her scatter'd stars

 * * * * *

 Th' amomum there[064] with intermingling flowers And cherries hangs her twigs. Geranium boasts Her crimson honors, and the spangled beau Ficoides, glitters bright the winter long All plants, of every leaf, that can endure The winter's frown, if screened from his shrewd bite, Live their and prosper. Those Ausonia claims, Levantine regions those, the Azores send Their jessamine, her jessamine remote Caffraia, foreigners from many lands, They form one social shade as if convened By magic summons of the Orphean lyre

Here is a bunch of flowers laid before the public eye by Mr. Proctor--

 There the rose unveils Her breast of beauty, and each delicate bud O' the season comes in turn to bloom and perish, But first of all the violet, with an eye Blue as the midnight heavens, the frail snowdrop, Born of the breath of winter, and on his brow Fixed like a full and solitary star The languid hyacinth, and wild primrose And daisy trodden down like modesty The fox glove, in whose drooping bells the bee Makes her sweet music, the Narcissus (named From him who died for love) the tangled woodbine, Lilacs, and flowering vines, and scented thorns, And some from whom the voluptuous winds of June Catch their perfumings

_Barry Cornwall_

I take a second supply of flowers from the same hand

 Here, this rose (This one half blown) shall be my Maia's portion, For that like it her blush is beautiful And this deep violet, almost as blue As Pallas' eye, or thine, Lycemnia, I'll give to thee for like thyself it wears Its sweetness, never obtruding. For this lily Where can it hang but it Cyane's breast? And yet twill wither on so white a bed, If flowers have sense of envy. --It shall be Amongst thy raven tresses, Cytheris, Like one star on the bosom of the night The cowslip and the yellow primrose, --they Are gone, my sad Leontia, to their graves, And April hath wept o'er them, and the voice Of March hath sung, even before their deaths The dirge of those young children of the year But here is hearts ease for your woes. And now, The honey suckle flower I give to thee, And love it for my sake, my own Cyane It hangs upon the stem it loves, as thou Hast clung to me, through every joy and sorrow, It flourishes with its guardian growth, as thou dost, And if the woodman's axe should droop the tree, The woodbine too must perish. 

_Barry Cornwall_

Let me add to the above heap of floral beauty a basket of flowers fromLeigh Hunt. 

 Then the flowers on all their beds-- How the sparklers glance their heads, Daisies with their pinky lashes And the marigolds broad flashes, Hyacinth with sapphire bell Curling backward, and the swell Of the rose, full lipped and warm, Bound about whose riper form Her slender virgin train are seen In their close fit caps of green, Lilacs then, and daffodillies, And the nice leaved lesser lilies Shading, like detected light, Their little green-tipt lamps of white; Blissful poppy, odorous pea, With its wing up lightsomely; Balsam with his shaft of amber, Mignionette for lady's chamber, And genteel geranium, With a leaf for all that come; And the tulip tricked out finest, And the pink of smell divinest; And as proud as all of them Bound in one, the garden's gem Hearts-ease, like a gallant bold In his cloth of purple and gold. 

Lady Mary Wortley Montague, who introduced inoculation into England--apractically useful boon to us, --had also the honor to be amongst thefirst to bring from the East to the West an elegant amusement--theLanguage of Flowers. [065]

 Then he took up his garland, and did show What every flower, as country people hold, Did signify; and how all, ordered thus, Expressed his grief: and, to my thoughts, did read The prettiest lecture of his country art That could be wished. 

_Beaumont's and Fletcher's "Philaster. "_

 * * * * *

 There from richer banks Culling out flowers, which in a learned order Do become characters, whence they disclose Their mutual meanings, garlands then and nosegays Being framed into epistles. 

_Cartwright's "Love's Covenant. "_

 * * * * *

 An exquisite invention this, Worthy of Love's most honied kiss, This art of writing _billet-doux_ In buds and odours and bright hues, In saying all one feels and thinks In clever daffodils and pinks, Uttering (as well as silence may, ) The sweetest words the sweetest way. 

_Leigh Hunt_. 

 * * * * *

 Yet, no--not words, for they But half can tell love's feeling; Sweet flowers alone can say What passion fears revealing. [066] A once bright rose's withered leaf-- A towering lily broken-- Oh, these may paint a grief No words could e'er have spoken. 

_Moore_. 

 * * * * *

 By all those token flowers that tell What words can ne'er express so well. 

_Byron_. 

 * * * * *

 A mystic language, perfect in each part. Made up of bright hued thoughts and perfumed speeches. 

_Adams_. 

If we are to believe Shakespeare it is not human beings only who use afloral language:--

 Fairies use flowers for their charactery. 

Sir Walter Scott tells us that:--

 The myrtle bough bids lovers live--

A sprig of hawthorn has the same meaning as a sprig of myrtle: it giveshope to the lover--the sweet heliotrope tells the depth of hispassion, --if he would charge his mistress with levity he presents thelarkspur, --and a leaf of nettle speaks her cruelty. Poor Ophelia (in_Hamlet_) gives rosemary for remembrance, and pansies (_pensees_) forthoughts. The laurel indicates victory in war or success with the Muses, "The meed of mighty conquerors and poets sage. "

The ivy wreathes the brows of criticism. The fresh vine-leaf cools thehot forehead of the bacchanal. Bergamot and jessamine imply thefragrance of friendship. 

The Olive is the emblem of peace--the Laurel, of glory--the Rue, ofgrace or purification (Ophelia's _Herb of Grace O'Sundays_)--thePrimrose, of the spring of human life--the Bud of the White Rose, ofGirl-hood, --the full blossom of the Red Rose, of consummate beauty--theDaisy, of innocence, --the Butter-cup, of gold--the Houstania, ofcontent--the Heliotrope, of devotion in love--the Cross of Jerusalem, ofdevotion in religion--the Forget-me-not, of fidelity--the Myrrh, ofgladness--the Yew, of sorrow--the Michaelmas Daisy, of cheerfulness inage--the Chinese Chrysanthemum, of cheerfulness in adversity--the YellowCarnation, of disdain--the Sweet Violet, of modesty--the whiteChrysanthemum, of truth--the Sweet Sultan, of felicity--the SensitivePlant, of maiden shyness--the Yellow Day Lily, of coquetry--theSnapdragon, of presumption--the Broom, of humility--the Amaryllis, ofpride--the Grass, of submission--the Fuschia, of taste--the Verbena, ofsensibility--the Nasturtium, of splendour--the Heath, of solitude--theBlue Periwinkle, of early friendship--the Honey-suckle, of the bond oflove--the Trumpet Flower, of fame--the Amaranth, of immortality--theAdonis, of sorrowful remembrance, --and the Poppy, of oblivion. 

The Witch-hazel indicates a spell, --the Cape Jasmine says _I'm toohappy_--the Laurestine, _I die if I am neglected_--the American Cowslip, _You are a divinity_--the Volkamenica Japonica, _May you be happy_--theRose-colored Chrysanthemum, _I love_, --and the Venus' Car, _Fly withme_. 

For the following illustrations of the language of flowers I am indebtedto a useful and well conducted little periodical published in London andentitled the _Family Friend_;--the work is a great favorite with thefair sex. 

"Of the floral grammar, the first rule to be observed is, that thepronoun _I_ or _me_ is expressed by inclining the symbol flower to the_left_, and the pronoun _thou_ or _thee_ by inclining it to the _right_. When, however, it is not a real flower offered, but a representationupon paper, these positions must be reversed, so that the symbol leansto the heart of the person whom it is to signify. 

The second rule is, that the opposite of a particular sentimentexpressed by a flower presented upright is denoted when the symbol isreversed; thus a rose-bud sent upright, with its thorns and leaves, means, "_I fear, but I hope_. " If the bud is returned upside down, itmeans, "_You must neither hope nor fear_. " Should the thorns, however, be stripped off, the signification is, "_There is everything to hope_;"but if stript of its leaves, "_There is everything to fear_. " By this itwill be seen that the expression of almost all flowers may be varied bya change in their positions, or an alteration of their state orcondition. For example, the marigold flower placed in the hand signifies"_trouble of spirits_;" on the heart, "_trouble or love_;" on the bosom, "_weariness_. " The pansy held upright denotes "_heart's ease_;"reversed, it speaks the contrary. When presented upright, it says, "_Think of me_;" and when pendent, "_Forget me_. " So, too, theamaryllis, which is the emblem of pride, may be made to express, "_Mypride is humbled_, " or, "_Your pride is checked_, " by holding itdownwards, and to the right or left, as the sense requires. Then, again, the wallflower, which is the emblem of fidelity in misfortune, ifpresented with the stalk upward, would intimate that the person to whomit was turned was unfaithful in the time of trouble. 

The third rule has relation to the manner in which certain words may berepresented; as, for instance, the articles, by tendrils with single, double, and treble branches, as under--

[Illustration of _The_, _An_ & _A_. ]

The numbers are represented by leaflets running from one to eleven, asthus--

[Illustration of '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', & '6'. ]

From eleven to twenty, berries are added to the ten leaves thus--

[Illustration of '12' & '15'. ]

From twenty to one hundred, compound leaves are added to the other tenfor the decimals, and berries stand for the odd numbers so--

[Illustration of '20', '34' & '56'. ]

A hundred is represented by ten tens; and this may be increased by athird leaflet and a branch of berries up to 999. 

[Illustration of '100'. ]

A thousand may be symbolized by a frond of fern, having ten or moreleaves, and to this a common leaflet may be added to increase the numberof thousands. In this way any given number may be represented infoliage, such as the date of a year in which a birthday, or other event, occurs, to which it is desirable to make allusion, in an emblematicwreath or floral picture. Thus, if I presented my love with a mute yeteloquent expression of good wishes on her eighteenth birthday, I shouldprobably do it in this wise:--Within an evergreen wreath (_lasting as myaffection_), consisting of ten leaflets and eight berries (_the age ofthe beloved_), I would place a red rose bud (_pure and lovely_), or awhite lily (_pure and modest_), its spotless petals half concealing aripe strawberry (_perfect excellence_); and to this I might add ablossom of the rose-scented geranium (_expressive of my preference_), apeach blossom to say "_I am your captive_" fern for sincerity, andperhaps bachelor's buttons for _hope in love_"--_Family Friend_. 

There are many anecdotes and legends and classical fables to illustratethe history of shrubs and flowers, and as they add something to thepeculiar interest with which we regard individual plants, they ought notto be quite passed over by the writers upon Floriculture. 

THE FLOS ADONIS. 

The Flos Adonis, a blood-red flower of the Anemone tribe, is one of themany plants which, according to ancient story sprang from the tears ofVenus and the blood of her coy favorite. 

 Rose cheeked Adonis hied him to the chase Hunting he loved, but love he laughed to scorn

_Shakespeare_. 

Venus, the Goddess of Beauty, the mother of Love, the Queen of Laughter, the Mistress of the Graces and the Pleasures, could make no impressionon the heart of the beautiful son of Myrrha, (who was changed into amyrrh tree, ) though the passion-stricken charmer looked and spake withthe lip and eye of the fairest of the immortals. Shakespeare, in hispoem of _Venus and Adonis_, has done justice to her burning eloquence, and the lustre of her unequalled loveliness. She had most earnestly, andwith all a true lover's care entreated Adonis to avoid the dangers ofthe chase, but he slighted all her warnings just as he had slighted heraffections. He was killed by a wild boar. Shakespeare makes Venus thuslament over the beautiful dead body as it lay on the blood-stainedgrass. 

 Alas, poor world, what treasure hast thou lost! What face remains alive that's worth the viewing? Whose tongue is music now? What can'st thou boast Of things long since, or any thing ensuing? The flowers are sweet, their colors fresh and trim, But true sweet beauty lived and died with him. 

In her ecstacy of grief she prophecies that henceforth all sorts ofsorrows shall be attendants upon love, --and alas! she was too correct anoracle. 

 The course of true love never does run smooth. 

Here is Shakespeare's version of the metamorphosis of Adonis into aflower. 

 By this the boy that by her side lay killed Was melted into vapour from her sight, And in his blood that on the ground lay spilled, A purple flower sprang up, checquered with white, Resembling well his pale cheeks, and the blood Which in round drops upon their whiteness stood. 

 She bows her head, the new sprung flower to smell, Comparing it to her Adonis' breath, And says, within her bosom it shall dwell Since he himself is reft from her by death; She crops the stalk, and in the branch appears Green dropping sap which she compares to tears. 

The reader may like to contrast this account of the change from humaninto floral beauty with the version of the same story in Ovid astranslated by Eusden. 

 Then on the blood sweet nectar she bestows, The scented blood in little bubbles rose; Little as rainy drops, which fluttering fly, Borne by the winds, along a lowering sky, Short time ensued, till where the blood was shed, A flower began to rear its purple head

 Such, as on Punic apples is revealed Or in the filmy rind but half concealed, Still here the fate of lonely forms we see, _So sudden fades the sweet Anemone_. The feeble stems to stormy blasts a prey Their sickly beauties droop, and pine away The winds forbid the flowers to flourish long Which owe to winds their names in Grecian song. 

The concluding couplet alludes to the Grecian name of the flower([Greek: anemos], _anemos_, the wind. )

It is said of the Anemone that it never opens its lips until Zephyrkisses them. Sir William Jones alludes to its short-lived beauty. 

 Youth, like a thin anemone, displays His silken leaf, and in a morn decays. 

Horace Smith speaks of

 The coy anemone that ne'er discloses Her lips until they're blown on by the wind

Plants open out their leaves to breathe the air just as eagerly as theythrow down their roots to suck up the moisture of the earth. Dr. Linley, indeed says, "they feed more by their leaves than their roots. " I latelymet with a curious illustration of the fact that plants draw a largerproportion of their nourishment from light and air than is commonlysupposed. I had a beautiful convolvulus growing upon a trellis work inan upper verandah with a south-western aspect. The root of the plant wasin pots. The convolvulus growing too luxuriantly and encroaching toomuch upon the space devoted to a creeper of another kind, I separatedits upper branches from the root and left them to die. The leaves beganto fade the second day and most of them were quite dead the third orfourth day, but two or three of the smallest retained a sickly life forsome days more. The buds or rather chalices outlived the leaves. Thechalices continued to expand every morning, for--I am afraid to say howlong a time--it might seem perfectly incredible. The convolvulus is aplant of a rather delicate character and I was perfectly astonished atits tenacity of life in this case. I should mention that this happenedin the rainy season and that the upper part of the creeper was partiallyprotected from the sun. 

The Anemone seems to have been a great favorite with Mrs. Hemans. Shethus addresses it. 

 Flower! The laurel still may shed Brightness round the victor's head, And the rose in beauty's hair Still its festal glory wear; And the willow-leaves droop o'er Brows which love sustains no more But by living rays refined, Thou the trembler of the wind, Thou, the spiritual flower Sentient of each breeze and shower, [067] Thou, rejoicing in the skies And transpierced with all their dyes; Breathing-vase with light o'erflowing, Gem-like to thy centre flowing, Thou the Poet's type shall be Flower of soul, Anemone!

The common anemone was known to the ancients but the finest kind wasintroduced into France from the East Indies, by Monsieur Bachelier, aneminent Florist. He seems to have been a person of a truly selfishdisposition, for he refused to share the possession of his floraltreasure with any of his countrymen. For ten years the new anemone fromthe East was to be seen no where in Europe but in Monsieur Bachelier'sparterre. At last a counsellor of the French Parliament disgusted withthe florist's selfishness, artfully contrived when visiting the gardento drop his robe upon the flower in such a manner as to sweep off someof the seeds. The servant, who was in his master's secret, caught up therobe and carried it away. The trick succeeded; and the counsellor sharedthe spoils with all his friends through whose agency the plant wasmultiplied in all parts of Europe. 

THE OLIVE. 

The OLIVE is generally regarded as an emblem of peace, and should havenone but pleasant associations connected with it, but Ovid alludes to awild species of this tree into which a rude and licentious fellow wasconverted as a punishment for "banishing the fair, " with indecent wordsand gestures. The poet tells us of a secluded grotto surrounded bytrembling reeds once frequented by the wood-nymphs of the sylvan race:--

 Till Appulus with a dishonest air And gross behaviour, banished thence the fair. The bold buffoon, whene'er they tread the green, Their motion mimics, but with jest obscene; Loose language oft he utters; but ere long A bark in filmy net-work binds his tongue; Thus changed, a base wild olive he remains; The shrub the coarseness of the clown retains. 

_Garth's Ovid_. 

The mural of this is excellent. The sentiment reminds me of the Earl ofRoscommon's well-known couplet in his _Essay on Translated Verse_, apoem now rarely read. 

 Immodest words admit of no defense, [068] For want of decency is want of sense, THE HYACINTH. 

The HYACINTH has always been a great favorite with the poets, ancientand modern. Homer mentions the Hyacinth as forming a portion of thematerials of the couch of Jove and Juno. 

 Thick new-born Violets a soft carpet spread, And clustering Lotos swelled the rising bed, And sudden _Hyacinths_[069] the turf bestrow, And flaming Crocus made the mountains glow

_Iliad, Book 14_

Milton gives a similar couch to Adam and Eve. 

 Flowers were the couch Pansies, and Violets, and Asphodel And _Hyacinth_, earth's freshest, softest lap

With the exception of the lotus (so common in Hindustan, ) all theseflowers, thus celebrated by the greatest of Grecian poets, andrepresented as fit luxuries for the gods, are at the command of thepoorest peasant in England. The common Hyacinth is known to theunlearned as the Harebell, so called from the bell shape of its flowersand from its growing so abundantly in thickets frequented by hares. Shakespeare, as we have seen, calls it the _Blue_-bell. 

The curling flowers of the Hyacinth, have suggested to our poets theidea of clusters of curling tresses of hair. 

 His fair large front and eye sublime declared Absolute rule, and hyacinthine locks Round from his parted forelock manly hung, Clustering

_Milton_

 The youths whose locks divinely spreading Like vernal hyacinths in sullen hue

_Collins_

Sir William Jones describes--

 The fragrant hyacinths of Azza's hair, That wanton with the laughing summer air. 

A similar allusion may also be found in prose. 

"It was the exquisitely fair queen Helen, whose jacinth[070] hair, curled by nature, intercurled by art, like a brook through golden sands, had a rope of fair pearl, which, now hidden by the hair, did, as it wereplay at fast and loose each with the other, mutually giving andreceiving richness. "--_Sir Philip Sidney_

"The ringlets so elegantly disposed round the fair countenances of thesefair Chiotes [071] are such as Milton describes by 'hyacinthine locks'crisped and curled like the blossoms of that flower"

_Dallaway_

The old fable about Hyacinthus is soon told. Apollo loved the youth andnot only instructed him in literature and the arts, but shared in hispastimes. The divine teacher was one day playing with his pupil atquoits. Some say that Zephyr (Ovid says it was Boreas) jealous of thegod's influence over young Hyacinthus, wafted the ponderous iron ringfrom its right course and caused it to pitch upon the poor boy's head. He fell to the ground a bleeding corpse. Apollo bade the scarlethyacinth spring from the blood and impressed upon its leaves the words_Ai Ai_, (_alas! alas!_) the Greek funeral lamentation. Milton alludesto the flower in _Lycidas_, Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe. 

Drummond had before spoken of

 That sweet flower that bears In sanguine spots the tenor of our woes

Hurdis speaks of:

 The melancholy Hyacinth, that weeps All night, and never lifts an eye all day. 

Ovid, after giving the old fable of Hyacinthus, tells us that "the timeshall come when a most valiant hero shall add his name to this flower. ""He alludes, " says Mr. Riley, "to Ajax, from whose blood when he slewhimself, a similar flower[072] was said to have arisen with the letters_Ai Ai_ on its leaves, expressive either of grief or denoting the firsttwo letters of his name [Greek: Aias]. "

 As poets feigned from Ajax's streaming blood Arose, with grief inscribed, a mournful flower. 

_Young_. 

Keats has the following allusion to the old story of Hyacinthus, Or they might watch the quoit-pitchers, intent On either side; pitying the sad death Of Hyacinthus, when the cruel breath Of Zephyr slew him, --Zephyr penitent, Who now, ere Phoebus mounts the firmament Fondles the flower amid the sobbing rain. 

_Endymion_. 

Our English Hyacinth, it is said, is not entitled to its legendaryhonors. The words _Non Scriptus_ were applied to this plant byDodonaeus, because it had not the _Ai Ai_ upon its petals. ProfessorMartyn says that the flower called _Lilium Martagon_ or the _ScarletTurk's Cap_ is the plant alluded to by the ancients. 

Alphonse Karr, the eloquent French writer, whose "_Tour Round myGarden_" I recommend to the perusal of all who can sympathize withreflections and emotions suggested by natural objects, has the followinginteresting anecdote illustrative of the force of a floralassociation:--

"I had in a solitary corner of my garden _three hyacinths_ which myfather had planted and which death did not allow him to see bloom. Everyyear the period of their flowering was for me a solemnity, a funeral andreligious festival, it was a melancholy remembrance which revived andreblossomed every year and exhaled certain thoughts with its perfume. The roots are dead now and nothing lives of this dear association but inmy own heart. But what a dear yet sad privilege man possesses above allcreated beings, while thus enabled by memory and thought to follow thosewhom he loved to the tomb and there shut up the living with the dead. What a melancholy privilege, and yet is there one amongst us who wouldlose it? Who is he who would willingly forget all"

Wordsworth, suddenly stopping before a little bunch of harebells, whichalong with some parsley fern, grew out of a wall, he exclaimed, 'Howperfectly beautiful that is!

 Would that the little flowers that grow could live Conscious of half the pleasure that they give

The Hyacinth has been cultivated with great care and success in Holland, where from two to three hundred pounds have been given for a singlebulb. A florist at Haarlem enumerates 800 kinds of double-floweredHyacinths, besides about 400 varieties of the single kind. It is saidthat there are altogether upwards of 2000 varieties of the Hyacinth. 

The English are particularly fond of the Hyacinth. It is a domesticflower--a sort of parlour pet. When in "close city pent" they transferthe bulbs to glass vases (Hyacinth glasses) filled with water, and placethem in their windows in the winter. 

An annual solemnity, called Hyacinthia, was held in Laconia in honor ofHyacinthus and Apollo. It lasted three days. So eagerly was thisfestival honored, that the soldiers of Laconia even when they had takenthe field against an enemy would return home to celebrate it. 

THE NARCISSUS

 Foolish Narcisse, that likes the watery shore

_Spenser_

With respect to the NARCISSUS, whose name in the floral vocabulary isthe synonyme of _egotism_, there is a story that must be familiar enoughto most of my readers. Narcissus was a beautiful youth. Teresias, theSoothsayer, foretold that he should enjoy felicity until he beheld hisown face but that the first sight of that would be fatal to him. Everykind of mirror was kept carefully out of his way. Echo was enamoured ofhim, but he slighted her love, and she pined and withered away until shehad nothing left her but her voice, and even that could only repeat thelast syllables of other people's sentences. He at last saw his own imagereflected in a fountain, and taking it for that of another, he fellpassionately in love with it. He attempted to embrace it. On seeing thefruitlessness of all his efforts, he killed himself in despair. When thenymphs raised a funeral pile to burn his body, they found nothing but aflower. That flower (into which he had been changed) still bears hisname. 

Here is a little passage about the fable, from the _Two Noble Kinsmen_of Beaumont and Fletcher. 

 _Emilia_--This garden hath a world of pleasure in it, What flower is this?

 _Servant_--'Tis called Narcissus, Madam. 

 _Em. _--That was a fair boy certain, but a fool To love himself, were there not maids, Or are they all hard hearted?

 _Ser_--That could not be to one so fair. 

Ben Jonson touches the true moral of the fable very forcibly. 

 'Tis now the known disease That beauty hath, to hear too deep a sense Of her own self conceived excellence Oh! had'st thou known the worth of Heaven's rich gift, Thou would'st have turned it to a truer use, And not (with starved and covetous ignorance) Pined in continual eyeing that bright gem The glance whereof to others had been more Than to thy famished mind the wide world's store. 

Gay's version of the fable is as follows:

 Here young Narcissus o'er the fountain stood And viewed his image in the crystal flood The crystal flood reflects his lovely charms And the pleased image strives to meet his arms. No nymph his inexperienced breast subdued, Echo in vain the flying boy pursued Himself alone, the foolish youth admires And with fond look the smiling shade desires, O'er the smooth lake with fruitless tears he grieves, His spreading fingers shoot in verdant leaves, Through his pale veins green sap now gently flows, And in a short lived flower his beauty glows

Addison has given a full translation of the story of Narcissus fromOvid's Metamorphoses, Book the third. 

The common daffodil of our English fields is of the genus Narcissus. "Pray, " said some one to Pope, "what is this _Asphodel_ of Homer?" "Why, I believe, " said Pope "if one was to say the truth, 'twas nothing elsebut that poor yellow flower that grows about our orchards, and, if so, the verse might be thus translated in English

 --The stern Achilles Stalked through a mead of daffodillies"

THE LAUREL

Daphne was a beautiful nymph beloved by that very amorous gentleman, Apollo. The love was not reciprocal. She endeavored to escape hisgodship's importunities by flight. Apollo overtook her. She at thatinstant solicited aid from heaven, and was at once turned into a laurel. Apollo gathered a wreath from the tree and placing it on his ownimmortal brows, decreed that from that hour the laurel should be sacredto his divinity. 

THE SUN-FLOWER

 Who can unpitying see the flowery race Shed by the morn then newflushed bloom resign, Before the parching beam? So fade the fair, When fever revels in their azure veins But one, _the lofty follower of the sun_, Sad when he sits shuts up her yellow leaves, Drooping all night, and when he warm return, Points her enamoured bosom to his ray

_Thomson_. 

THE SUN-FLOWER (_Helianthus_) was once the fair nymph Clytia. Broken-hearted at the falsehood of her lover, Apollo, (who has so manysimilar sins to answer for) she pined away and died. When it was too lateApollo's heart relented, and in honor of true affection he changed poorClytia into a _Sun-flower_. [073] It is sometimes called _Tourne-sol_--aword that signifies turning to the sun. Thomas Moore helps to keep theold story in remembrance by the concluding couplet of one of hissweetest ballads. 

 Oh! the heart that has truly loved never forgets, But as truly loves on to its close As the sun flower turns on her god when he sets The same look that she turned when he rose

But Moore has here poetized a vulgar error. Most plants naturally turntowards the light, but the sun-flower (in spite of its name) is perhapsless apt to turn itself towards Apollo than the majority of otherflowers for it has a stiff stem and a number of heavy heads. At allevents it does not change its attitude in the course of the day. Theflower-disk that faces the morning sun has it back to it in the evening. 

Gerard calls the sun-flower "The Flower of the Sun or the Marigold ofPeru". Speaking of it in the year 1596 he tells us that he had some inhis own garden in Holborn that had grown to the height of fourteen feet. 

THE WALL-FLOWER

 The weed is green, when grey the wall, And blossoms rise where turrets fall

Herrick gives us a pretty version of the story of the WALL-FLOWER, (_cheiranthus cheiri_)("the yellow wall-flower stained with iron brown")

 Why this flower is now called so List sweet maids and you shall know Understand this firstling was Once a brisk and bonny lass Kept as close as Danae was Who a sprightly springal loved, And to have it fully proved, Up she got upon a wall Tempting down to slide withal, But the silken twist untied, So she fell, and bruised and died Love in pity of the deed And her loving, luckless speed, Turned her to the plant we call Now, 'The Flower of the Wall'

The wall-flower is the emblem of fidelity in misfortune, because itattaches itself to fallen towers and gives a grace to ruin. David Moir(the Delta of _Blackwood's Magazine_) has a poem on this flower. I mustgive one stanza of it. 

 In the season of the tulip cup When blossoms clothe the trees, How sweet to throw the lattice up And scent thee on the breeze; The butterfly is then abroad, The bee is on the wing, And on the hawthorn by the road The linnets sit and sing. 

Lord Bacon observes that wall-flowers are very delightful when set underthe parlour window or a lower chamber window. They are delightful, Ithink, any where. 

THE JESSAMINE. 

 The Jessamine, with which the Queen of flowers, To charm her god[074] adorns his favorite bowers, Which brides, by the plain hand of neatness dressed-- Unenvied rivals!--wear upon their breast; Sweet as the incense of the morn, and chaste As the pure zone which circles Dian's waist. 

_Churchill. _

The elegant and fragrant JESSAMINE, or Jasmine, (_Jasmimum Officinale_)with its "bright profusion of scattered stars, " is said to have passedfrom East to West. It was originally a native of Hindustan, but it isnow to be found in every clime, and is a favorite in all. There aremany varieties of it in Europe. In Italy it is woven into bridal wreathsand is used on all festive occasions. There is a proverbial sayingthere, that she who is worthy of being decorated with jessamine is richenough for any husband. Its first introduction into that sunny land isthus told. A certain Duke of Tuscany, the first possessor of a plant ofthis tribe, wished to preserve it as an unique, and forbade his gardenerto give away a single sprig of it. But the gardener was a more faithfullover than servant and was more willing to please a young mistress thanan old master. He presented the young girl with a branch of jessamine onher birth-day. She planted it in the ground; it took root, and grew andblossomed. She multiplied the plant by cuttings, and by the sale ofthese realized a little fortune, which her lover received as hermarriage dowry. 

In England the bride wears a coronet of intermingled orange blossom andjessamine. Orange flowers indicate chastity, and the jessamine, eleganceand grace. 

THE ROSE. 

 For here the rose expands Her paradise of leaves. 

_Southey. _

The ROSE, (_Rosa_) the Queen of Flowers, was given by Cupid toHarpocrates, the God of Silence, as a bribe, to prevent him frombetraying the amours of Venus. A rose suspended from the ceilingintimates that all is strictly confidential that passes under it. Hencethe phrase--_under the Rose_[075]. 

The rose was raised by Flora from the remains of a favorite nymph. Venusand the Graces assisted in the transformation of the nymph into aflower. Bacchus supplied streams of nectar to its root, and Vertumnusshowered his choicest perfumes on its head. 

The loves of the Nightingale and the Rose have been celebrated by theMuses of many lands. An Eastern poet says "You may place a hundredhandfuls of fragrant herbs and flowers before the Nightingale; yet hewishes not, in his constant heart, for more than the sweet breath of hisbeloved Rose. "

The Turks say that the rose owes its origin to a drop of perspirationthat fell from the person of their prophet Mahommed. 

The classical legend runs that the rose was at first of a pure white, but a rose-thorn piercing the foot of Venus when she was hastening toprotect Adonis from the rage of Mars, her blood dyed the flower. Spenseralludes to this legend:

 White as the native rose, before the change Which Venus' blood did on her leaves impress. 

_Spenser_. 

Milton says that in Paradise were, Flowers of all hue, and _without thorns the rose_. 

According to Zoroaster there was no thorn on the rose until Ahriman (theEvil One) entered the world. 

Here is Dr. Hooker's account of the origin of the red rose. 

 To sinless Eve's admiring sight The rose expanded snowy white, When in the ecstacy of bliss She gave the modest flower a kiss, And instantaneous, lo! it drew From her red lip its blushing hue; While from her breath it sweetness found, And spread new fragrance all around. 

This reminds me of a passage in Mrs. Barrett Browning's _Drama of Exile_in which she makes Eve say--

 --For was I not At that last sunset seen in Paradise, When all the westering clouds flashed out in throngs Of sudden angel-faces, face by face, All hushed and solemn, as a thought of God Held them suspended, --was I not, that hour The lady of the world, princess of life, Mistress of feast and favour? _Could I touch A Rose with my white hand, but it became Redder at once?_

Another poet. (Mr. C. Cooke) tells us that a species of red rose withall her blushing honors full upon her, taking pity on a very palemaiden, changed complexions with the invalid and became herself as whiteas snow. 

Byron expressed a wish that all woman-kind had but one _rosy_ mouth, that he might kiss all woman-kind at once. This, as some one has rightlyobserved, is better than Caligula's wish that all mankind had but onehead that he might cut it off at a single blow. 

Leigh Hunt has a pleasant line about the rose:

 And what a red mouth hath the rose, the woman of the flowers!

In the Malay language the same word signifies _flowers_ and _women_. 

Human beauty and the rose are ever suggesting images of each other tothe imagination of the poets. Shakespeare has a beautiful description ofthe two little princes sleeping together in the Tower of London. 

 Their lips were four red roses on a stalk That in their summer beauty kissed each other. 

William Browne (our Devonshire Pastoral Poet) has a _rosy_ descriptionof a kiss:--

 To her Amyntas Came and saluted; never man before More blest, nor like this kiss hath been another But when two dangling cherries kist each other; Nor ever beauties, like, met at such closes, But in the kisses of two damask roses. 

Here is something in the same spirit from Crashaw. 

 So have I seen Two silken sister-flowers consult and lay Their bashful cheeks together; newly they Peeped from their buds, showed like the garden's eyes Scarce waked, like was the crimson of their joys, Like were the tears they wept, so like that one Seemed but the other's kind reflection. 

Loudon says that there is a rose called the _York and Lancaster_ whichwhen, it comes true has one half of the flower red and the other halfwhite. It was named in commemoration of the two houses at the marriageof Henry VII. Of Lancaster with Elizabeth of York. 

Anacreon devotes one of his longest and best odes to the laudation ofthe Rose. Such innumerable translations have been made of it that it isnow too well known for quotation in this place. Thomas Moore in hisversion of the ode gives in a foot-note the following translation of afragment of the Lesbian poetess. 

 If Jove would give the leafy bowers A queen for all their world of flowers The Rose would be the choice of Jove, And blush the queen of every grove Sweetest child of weeping morning, Gem the vest of earth adorning, Eye of gardens, light of lawns, Nursling of soft summer dawns June's own earliest sigh it breathes, Beauty's brow with lustre wreathes, And to young Zephyr's warm caresses Spreads abroad its verdant tresses, Till blushing with the wanton's play Its cheeks wear e'en a redder ray. 

From the idea of excellence attached to this Queen of Flowers arose, asThomas Moore observes, the pretty proverbial expression used byAristophanes--_you have spoken roses_, a phrase adds the English poet, somewhat similar to the _dire des fleurettes_ of the French. 

The Festival of the Rose is still kept up in many villages of France andSwitzerland. On a certain day of every year the young unmarried womenassemble and undergo a solemn trial before competent judges, the mostvirtuous and industrious girl obtains a crown of roses. In the valley ofEngandine, in Switzerland, a man accused of a crime but proved to be notguilty, is publicly presented by a young maiden with a white rose calledthe Rose of Innocence. 

Of the truly elegant Moss Rose I need say nothing myself; it has been soamply honored by far happier pens than mine. Here is a very ingeniousand graceful story of its origin. The lines are from the German. 

THE MOSS ROSE

 The Angel of the Flowers one day, Beneath a rose tree sleeping lay, The spirit to whom charge is given To bathe young buds in dews of heaven, Awaking from his light repose The Angel whispered to the Rose "O fondest object of my care Still fairest found where all is fair, For the sweet shade thou givest to me Ask what thou wilt 'tis granted thee" "Then" said the Rose, "with deepened glow On me another grace bestow. " The spirit paused in silent thought What grace was there the flower had not? 'Twas but a moment--o'er the rose A veil of moss the Angel throws, And robed in Nature's simple weed, Could there a flower that rose exceed?

Madame de Genlis tells us that during her first visit to England she sawa moss-rose for the first time in her life, and that when she took itback to Paris it gave great delight to her fellow-citizens, who said itwas the first that had ever been seen in that city. Madame de Latoursays that Madame de Genlis was mistaken, for the moss-rose cameoriginally from Provence and had been known to the French for ages. 

The French are said to have cultivated the Rose with extraordinary careand success. It was the favorite flower of the Empress Josephine, whocaused her own name to be traced in the parterres at Malmaison with aplantation of the rarest roses. In the royal rosary at Versailles thereare standards eighteen feet high grafted with twenty different varietiesof the rose. 

With the Romans it was no metaphor but an allusion to a literal factwhen they talked of sleeping upon beds of roses. Cicero in his thirdoration against Verres, when charging the proconsul with luxurioushabits, stated that he had made the tour of Sicily seated upon roses. And Seneca says, of course jestingly, that a Sybarite of the name ofSmyrndiride was unable to sleep if one of the rose-petals on his bedhappened to be curled! At a feast which Cleopatra gave to Marc Antonythe floor of the hall was covered with fresh roses to the depth ofeighteen inches. At a fête given by Nero at Baiae the sum of fourmillions of sesterces or about 20, 000_l_. Was incurred for roses. TheNatives of India are fond of the rose, and are lavish in theirexpenditure at great festivals, but I suppose that no millionaireamongst them ever spent such an amount of money as this upon flowersalone. [076]

I shall close the poetical quotations on the Rose with one ofShakespeare's sonnets. 

 O how much more doth beauty beauteous seem, By that sweet ornament which truth doth give. The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem For that sweet odour which doth in it live. The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye As the perfumed tincture of the roses, Hang on such thorns, and play as wantonly, When summer's breath their masked buds discloses; But for their virtue only is their show, They live unwoo'd and unrespected fade; Die to themselves. Sweet Roses do not so; Of then sweet deaths are sweetest odours made: And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth, When that shall fade, my verse distils your truth. 

There are many hundred acres of rose trees at Ghazeepore which arecultivated for distillation, and making "attar. " There are large fieldsof roses in England also, for the manufacture of rose-water. 

There is a story about the origin of attar of Roses. The PrincessNourmahal caused a large tank, on which she used to be rowed about withthe great Mogul, to be filled with rose-water. The heat of the sunseparating the water from the essential oil of the rose, the latter wasobserved to be floating on the surface. The discovery was immediatelyturned to good account. At Ghazeepoor, the _essence_, _atta_ or _uttar_or _otto_, or whatever it should be called, is obtained with greatsimplicity and ease. After the rose water is prepared it is put intolarge open vessels which are left out at night. Early in the morning theoil that floats upon the surface is skimmed off, or sucked up with finedry cotton wool, put into bottles, and carefully sealed. Bishop Hebersays that to produce one rupee's weight of atta 200, 000 well grown rosesare required, and that a rupee's weight sells from 80 to 100 rupees. Theatta sold in Calcutta is commonly adulterated with the oil of sandalwood. 

LINNAEA BOREALIS

The LINNAEA BOREALIS, or two horned Linnaea, though a simple Laplandflower, is interesting to all botanists from its association with thename of the Swedish Sage. It has pretty little bells and is veryfragrant. It is a wild, unobtrusive plant and is very averse to thetrim lawn and the gay flower-border. This little woodland beauty pinesaway under too much notice. She prefers neglect, and would rather wasteher sweetness on the desert air, than be introduced into the fashionablelists of Florist's flowers. She shrinks from exposure to the sun. Agentleman after walking with Linnaeus on the shores of the lake nearCharlottendal on a lovely evening, writes thus "I gathered a smallflower and asked if it was the _Linnaea borealis_. 'Nay, ' said thephilosopher, 'she lives not here, but in the middle of our largestwoods. She clings with her little arms to the moss, and seems to resistvery gently if you force her from it. She has a complexion like amilkmaid, and ah! she is very, very sweet and agreeable!"

THE FORGET-ME-NOT

The dear little FORGET-ME-NOT, (_myosotis palustris_)[077] with its eyeof blue, is said to have derived its touching appellation from asentimental German story. Two lovers were walking on the bank of a rapidstream. The lady beheld the flower growing on a little island, andexpressed a passionate desire to possess it. He gallantly plunged intothe stream and obtained the flower, but exhausted by the force of thetide, he had only sufficient strength left as he neared the shore tofling the flower at the fair one's feet, and exclaim "_Forget-me-not!_"(_Vergiss-mein-nicht_. ) He was then carried away by the stream, out ofher sight for ever. 

THE PERIWINKLE. 

The PERIWINKLE (_vinca_ or _pervinca_) has had its due share of poeticaldistinction. In France the common people call it the Witch's violet. Itseems to have suggested to Wordsworth an idea of the consciousness offlowers. 

 Through primrose tufts, in that sweet bower, The Periwinkle trailed its wreaths, _And 'tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes. _

Mr. J. L. Merritt, has some complimentary lines on this flower. 

 The Periwinkle with its fan-like leaves All nicely levelled, is a lovely flower Whose dark wreath, myrtle like, young Flora weaves; There's none more rare Nor aught more meet to deck a fairy's bower Or grace her hair. 

The little blue Periwinkle is rendered especially interesting to theadmirers of the genius of Rousseau by an anecdote that records hisemotion on meeting it in one of his botanical excursions. He had seen itthirty years before in company with Madame de Warens. On meeting itssweet face again, after so long and eventful an interim, he fell uponhis knees, crying out--_Ah! voila de la pervanche!_ "It struck him, "says Hazlitt, "as the same little identical flower that he remembered sowell; and thirty years of sorrow and bitter regret were effaced from hismemory. "

The Periwinkle was once supposed to be a cure for many diseases. LordBacon says that in his time people afflicted with cramp wore bands ofgreen periwinkle tied about their limbs. It had also its supposed moralinfluences. According to Culpepper the leaves of the flower if eaten byman and wife together would revive between them a lost affection. 

THE BASIL. 

 Sweet marjoram, with her like, _sweet basil_, rare for smell. 

_Drayton. _

The BASIL is a plant rendered poetical by the genius which has handledit. Boccaccio and Keats have made the name of the _sweet basil_ soundpleasantly in the ears of many people who know nothing of botany. Aspecies of this plant (known in Europe under the botanical name of_Ocymum villosum_, and in India as the _Toolsee_) is held sacred by theHindus. Toolsee was a disciple of Vishnu. Desiring to be his wife sheexcited the jealousy of Lukshmee by whom she was transformed into theherb named after her. [078]

THE TULIP. 

 Tulips, like the ruddy evening streaked. 

_Southey_. 

The TULIP (_tulipa_) is the glory of the garden, as far as color withoutfragrance can confer such distinction. Some suppose it to be 'The Lilyof the Field' alluded to in the Sermon on the Mount. It grows wild inSyria. 

The name of the tulip is said to be of Turkish origin. It was calledTulipa from its resemblance to the tulipan or turban. 

 What crouds the rich Divan to-day With turbaned heads, of every hue Bowing before that veiled and awful face Like Tulip-beds of different shapes and dyes, Bending beneath the invisible west wind's sighs?

_Moore_. 

The reader has probably heard of the Tulipomania once carried to sogreat an excess in Holland. 

 With all his phlegm, it broke a Dutchman's heart, At a vast price, with one loved root to part. 

_Crabbe_. 

About the middle of the 17th century the city of Haarlem realized inthree years ten millions sterling by the sale of tulips. A single tulip(the _Semper Augustus_) was sold for one thousand pounds. Twelve acresof land were given for a single root and engagements to the amount of£5, 000 were made for a first-class tulip when the mania was at itsheight. A gentleman, who possessed a tulip of great value, hearing thatsome one was in possession of a second root of the same kind, eagerlysecured it at a most extravagant price. The moment he got possession ofit, he crushed it under his foot. "Now, " he exclaimed, "my tulip isunique!"

A Dutch Merchant gave a sailor a herring for his breakfast. Jack seeingon the Merchant's counter what he supposed to be a heap of onions, tookup a handful of them and ate them with his fish. The supposed onionswere tulip bulbs of such value that they would have paid the cost of athousand Royal feasts. [079]

The tulip mania never leached so extravagant a height in England as inHolland, but our country did not quite escape the contagion, and even solate as the year 1836 at the sale of Mr. Clarke's tulips at Croydon, seventy two pounds were given for a single bulb of the _Fanny Kemble_;and a Florist in Chelsea in the same year, priced a bulb in hiscatalogue at 200 guineas. 

The Tulip is not endeared to us by many poetical associations. We haveread, however, one pretty and romantic tale about it. A poor old womanwho lived amongst the wild hills of Dartmoor, in Devonshire, possessed abeautiful bed of Tulips, the pride of her small garden. One finemoonlight night her attention was arrested by the sweet music whichseemed to issue from a thousand Liliputian choristers. She found thatthe sounds proceeded from her many colored bells of Tulips. Afterwatching the flowers intently she perceived that they were not swayed toand fro by the wind, but by innumerable little beings that were climbingon the stems and leaves. They were pixies. Each held in its arms anelfin baby tinier than itself. She saw the babies laid in the bells ofthe plant, which were thus used as cradles, and the music was formed ofmany lullabies. When the babies were asleep the pixies or fairies leftthem, and gamboled on the neighbouring sward on which the old ladydiscovered the day after, several new green rings, --a certain evidencethat her fancy had not deceived her! At earliest dawn the fairies hadreturned to the tulips and taken away their little ones. The good oldwoman never permitted her tulip bed to be disturbed. She regarded it asholy ground. But when she died, some Utilitarian gardener turned it intoa parsley bed! The parsley never flourished. The ground was now cursed. In gratitude to the memory of the benevolent dame who had watched andprotected the floral nursery, every month, on the night before the fullmoon, the fairies scattered flowers on her grave, and raised a sweetmusical dirge--heard only by poetic ears--or by maids and children who

 Hold each strange tale devoutly true. 

For as the poet says:

 What though no credit doubting wits may give, The fair and innocent shall still believe. 

Men of genius are often as trustful as maids and children. Collins, himself a lover of the wonderful, thus speaks of Tasso:--

 Prevailing poet! whose undoubting mind Believed the magic wonders that he sung. 

All nature indeed is full of mystery to the imaginative. 

 And visions as poetic eyes avow Hang on each leaf and cling to every bough. 

The Hindoos believe that the Peepul tree of which the foliage trembleslike that of the aspen, has a spirit in every leaf. 

"Did you ever see a fairy's funeral, Madam?" said Blake, the artist. "Never Sir. " "_I_ have, " continued that eccentric genius, "One night Iwas walking alone in my garden. There was great stillness amongst thebranches and flowers and more than common sweetness in the air. I hearda low and pleasant sound, and knew not whence it came: at last Iperceived _the broad leaf of a flower move_, and underneath I saw aprocession of creatures the size and color of green and graygrasshoppers, _bearing a body laid out on a rose leaf_, which theyburied with song, and then disappeared. "

THE PINK. 

The PINK (_dianthus_) is a very elegant flower. I have but a short storyabout it. The young Duke of Burgundy, grandson of Louis the Fifteenth, was brought up in the midst of flatterers as fulsome as those rebuked byCanute. The youthful prince was fond of cultivating pinks, and one ofhis courtiers, by substituting a floral changeling, persuaded him thatone of those pinks planted by the royal hand had sprung up into bloom ina single night! One night, being unable to sleep, he wished to rise, butwas told that it was midnight; he replied "_Well then, I desire it to bemorning_. "

The pink is one of the commonest of the flowers in English gardens. Itis a great favorite all over Europe. The botanists have enumerated about400 varieties of it. 

THE PANSY OR HEARTS-EASE. 

The PANSY (_víola trîcolor_) commonly called _Hearts-ease_, or_Love-in-idleness_, or _Herb-Trinity_ (_Flos Trinitarium_), or_Three-faces-under-a-hood_, or _Kit-run-about_, is one of the richestand loveliest of flowers. 

The late Mrs. Siddons, the great actress, was so fond of this flowerthat she thought she could never have enough of it. Besides round bedsof it she used it as an edging to all the flower borders in her garden. She liked to plant a favorite flower in large masses of beauty. But suchbeauty must soon fatigue the eye with its sameness. A round bed of onesort of flowers only is like a nosegay composed of one sort of flowersor of flowers of the same hue. She was also particularly fond ofevergreens because they gave her garden a pleasant aspect even in thewinter. 

"Do you hear him?"--(John Bunyan makes the guide enquire of Christianawhile a shepherd boy is singing beside his sheep)--"I will dare to saythis boy leads a merrier life, and wears more of the herb called_hearts-ease_ in his bosom, than he that is clothed in silk and purple. "

Shakespeare has connected this flower with a compliment to the maidenQueen of England. 

 That very time I saw (but thou couldst not) Flying between the cold moon and the earth, Cupid all armed, a certain aim he took At a fair Vestal, throned by the west; And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts. But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft Quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon-- And the imperial votaress passed on In maiden meditation fancy free, Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell. It fell upon _a little western flowers, Before milk white, now purple with love's wound-- And maidens call it_ LOVE IN IDLENESS Fetch me that flower, the herb I showed thee once, The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid, Will make or man or woman madly dote Upon the next live creature that it sees. Fetch me this herb and be thou here again, Ere the leviathan can swim a league. 

_Midsummer Night's Dream. _

The hearts-ease has been cultivated with great care and success by someof the most zealous flower-fanciers amongst our countrymen in India. Butit is a delicate plant in this clime, and requires most assiduousattention, and a close study of its habits. It always withers here underordinary hands. 

THE MIGNONETTE. 

The MIGNONETTE, (_reseda odorato_, ) the Frenchman's _little darling_, was not introduced into England until the middle of the 17th century. The Mignonette or Sweet Reseda was once supposed capable of assuagingpain, and of ridding men of many of the ills that flesh is heir to. Itwas applied with an incantation. This flower has found a place in thearmorial bearings of an illustrious family of Saxony. I must tell thestory: The Count of Walsthim loved the fair and sprightly Amelia deNordbourg. She was a spoilt child and a coquette. She had an humblecompanion whose christian name was Charlotte. One evening at a party, all the ladies were called upon to choose a flower each, and thegentlemen were to make verses on the selections. Amelia fixed upon theflaunting rose, Charlotte the modest mignonette. In the course of theevening Amelia coquetted so desperately with a dashing Colonel that theCount could not suppress his vexation. On this he wrote a verse for theRose:

 Elle ne vit qu'un jour, et ne plait qu'un moment. (She lives but for a day and pleases but for a moment)

He then presented the following line on the Mignonette to the gentleCharlotte:

 "Ses qualities surpassent ses charmes. "

The Count transferred his affections to Charlotte, and when he marriedher, added a branch of the Sweet Reseda to the ancient arms of hisfamily, with the motto of

 Your qualities surpass your charms. 

VERVAIN. 

 The vervain-- That hind'reth witches of their will. 

_Drayton_

VERVAIN (_verbena_) was called by the Greeks _the sacred herb_. It wasused to brush their altars. It was supposed to keep off evil spirits. Itwas also used in the religious ceremonies of the Druids and is stillheld sacred by the Persian Magi. The latter lay branches of it on thealtar of the sun. 

The ancients had their _Verbenalia_ when the temples were strewed withvervain, and no incantation or lustration was deemed perfect without theaid of this plant. It was supposed to cure the bite of a serpent or amad dog. 

THE DAISY. 

The DAISY or day's eye (_bellis perennis_) has been the darling of theBritish poets from Chaucer to Shelley. It is not, however, the darlingof poets only, but of princes and peasants. And it is not man's favoriteonly, but, as Wordsworth says, Nature's favorite also. Yet it is "thesimplest flower that blows. " Its seed is broadcast on the land. It isthe most familiar of flowers. It sprinkles every field and lane in thecountry with its little mimic stars. Wordsworth pays it a beautifulcompliment in saying that

 Oft alone in nooks remote _We meet it like a pleasant thought When such is wanted. _

But though this poet dearly loved the daisy, in some moods of mind heseems to have loved the little celandine (common pilewort) even better. He has addressed two poems to this humble little flower. One begins withthe following stanza. 

 Pansies, Lilies, Kingcups, Daisies, Let them live upon their praises; Long as there's a sun that sets Primroses will have their glory; Long as there are Violets, They will have a place in story: There's a flower that shall be mine, 'Tis the little Celandine. 

No flower is too lowly for the affections of Wordsworth. Hazlitt says, "the daisy looks up to Wordsworth with sparkling eye as an oldacquaintance; a withered thorn is weighed down with a heap ofrecollections; and even the lichens on the rocks have a life and beingin his thoughts. "

The Lesser Celandine, is an inodorous plant, but as Wordsworth possessednot the sense of smell, to him a deficiency of fragrance in a flowerformed no objection to it. Miss Martineau alludes to a newspaper reportthat on one occasion the poet suddenly found himself capable of enjoyingthe fragrance of a flower, and gave way to an emotion of tumultuousrapture. But I have seen this contradicted. Miss Martineau herself hasgenerally no sense of smell, but we have her own testimony to the factthat a brief enjoyment of the faculty once actually occurred to her. Inher case there was a simultaneous awakening of two dormantfaculties--the sense of smell and the sense of taste. Once and once only, she enjoyed the scent of a bottle of Eau de Cologne and the taste of meat. The two senses died away again almost in their birth. 

Shelley calls Daisies "those pearled Arcturi of the earth"--"theconstellated flower that never sets. "

The Father of English poets does high honor to this star of the meadowin the "Prologue to the Legend of Goode Women. "

He tells us that in the merry month of May he was wont to quit even hisbeloved books to look upon the fresh morning daisy. 

 Of all the floures in the mede Then love I most these floures white and red, Such that men callen Daisies in our town, To them I have so great affectión. As I sayd erst, when comen is the Maie, That in my bedde there dawneth me no daie That I nam up and walking in the mede To see this floure agenst the Sunne sprede, When it up riseth early by the morrow That blisfull sight softeneth all my sorrow. 

_Chaucer_. 

The poet then goes on with his hearty laudation of this lilliputianluminary of the fields, and hesitates not to describe it as "of allfloures the floure. " The famous Scottish Peasant loved it just as truly, and did it equal honor. Who that has once read, can ever forget hisharmonious and pathetic address to a mountain daisy on turning it upwith the plough? I must give the poem a place here, though it must befamiliar to every reader. But we can read it again and again, just as wecan look day after day with undiminished interest upon the flower thatit commemorates. 

Mrs. Stowe (the American writer) observes that "the daisy with its wideplaited ruff and yellow centre is not our (that is, an American's)flower. The English flower is the

 Wee, modest, crimson tippéd flower

which Burns celebrated. It is what we (in America) raise in green-housesand call the Mountain Daisy. Its effect, growing profusely about fieldsand grass-plats, is very beautiful. "

TO A MOUNTAIN DAISY. 

ON TURNING ONE DOWN WITH THE PLOUGH IN APRIL, 1786

 Wee, modest, crimson tippéd flow'r, Thou's met me in an evil hour, For I maun[080] crush amang the stoure[081] Thy slender stem, To spare thee now is past my pow'r, Thou bonnie gem. 

 Alas! its no thy neobor sweet, The bonnie lark, companion meet, Bending thee 'mang the dewy weet[082] Wi' speckled breast, When upward springing, blythe, to greet The purpling east

 Cauld blew the bitter biting north Upon thy early, humble, birth, Yet cheerfully thou glinted[083] forth Amid the storm, Scarce reared above the patient earth Thy tender form

 The flaunting flowers our gardens yield, High sheltering woods and wa's[084] maun shield, But thou beneath the random bield[085] O' clod or stane, Adorns the histie[086] stibble field[087] Unseen, alane. 

 There, in thy scanty mantle clad, Thy snawye bosom sun ward spread, Thou lifts thy unassuming head In humble guise, But now the share up tears thy bed, And low thou lies!

 Such is the fate of artless Maid, Sweet flow'ret of the rural shade! By love's simplicity betrayed, And guileless trust, Till she, like thee, all soiled is laid Low i' the dust. 

 Such is the fate of simple Bard, On Life's rough ocean luckless starred! Unskilful he to note the card Of prudent lore, Till billows rage, and gales blow hard And whelm him o'er!

 Such fate to suffering worth is given Who long with wants and woes has striven By human pride or cunning driven To misery's brink, Till wrenched of every stay but Heaven, He, ruined, sink!

 Ev'n thou who mourn'st the Daisy's fate, That fate is thine--no distant date; Stern Ruin's plough-share drives elate, Full on thy bloom; Till crushed beneath the furrow's weight Shall be thy doom. 

_Burns. _

The following verses though they make no pretension to the strength andpathos of the poem by the great Scottish Peasant, have a grace andsimplicity of their own, for which they have long been deservedlypopular. 

A FIELD FLOWER. 

ON FINDING ONE IN FULL BLOOM, ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 1803. 

 There is a flower, a little flower, With silver crest and golden eye, That welcomes every changing hour, And weathers every sky. 

 The prouder beauties of the field In gay but quick succession shine, Race after race their honours yield, They flourish and decline. 

 But this small flower, to Nature dear, While moons and stars their courses run, Wreathes the whole circle of the year, Companion of the sun. 

 It smiles upon the lap of May, To sultry August spreads its charms, Lights pale October on his way, And twines December's arms. 

 The purple heath and golden broom, On moory mountains catch the gale, O'er lawns the lily sheds perfume, The violet in the vale. 

 But this bold floweret climbs the hill, Hides in the forest, haunts the glen, Plays on the margin of the rill, Peeps round the fox's den. 

 Within the garden's cultured round It shares the sweet carnation's bed; And blooms on consecrated ground In honour of the dead. 

 The lambkin crops its crimson gem, The wild-bee murmurs on its breast, The blue-fly bends its pensile stem, Light o'er the sky-lark's nest. 

 'Tis FLORA'S page, --in every place, In every season fresh and fair; It opens with perennial grace. And blossoms everywhere. 

 On waste and woodland, rock and plain, Its humble buds unheeded rise; The rose has but a summer-reign; The DAISY never dies. 

_James Montgomery_. 

Montgomery has another very pleasing poetical address to the daisy. Thepoem was suggested by the first plant of the kind which had appeared inIndia. The flower sprang up unexpectedly out of some English earth, sentwith other seeds in it, to this country. The amiable Dr. Carey ofSerampore was the lucky recipient of the living treasure, and the poemis supposed to be addressed by him to the dear little flower of hishome, thus born under a foreign sky. Dr. Carey was a great lover offlowers, and it was one of his last directions on his death-bed, as Ihave already said, that his garden should be always protected from theintrusion of Goths and Vandals in the form of Bengallee goats and cows. I must give one stanza of Montgomery's second poetical tribute to thesmall flower with "the silver crest and golden eye. "

 Thrice-welcome, little English flower! To this resplendent hemisphere Where Flora's giant offsprings tower In gorgeous liveries all the year; Thou, only thou, art little here Like worth unfriended and unknown, Yet to my British heart more dear Than all the torrid zone. 

It is difficult to exaggerate the feeling with which an exile welcomes ahome-flower. A year or two ago Dr. Ward informed the Royal Institutionof London, that a single primrose had been taken to Australia in aglass-case and that when it arrived there in full bloom, the sensationit excited was so great that even those who were in the hot pursuit ofgold, paused in their eager career to gaze for a moment upon the flowerof their native fields, and such immense crowds at last pressed aroundit that it actually became necessary to protect it by a guard. 

My last poetical tribute to the Daisy shall be three stanzas fromWordsworth, from two different addresses to the same flower. 

 With little here to do or see Of things that in the great world be, Sweet Daisy! oft I talk to thee, For thou art worthy, Thou unassuming Common-place Of Nature, with that homely face, And yet with something of a grace, Which Love makes for thee!

 * * * * *

 If stately passions in me burn, And one chance look to Thee should turn, I drink out of an humbler urn A lowlier pleasure; The homely sympathy that heeds The common life, our nature breeds; A wisdom fitted to the needs Of hearts at leisure. 

 When, smitten by the morning ray, I see thee rise, alert and gay, Then, cheerful Flower! my spirits play With kindred gladness; And when, at dusk, by dews opprest Thou sink'st, the image of thy rest Hath often eased my pensive breast Of careful sadness. 

It is peculiarly interesting to observe how the profoundest depths ofthought and feeling are sometimes stirred in the heart of genius by thesmallest of the works of Nature. Even more ordinarily gifted men aresimilarly affected to the utmost extent of their intellect andsensibility. We grow tired of the works of man. In the realms of art weever crave something unseen before. We demand new fashions, and when theold are once laid aside, we wonder that they should ever have excitedeven a moment's admiration. But Nature, though she is always the same, never satiates us. The simple little Daisy which Burns has so sweetlycommemorated is the same flower that was "of all flowres the flowre, " inthe estimation of the Patriarch of English poets, and which so delightedWordsworth in his childhood, in his middle life, and in his old age. Hegazed on it, at intervals, with unchanging affection for upwards offourscore years. 

The Daisy--the miniature sun with its tiny rays--is especially thefavorite of our earliest years. In our remembrances of the happy meadowsin which we played in childhood, the daisy's silver lustre is everconnected with the deeper radiance of its gay companion, the butter-cup, which when held against the dimple on the cheek or chin of beauty turnsit into a little golden dell. The thoughtful and sensitive frequenter ofrural scenes discovers beauty every where; though it is not always thesort of beauty that would satisfy the taste of men who recognize nogaiety or loveliness beyond the walls of cities. To the poet's eye eventhe freckles on a milk-maid's brow are not without a grace, associatedas they are with health, and the open sunshine. 

Chaucer tells us that the French call the Daisy _La belle Marguerite_. There is a little anecdote connected with the appellation. Marguerite ofScotland, the Queen of Louis the Eleventh, presented Marguerite Clotildede Surville, a poetess, with a bouquet of daisies, with thisinscription; "Marguerite d'Ecosse à Marguerite (_the pearl_) d'Helicon. "

The country maidens in England practise a kind of sortilége with thisflower. They pluck off leaf by leaf, saying alternately "_He loves me_"and "_He loves me not_. " The omen or oracle is decided by the fall ofeither sentence on the last leaf. 

It is extremely difficult to rear the daisy in India. It is accustomedto all weathers in England, but the long continued sultriness of thisclime makes it as delicate as a languid English lady in a tropicalexile, and however carefully and skilfully nursed, it generally pinesfor its native air and dies. [088]

THE PRICKLY GORSE. 

 --Yon swelling downs where the sweet air stirs The harebells, and where prickly furze Buds lavish gold. 

_Keat's Endymion_. 

 Fair maidens, I'll sing you a song, I'll tell of the bonny wild flower, Whose blossoms so yellow, and branches so long, O'er moor and o'er rough rocky mountains are flung Far away from trim garden and bower

_L. A. Tuamley_. 

The PRICKLY GORSE or Goss or Furze, (_ulex_)[089] I cannot omit tonotice, because it was the plant which of all others most struckDillenius when he first trod on English ground. He threw himself on hisknees and thanked Heaven that he had lived to see the golden undulationof acres of wind-waved gorse. Linnaeus lamented that he could scarcelykeep it alive in Sweden even in a greenhouse. 

I have the most delightful associations connected with this plant, andnever think of it without a summer feeling and a crowd of delightfulimages and remembrances of rural quietude and blue skies and balmybreezes. Cowper hardly does it justice:

 The common, over-grown with fern, and rough With prickly gorse, that shapeless and deformed And dangerous to the touch, has yet its bloom And decks itself with ornaments of gold, Yields no unpleasing ramble. 

The plant is indeed irregularly shaped, but it is not _deformed_, and ifit is dangerous to the touch, so also is the rose, unless it be of thatspecies which Milton places in Paradise--"_and without thorns therose_. "

Hurdis is more complimentary and more just to the richest ornament ofthe swelling hill and the level moor. 

 And what more noble than the vernal furze With golden caskets hung?

I have seen whole _cotees_ or _coteaux_ (sides of hills) in the sweetlittle island of Jersey thickly mantled with the golden radiance of thisbeautiful wildflower. The whole Vallée des Vaux (_the valley ofvallies_) is sometimes alive with its lustre. 

VALLEE DES VAUX. 

AIR--THE MEETING OF THE WATERS. 

 If I dream of the past, at fair Fancy's command, Up-floats from the blue sea thy small sunny land! O'er thy green hills, sweet Jersey, the fresh breezes blow, And silent and warm is the Vallée des Vaux!

 There alone have I loitered 'mid blossoms of gold, And forgot that the great world was crowded and cold, Nor believed that a land of enchantment could show A vale more divine than the Vallée des Vaux. 

 A few scattered cots, like white clouds in the sky, Or like still sails at sea when the light breezes die, And a mill with its wheel in the brook's silver glow, Form thy beautiful hamlet, sweet Vallée des Vaux!

 As the brook prattled by like an infant at play, And each wave as it passed stole a moment away, I thought how serenely a long life would flow, By the sweet little brook in the Vallée des Vaux. 

D. L. R. 

Jersey is not the only one of the Channel Islands that is enriched with"blossoms of gold. " In the sister island of Guernsey the prickly gorseis much used for hedges, and Sir George Head remarks that the premisesof a Guernsey farmer are thus as impregnably fortified and secured as ifhis grounds were surrounded by a stone wall. In the Isle of Man thefurze grows so high that it is sometimes more like a fir tree than theordinary plant. 

There is an old proverb:--"When gorse is out of blossom, kissing is outof fashion"--that is _never_. The gorse blooms all the year. 

FERN. 

 I'll seek the shaggy fern-clad hill And watch, 'mid murmurs muttering stern, The seed departing from the fern Ere wakeful demons can convey The wonder-working charm away. 

_Leyden_. 

"The green and graceful Fern" (_filices_) with its exquisite tracerymust not be overlooked. It recalls many noble home-scenes to Britisheyes. Pliny says that "of ferns there are two kinds, and they bearneither flowers nor seed. " And this erroneous notion of the fern bearingno seed was common amongst the English even so late as the time ofAddison who ridicules "a Doctor that had arrived at the knowledge of thegreen and red dragon, _and had discovered the female fern-seed_. " Theseed is very minute and might easily escape a careless eye. In thepresent day every one knows that the seed of the fern lies on the underside of the leaves, and a single leaf will often bear some millions ofseeds. Even those amongst the vulgar who believed the plant bore seed, had an idea that the seeds were visible only at certain mysteriousseasons and to favored individuals who by carrying a quantity of it ontheir person, were able, like those who wore the helmet of Pluto or thering of Gyges, to walk unseen amidst a crowd. The seed was supposed tobe best seen at a certain hour of the night on which St. John theBaptist was born. 

 We have the receipt of fern-seed; we walk invisible, _Shakespeare's Henry IV. Part I_. 

In Beaumont's and Fletcher's _Fair Maid of the Inn_, is the followingallusion to the fern. 

 --Had you Gyges' ring, _Or the herb that gives invisibility_. 

Ben Jonson makes a similar allusion to it:

 I had No medicine, sir, to go invisible, _No fern-seed in my pocket_. 

Pope puts a branch of spleen-wort, a species of fern, (_Aspleniumtrichomanes_) into the hand of a gnome as a protection from evilinfluences in the Cave of Spleen. 

 Safe passed the gnome through this fantastic band A branch of healing spleen-wort in his hand. 

The fern forms a splendid ornament for shadowy nooks and grottoes, orfragments of ruins, or heaps of stones, or the odd corners of a largegarden or pleasure-ground. 

I have had many delightful associations with this plant both at home andabroad. When I visited the beautiful Island of Penang, Sir WilliamNorris, then the Recorder of the Island, and who was a mostindefatigable collector of ferns, obligingly presented me with aspecimen of every variety that he had discovered in the hills andvallies of that small paradise; and I suppose that in no part of theworld could a finer collection of specimens of the fern be made for abotanist's _herbarium_. Fern leaves will look almost as well ten yearsafter they are gathered as on the day on which they are transferred fromthe dewy hillside to the dry pages of a book. 

Jersey and Penang are the two loveliest islands on a small scale that Ihave yet seen: the latter is the most romantic of the two and has noblertrees and a richer soil and a brighter sky--but they are both charmingretreats for the lovers of peace and nature. As I have devoted someverses to Jersey I must have some also on

THE ISLAND OF PENANG. 

 I. 

 I stand upon the mountain's brow-- I drink the cool fresh, mountain breeze-- I see thy little town below, [090] Thy villas, hedge-rows, fields and trees, And hail thee with exultant glow, GEM OF THE ORIENTAL SEAS!

 II. 

 A cloud had settled on my heart-- My frame had borne perpetual pain-- I yearned and panted to depart From dread Bengala's sultry plain-- Fate smiled, --Disease withholds his dart-- I breathe the breath of life again!

 III. 

 With lightened heart, elastic tread, Almost with youth's rekindled flame, I roam where loveliest scenes outspread Raise thoughts and visions none could name, Save those on whom the Muses shed A spell, a dower of deathless fame. 

 IV. 

 I _feel_, but oh! could ne'er _pourtray_, Sweet Isle! thy charms of land and wave, The bowers that own no winter day, The brooks where timid wild birds lave, The forest hills where insects gay[091] Mimic the music of the brave!

 V. 

 I see from this proud airy height A lovely Lilliput below! Ships, roads, groves, gardens, mansions white, And trees in trimly ordered row, [092] Present almost a toy like sight, A miniature scene, a fairy show!

 VI. 

 But lo! beyond the ocean stream, That like a sheet of silver lies, As glorious as a poet's dream The grand Malayan mountains rise, And while their sides in sunlight beam Their dim heads mingle with the skies. 

 VI. 

 Men laugh at bards who live _in clouds_-- The clouds _beneath_ me gather now, Or gliding slow in solemn crowds, Or singly, touched with sunny glow, Like mystic shapes in snowy shrouds, Or lucid veils on Beauty's brow. 

 VIII. 

 While all around the wandering eye Beholds enchantments rich and rare, Of wood, and water, earth, and sky A panoramic vision fair, The dyal breathes his liquid sigh, And magic floats upon the air!

 IX. 

 Oh! lovely and romantic Isle! How cold the heart thou couldst not please! Thy very dwellings seem to smile Like quiet nests mid summer trees! I leave thy shores--but weep the while-- GEM OF THE ORIENTAL SEAS!

D. L. R. 

HENNA. 

The henna or al hinna (_Lawsonia inermis_) is found in great abundancein Egypt, India, Persia and Arabia. In Bengal it goes by the name of_Mindee_. It is much used here for garden hedges. Hindu females rub iton the palms of their hands, the tips of their fingers and the soles oftheir feet to give them a red dye. The same red dye has been observedupon the nails of Egyptian mummies. In Egypt sprigs of henna are hawkedabout the streets for sale with the cry of "_O, odours of Paradise; O, flowers of the henna!_" Thomas Moore alludes to one of the uses of thehenna:--

 Thus some bring leaves of henna to imbue The fingers' ends of a bright roseate hue, So bright, that in the mirror's depth they seem Like tips of coral branches in the stream. 

MOSS. 

MOSSES (_musci_) are sometimes confounded with Lichens. True mosses aregreen, and lichens are gray. All the mosses are of exquisitely delicatestructure. They are found in every part of the world where theatmosphere is moist. They have a wonderful tenacity of life and canoften be restored to their original freshness after they have been driedfor years. It was the sight of a small moss in the interior of Africathat suggested to Mungo Park such consolatory reflections as saved himfrom despair. He had been stripped of all he had by banditti. 

"In this forlorn and almost helpless condition, " he says, "when therobbers had left me, I sat for some time looking around me withamazement and terror. Whichever way I turned, nothing appeared butdanger and difficulty. I found myself in the midst of a vast wilderness, in the depth of the rainy season--naked and alone, --surrounded bysavages. I was five hundred miles from any European settlement. Allthese circumstances crowded at once upon my recollection; and I confessthat my spirits began to fail me. I considered my fate as certain, andthat I had no alternative, but to lie down and perish. The influence ofreligion, however aided and supported me. I reflected that no humanprudence or foresight could possibly have averted my present sufferings. I was indeed a stranger in a strange land, yet I was still under the eyeof that Providence who has condescended to call himself the stranger'sfriend. At this moment, painful as my reflections were, theextraordinary beauty of a small Moss irresistibly caught my eye; andthough the whole plant was not larger than the top of one of my fingers, I could not contemplate the delicate conformation of its roots, leaves, and fruit, without admiration. Can that Being (thought I) who planted, watered, and brought to perfection, in this obscure part of the world, athing which appears of so small importance, look with unconcern upon thesituation and sufferings of creatures formed after his own image? Surelynot. --Reflections like these would not allow me to despair. I startedup; and disregarding both, hunger and fatigue, traveled forward, assuredthat relief was at hand; and I was not disappointed. "

VICTORIA REGIA. 

On this Queen of Aquatic Plants the language of admiration has beenexhausted. It was discovered in the first year of the present century bythe botanist Haenke who was sent by the Spanish Government toinvestigate the vegetable productions of Peru. When in a canoe on theRio Mamore, one of the great tributaries of the river Amazon, he camesuddenly upon the noblest and largest flower that he had ever seen. Hefell on his knees in a transport of admiration. It was the plant nowknown as the Victoria Regia, or American Water-lily. 

It was not till February 1849, that Dr. Hugh Rodie and Mr. Lachie ofDemerara forwarded seeds of the plant to Sir W. T. Hooker in vials ofpure water. They were sown in earth, in pots immersed in water, andenclosed in a glass case. They vegetated rapidly. The plants first cameto perfection at Chatsworth the seat of the Duke of Devonshire, [093] andsubsequently at the Royal gardens at Kew. 

Early in November of the same year, (1849, ) the leaves of the plant atChatsworth were 4 feet 8 inches in diameter. A child weighing forty twopounds was placed upon one of the leaves which bore the weight well. Thelargest leaf of the plant by the middle of the next month was five feetin diameter with a turned up edge of from two to four inches. It thenbore up a person of 11 stone weight. The flat leaf of the Victoria Regiaas it floats on the surface of the water, resembles in point of form thebrass high edged platter in which Hindus eat their rice. 

The flowers in the middle of May 1850 measured one foot one inch indiameter. The rapidity of the growth of this plant is one of its mostremarkable characteristics, its leaves often expanding eight inches indiameter daily, and Mr. John Fisk Allen, who has published in America anadmirably illustrated work upon the subject, tells us that instancesunder his own observation have occurred of the leaves increasing at therate of half an inch hourly. 

Not only is there an extraordinary variety in the colours of the severalspecimens of this flower, but a singularly rapid succession of changesof hue in the same individual flower as it progresses from bud toblossom. 

This vegetable wonder was introduced into North America in 1851. Itgrows to a larger size there than in England. Some of the leaves of theplant cultivated in North America measure seventy-two inches indiameter. 

This plant has been proved to be perennial. It grows best in from 4 to 6feet of water. Each plant generally sends but four or five leaves to thesurface. 

In addition to the other attractions of this noble Water Lily, is theexquisite character of its perfume, which strongly resembles that of afresh pineapple just cut open. 

The Victoria Regia in the Calcutta Botanic Garden has from some cause orother not flourished so well as it was expected to do. The largest leafis not more than four feet and three quarters in diameter. But there canbe little doubt that when the habits of the plant are better understoodit will be brought to great perfection in this country. I stronglyrecommend my native friends to decorate their tanks with this the mostglorious of aquatic plants. 

THE FLY-ORCHIS--THE BEE-ORCHIS. 

Of these strange freaks of nature many strange stories are told. Icannot repeat them all. I shall content myself with quoting thefollowing passage from D'Israeli's _Curiosities of Literature_:--

"There is preserved in the British Museum, a black stone, on whichnature has sketched a resemblance of the portrait of Chaucer. Stones ofthis kind, possessing a sufficient degree of resemblance, are rare; butart appears not to have been used. Even in plants, we find this sort ofresemblance. There is a species of the orchis found in the mountainousparts of Lincolnshire, Kent, &c. Nature has formed a bee, apparentlyfeeding on the breast of the flower, with so much exactness, that it isimpossible at a very small distance to distinguish the imposition. Hencethe plant derives its name, and is called, the _Bee-flower_. Langhorneelegantly notices its appearance. 

 See on that floweret's velvet breast, How close the busy vagrant lies? His thin-wrought plume, his downy breast, Th' ambrosial gold that swells his thighs. Perhaps his fragrant load may bind His limbs;--we'll set the captive free-- I sought the living bee to find, And found the picture of a bee, '

The late Mr. James of Exeter wrote to me on this subject: 'This orchisis common near our sea-coasts; but instead of being exactly like a BEE, _it is not like it at all_. It has a general resemblance to a _fly_, andby the help of imagination, may be supposed to be a fly pitched upon theflower. The mandrake very frequently has a forked root, which may befancied to resemble thighs and legs. I have seen it helped out withnails on the toes. '

An ingenious botanist, a stranger to me, after reading this article, wasso kind as to send me specimens of the _fly_ orchis, _ophrys muscifera_, and of the _bee_ orchis, _ophrys apifera_. Their resemblance to theseinsects when in full flower is the most perfect conceivable; they aredistinct plants. The poetical eye of Langhorne was equally correct andfanciful; and that too of Jackson, who differed so positively. Manycontroversies have been carried on, from a want of a little moreknowledge; like that of the BEE _orchis_ and the FLY _orchis_; bothparties prove to be right. "[094]

THE FUCHSIA. 

The Fuchsia is decidedly the most _graceful_ flower in the world. Itunfortunately wants fragrance or it would be the _beau ideal_ of afavorite of Flora. There is a story about its first introduction intoEngland which is worth reprinting here:

'Old Mr. Lee, a nurseryman and gardener, near London, well known fiftyor sixty years ago, was one day showing his variegated treasures to afriend, who suddenly turned to him, and declared, 'Well, you have not inyour collection a prettier flower than I saw this morning atWapping!'--'No! and pray what was this phoenix like?' 'Why, the plantwas elegant, and the flowers hung in rows like tassels from the pendantbranches; their colour the richest crimson; in the centre a fold of deeppurple, ' and so forth. Particular directions being demanded and given, Mr. Lee posted off to Wapping, where he at once perceived that the plantwas new in this part of the world. He saw and admired. Entering thehouse, he said, 'My good woman, that is a nice plant. I should like tobuy it. '--'I could not sell it for any money, for it was brought me fromthe West Indies by my husband, who has now left again, and I must keepit for his sake. '--'But I must have it!'--'No sir!'--'Here, ' emptyinghis pockets; 'here are gold, silver, copper. ' (His stock was somethingmore than eight guineas. )--'Well a-day! but this is a power of money, sure and sure. '--''Tis yours, and the plant is mine; and, my good dame, you shall have one of the first young ones I rear, to keep for yourhusband's sake, '--'Alack, alack!'--'You shall. ' A coach was called, inwhich was safely deposited our florist and his seemingly dear purchase. His first work was to pull off and utterly destroy every vestige ofblossom and bud. The plant was divided into cuttings, which were forcedin bark beds and hotbeds; were redivided and subdivided. Every effortwas used to multiply it. By the commencement of the next floweringseason, Mr. Lee was the delighted possessor of 300 Fuchsia plants, allgiving promise of blossom. The two which opened first were removed intohis show-house. A lady came:--'Why, Mr. Lee, my dear Mr. Lee, where didyou get this charming flower?'--'Hem! 'tis a new thing, my lady; pretty, is it not?'--'Pretty! 'tis lovely. Its price?'--'A guinea: thank yourladyship;' and one of the plants stood proudly in her ladyship'sboudoir. 'My dear Charlotte, where did you get?' &c. --'Oh! 'tis a newthing; I saw it at old Lee's; pretty, is it not?'--'Pretty! 'tisbeautiful! Its price!'--'A guinea; there was another left. ' Thevisitor's horses smoked off to the suburb; a third flowering plant stoodon the spot whence the first had been taken. The second guinea was paid, and the second chosen Fuchsia adorned the drawing-room of her secondladyship The scene was repeated, as new-comers saw and were attracted bythe beauty of the plant. New chariots flew to the gates of old Lee'snursery-ground. Two Fuchsias, young, graceful and bursting into healthyflower, were constantly seen on the same spot in his repository. Heneglected not to gladden the faithful sailor's wife by the promisedgift; but, ere the flower season closed, 300 golden guineas clinked inhis purse, the produce of the single shrub of the widow of Wapping; thereward of the taste, decision, skill, and perseverance of old Mr. Lee. '

Whether this story about the fuchsia, be only partly fact and partlyfiction I shall not pretend to determine; but the best authoritiesacknowledge that Mr. Lee, one of the founders of the HammersmithNursery, was the first to make the plant generally known in England andthat he for some time got a guinea for each of the cuttings. The fuchsiais a native of Mexico and Chili. I believe that most of the plants ofthis genus introduced into India have flourished for a brief period andthen sickened and died. 

The poets of England have not yet sung the Fuschia's praise. Here arethree stanzas written for a gentleman who had been presented, by thelady of his love with a superb plant of this kind. 

A FUCHSIA. 

 I. 

A deed of grace--a graceful gift--and graceful too the giver!Like ear-rings on thine own fair head, these long buds hang and quiver:Each tremulous taper branch is thrilled--flutter the wing-like leaves--For thus to part from thee, sweet maid, the floral spirit grieves!

 II. 

Rude gods in brass or gold enchant an untaught devotee--Fair marble shapes, rich paintings old, are Art's idolatry;But nought e'er charmed a human breast like this small tremulous flower, Minute and delicate work divine of world-creative power!

 III. 

This flower's the Queen of all earth's flowers, and loveliest things appearLinked by some secret sympathy, in this mysterious sphere;The giver and the gift seem one, and thou thyself art nighWhen this glory of the garden greets thy lover's raptured eye. 

D. L. R. 

"Do you know the proper name of this flower?" writes Jeremy Bentham to alady-friend, "and the signification of its name? Fuchsia from Fuchs, aGerman botanist. "

ROSEMARY. 

 There's rosemary--that's for remembrance: Pray you, love, remember. 

_Hamlet_

 There's rosemarie; the Arabians Justifie (Physitions of exceeding perfect skill) It comforteth the brain and memory. 

_Chester_. 

Bacon speaks of heaths of ROSEMARY (_Rosmarinus_[095]) that "will smella great way in the sea; perhaps twenty miles. " This reminds us ofMilton's Paradise. 

 So lovely seemed That landscape, and of pure, now purer air, Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires Vernal delight and joy, able to drive All sadness but despair. Now gentle gales Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole Those balmy spoils. As when to them who sail Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past Mozambic, off at sea north east winds blow Sabean odours from the spicy shore Of Araby the blest, with such delay Well pleased they slack their course, and many a league Cheered with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiles. 

Rosemary used to be carried at funerals, and worn as wedding favors. 

 _Lewis_ Pray take a piece of Rosemary _Miramont_ I'll wear it, But for the lady's sake, and none of your's!

_Beaumont and Fletcher's "Elder Brother. "_

Rosemary, says Malone, being supposed to strengthen the memory, was theemblem of fidelity in lovers. So in _A Handfull of Pleasant Delites, containing Sundrie New Sonets, 16mo_. 1854:

 Rosemary is for remembrance Between us daie and night, Wishing that I might alwaies have You present in my sight. 

The poem in which these lines are found, is entitled, '_A Nosegayalwaies sweet for Lovers to send for Tokens of Love_. '

Roger Hochet in his sermon entitled _A Marriage Present_ (1607) thusspeaks of the Rosemary;--"It overtoppeth all the flowers in the garden, boasting man's rule. It helpeth the brain, strengtheneth the memorie, and is very medicinable for the head. Another propertie of the rosemaryis, it affects the heart. Let this rosemarinus, this flower of men, ensigne of your wisdom, love, and loyaltie, be carried not only in yourhands, but in your hearts and heads. "

"Hungary water" is made up chiefly from the oil distilled from thisshrub. 

 * * * * *

I should talk on a little longer about other shrubs, herbs, and flowers, (particularly of flowers) such as the "pink-eyed Pimpernel" (the poorman's weather glass) and the fragrant Violet, ('the modest grace of thevernal year, ') the scarlet crested Geranium with its crimpled leaves, and the yellow and purple Amaranth, powdered with gold, A flower which once In Paradise, fast by the tree of life Began to bloom, and the crisp and well-varnished Holly with "its rutilant berries, " andthe white Lily, (the vestal Lady of the Vale, --"the flower of virginlight") and the luscious Honeysuckle, and the chaste Snowdrop, Venturous harbinger of spring And pensive monitor of fleeting years, and the sweet Heliotrope and the gay and elegant Nasturtium, and a greatmany other "bonnie gems" upon the breast of our dear mother earth, --butthis gossipping book has already extended to so unconscionable a sizethat I must quicken my progress towards a conclusion[096]. 

I am indebted to the kindness of Babu Kasiprasad Ghosh, the first Hindugentlemen who ever published a volume of poems in the Englishlanguage[097] for the following interesting list of Indian flowers usedin Hindu ceremonies. Many copies of the poems of Kasiprasad Ghosh, weresent to the English public critics, several of whom spoke of theauthor's talents with commendation. The late Miss Emma Roberts wrote abrief biography of him for one of the London annuals, so that there mustbe many of my readers at home who will not on this occasion hear of hisname for the first time. 

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF INDIAN FLOWERS, COMMONLY USED IN HINDUCEREMONIES. [098]

A'KUNDA (_Calotropis Gigantea_). --A pretty purple coloured, and slightlyscented flower, having a sweet and agreeable smell. It is called _Arca_in Sanscrit, and has two varieties, both of which are held to be sacredto Shiva. It forms one of the five darts with which the Indian God ofLove is supposed to pierce the hearts of young mortals. [099] Sir WilliamJones refers to it in his Hymn to Kama Deva. It possesses medicinalproperties. [100]

A'PARA'JITA (_Clitoria ternatea_). --A conically shaped flower, the upperpart of which is tinged with blue and the lower part is white. Some arewholly white. It is held to be sacred to Durgá. 

ASOCA. (_Jonesia Asoca_). --A small yellow flower, which blooms in largeclusters in the month of April and gives a most beautiful appearance tothe tree. It is eaten by young females as a medicine. It smells like theSaffron. 

A'TASHI. --A small yellowish or brown coloured flower without any smell. It is supposed to be sacred to Shiva, and is very often alluded to bythe Indian poets. It resembles the flower of the flax or Linumusitatissimum. [101]

BAKA. --A kidney shaped flower, having several varieties, all of whichare held to be sacred to Vishnu, and are in consequence used in hisworship. It is supposed to possess medicinal virtues and is used by thenative doctors. 

BAKU'LA (_Mimusops Etengi_). --A very small, yellowish, and fragrantflower. It is used in making garlands and other female ornaments. Krishna is said to have fascinated the milkmaids of Brindabun by playingon his celebrated flute under a _Baku'la_ tree on the banks of theJumna, which is, therefore, invariably alluded to in all the Sanscritand vernacular poems relating to his amours with those young women. 

BA'KASHA (_Justicia Adhatoda_). --A white flower, having a slight smell. It is used in certain native medicines. 

BELA (_Jasminum Zambac_). --A fragrant small white flower, in common useamong native females, who make garlands of it to wear in their braids ofhair. A kind of _uttar_ is extracted from this flower, which is muchesteemed by natives. It is supposed to form one of the darts of KamaDeva or the God of Love. European Botanists seem to have confounded thisflower with the Monika, which they also call the Jasminum Zambac. 

BHU'MI CHAMPAKA. --An oblong variegated flower, which shoots out from theground at the approach of spring. It has a slight smell, and isconsidered to possess medicinal properties. The great peculiarity ofthis flower is that it blooms when there is not apparently the slightesttrace of the existence of the shrub above ground. When the flower diesaway, the leaves make their appearance. 

CHAMPA' (_Michelia Champaka_). --A tulip shaped yellow flower possessinga very strong smell. [102] It forms one of the darts of Kama Deva, theIndian Cupid. It is particularly sacred to Krishna. 

CHUNDRA MALLIKA' (_Chrysanthemum Indiana_). --A pretty round yellowflower which blooms in winter. The plant is used in making hedges ingardens and presents a beautiful appearance in the cold weather when theblossoms appear. 

DHASTU'RA (_Datura Fastuosa_). --A large tulip shaped white flower, sacred to Mahadeva, the third Godhead of the Hindu Trinity. The seeds ofthis flower have narcotic properties. [103]

DRONA. --A white flower with a very slight smell. 

DOPATI (_Impatiens Balsamina_). --A small flower having a slight smell. There are several varieties of this flower. Some are red and some white, while others are both white and red. 

GA'NDA' (_Tagetes erecta_). --A handsome yellow flower, which sometimesgrows very large. It is commonly used in making garlands, with which thenatives decorate their idols, and the Europeans in India their churchesand gates on Christmas Day and New Year's Day. 

GANDHA RA'J (_Gardenia Florida_). --A strongly scented white flower, which blooms at night. 

GOLANCHA (_Menispermum Glabrum_). --A white flower. The plant is alreadywell known to Europeans as a febrifuge. 

JAVA' (_Hibiscus Rosa Sinensis_). --A large blood coloured flower held tobe especially sacred to Kali. There are two species of it, viz. Theordinary Javá commonly seen in our gardens and parterres, and the_Pancha Mukhi_, which, as its name imports, has five compartments and isthe largest of the two. [104]

JAYANTI (_Aeschynomene Sesban_). --A small yellowish flower, held to besacred to Shiva. 

JHA'NTI. --A small white flower possessing medicinal properties. Theleaves of the plants are used in curing certain ulcers. 

JA'NTI (_Jasminum Grandiflorum_). --Also a small white flower having asweet smell. The _uttar_ called _Chumeli_ is extracted from it. 

JUYIN (_Jasminum Auriculatum_). --The Indian Jasmine. It is a very smallwhite flower remarkable for its sweetness. It is also used in making aspecies of _uttar_ which is highly prized by the natives, as also informing a great variety of imitation female ornaments. 

KADAMBA (_Nauclea Cadamba_). --A ball shaped yellow flower held to beparticularly sacred to Krishna, many of whose gambols with the milkmaidsof Brindabun are said to have been performed under the Kadamba tree, which is in consequence very frequently alluded to in the vernacularpoems relating to his loves with those celebrated beauties. 

KINSUKA (_Butea Frondosa_). --A handsome but scentless white flower. 

KANAKA CHAMPA (_Pterospermum Acerifolium_). --A yellowish flower whichhangs down in form of a tassel. It has a strong smell, which isperceived at a great distance when it is on the tree, but the moment itis plucked off, it begins to lose its fragrance. 

KANCHANA (_Bauhinia Variegata_). --There are several varieties of thisflower. Some are white, some are purple, while others are red. It givesa handsome appearance to the tree when the latter is in full blossom. 

KUNDA (_Jasminum pulescens_). --A very pretty white flower. Indian poetsfrequently compare a set of handsome teeth, to this flower. It is heldto be especially sacred to Vishnu. 

KARABIRA (_Nerium Odosum_). --There are two species of this flower, viz. The white and red, both of which are sacred to Shiva. 

KAMINI (_Murraya Exotica_). --A pretty small white flower having a strongsmell. It blooms at night and is very delicate to the touch. The_kamini_ tree is frequently used as a garden hedge. 

KRISHNA CHURA (_Poinciana Pulcherrima_). --A pretty small flower, which, as its name imports resembles the head ornament of Krishna. When theKrishna Chura tree is in full blossom, it has a very handsomeappearance. 

KRISHNA KELI (_Mirabilis Jalapa_. )[105]--A small tulip shaped yellowflower. The bulb of the plant has medicinal properties and is used bythe natives as a poultice. 

KUMADA (_Nymphaea Esculenta_)--A white flower, resembling the lotus, butblooming at night, whence the Indian poets suppose that it is in lovewith Chandra or the Moon, as the lotus is imagined by them to be in lovewith the Sun. 

LAVANGA LATA' (_Limonia Scandens_. )--A very small red flower growingupon a creeper, which has been celebrated by Jaya Deva in his famouswork called the _Gita Govinda_. This creeper is used in native gardensfor bowers. 

MALLIKA' (_Jasminum Zambac_. )--A white flower resembling the _Bela_. Ithas a very sweet smell and is used by native females to make ornaments. It is frequently alluded to by Indian poets. 

MUCHAKUNDA (_Pterospermum Suberifolia_). --A strongly scented flower, which grows in clusters and is of a brown colour. 

MA'LATI (_Echites Caryophyllata_. )--The flower of a creeper which iscommonly used in native gardens. It has a slight smell and is of a whitecolour. 

MA'DHAVI (_Gaertnera Racemosa_. )--The flower of another creeper which isalso to be seen in native gardens. It is likewise of a white colour. 

NA'GESWARA (_Mesua Ferrua_. )--A white flower with yellow filaments, which are said to possess medicinal properties and are used by thenative physicians. It has a very sweet smell and is supposed by Indianpoets to form one of the darts of Kama Deva. See Sir William Jones'sHymn to that deity. 

PADMA (_Nelumbium Speciosum_. )--The Indian lotus, which is held to besacred to Vishnu, Brama, Mahadava, Durga, Lakshami and Saraswati as wellas all the higher orders of Indian deities. It is a very elegant flowerand is highly esteemed by the natives, in consequence of which theIndian poets frequently allude to it in their writings. 

PA'RIJATA (_Buchanania Latifolia_. )--A handsome white flower, with aslight smell. In native poetry, it furnishes a simile for pretty eyes, and is held to be sacred to Vishnu. 

PAREGATA (_Erythrina Fulgens_. )--A flower which is supposed to bloom inthe garden of Indra in heaven, and forms the subject of an interestingepisode in the _Puranas_, in which the two wives of Krisna, (Rukmini andSatyabhama) are said to have quarrelled for the exclusive possession ofthis flower, which their husband had stolen from the celestial gardenreferred to. It is supposed to be identical with the flower of the_Palta madar_. 

RAJANI GANDHA (_Polianthus Tuberosa_. )--A white tulip-shaped flowerwhich blooms at night, from which circumstance it is called "the RajaniGandha, (or night-fragrance giver). " It is the Indian tuberose. 

RANGANA. --A small and very pretty red flower which is used by nativefemales in ornamenting their betels. 

SEONTI. _Rosa Glandulefera_. A white flower resembling the rose in sizeand appearance. It has a sweet smell. 

SEPHA'LIKA (_Nyctanthes Arbor-tristis_. )--A very pretty and delicateflower which blooms at night, and drops down shortly after. It has asweet smell and is held to be sacred to Shiva. The juice of the leavesof the Sephalika tree are used in curing both remittant and intermittentfevers. 

SURYJA MUKHI (_Helianthus Annuus_). --A large and very handsome yellowflower, which is said to turn itself to the Sun, as he goes from East toWest, whence it has derived its name. 

SURYJA MANI (_Hibiscus Phoeniceus_). --A small red flower. 

GOLAKA CHAMPA. --A large beautiful white tulip-shaped flower having asweet smell. It is externally white but internally orange-colored. 

TAGUR (_Tabernoemontana Coronaria_). --A white flower having a slightsmell. 

TARU LATA. --A beautiful creeper with small red flowers. It is used innative gardens for making hedges. 

K. G. 

 * * * * *

Pliny in his Natural History alludes to the marks of time exhibited inthe regular opening and closing of flowers. Linnaeus enumeratesforty-six flowers that might be used for the construction of a floraltime-piece. This great Swedish botanist invented a Floral horologe, "whosewheels were the sun and earth and whose index-figures were flowers. "Perhaps his invention, however, was not wholly original. Andrew Marvellin his "_Thoughts in a Garden_" mentions a sort of floral dial:--

 How well the skilful gardener drew Of flowers and herbs this dial new! Where, from above, the milder sun Does through a fragrant zodiac run: And, as it works, th'industrious bee Computes its time as well as we: How could such sweet and wholesome hours Be reckoned, but with herbs and flowers?

_Marvell_[106]

Milton's notation of time--"_at shut of evening flowers_, " has abeautiful simplicity, and though Shakespeare does not seem to havemarked his time on a floral clock, yet, like all true poets, he has madevery free use of other appearances of nature to indicate thecommencement and the close of day. 

 The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch-- Than we will ship him hence. 

_Hamlet_. 

 Fare thee well at once! The glow-worm shows the matin to be near And gins to pale his uneffectual fire. 

_Hamlet_. 

 But look! The morn, in russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill:-- Break we our watch up. 

_Hamlet_. 

 _Light thickens_, and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood. 

_Macbeth_. 

Such picturesque notations of time as these, are in the works ofShakespeare, as thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks inValombrosa. In one of his Sonnets he thus counts the years of human lifeby the succession of the seasons. 

 To me, fair friend, you never can be old, For as you were when first your eye I eyed, Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold Have from the forests shook three summers' pride; Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turned In process of the seasons have I seen; Three April's perfumes in three hot Junes burned Since first I saw you fresh which yet are green. 

Grainger, a prosaic verse-writer who once commenced a paragraph of apoem with "Now, Muse, let's sing of rats!" called upon the slave driversin the West Indies to time their imposition of cruel tasks by theopening and closing of flowers. 

 Till morning dawn and Lucifer withdraw His beamy chariot, let not the loud bell Call forth thy negroes from their rushy couch: And ere the sun with mid-day fervor glow, When every broom-bush opes her yellow flower, Let thy black laborers from their toil desist: Nor till the broom her every petal lock, Let the loud bell recal them to the hoe, But when the jalap her bright tint displays, When the solanum fills her cup with dew, And crickets, snakes and lizards gin their coil, Let them find shelter in their cane-thatched huts. 

_Sugar Cane_. [107]

I shall here give (_from Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Gardening_) the formof a flower dial. It may be interesting to many of my readers:--

 'Twas a lovely thought to mark the hours As they floated in light away By the opening and the folding flowers That laugh to the summer day. [108]

_Mr. Hemans_. 

A FLOWER DIAL. 

TIME OF OPENING. [109] h. M. YELLOW GOAT'S BEARD T. P. 3 5LATE FLOWERING DANDELION Leon. S. 4 0BRISTLY HELMINTHIA H. B. 4 5ALPINE BORKHAUSIA B. A. 4 5WILD SUCCORY C. I. 4 5NAKED STALKED POPPY P. N. 5 0COPPER COLOURED DAY LILY H. F. 5 0SMOOTH SOW THISTLE S. L. 5 0ALPINE AGATHYRSUS Ag. A. 5 0SMALL BIND WEED Con. A. 5 6COMMON NIPPLE WORT L. C. 5 6COMMON DANDELION L. T. 5 6SPORTED ACHYROPHORUS A. M. 6 7WHITE WATER LILY N. A. 7 0GARDEN LETTUCE Lec. S. 7 0AFRICAN MARIGOLD T. E. 7 0COMMON PIMPERNEL A. A. 7 8MOUSE-EAR HAWKWEED H. P. 8 0PROLIFEROUS PINK D. P. 8 0FIELD MARIGOLD Cal. A. 9 0PURPLE SANDWORT A. P. 9 10SMALL PURSLANE P. O. 9 10CREEPING MALLOW M. C. 9 10CHICKWEED S. M. 9 10

TIME OF CLOSING. H. M. HELMINTHIA ECHIOIDES B. H. 12 0AGATHYRSUS ALPINUS A. B. 12 0BORKHAUSIA ALPINA A. B. 12 0LEONTODON SEROTINUS L. D. 12 0MALVA CAROLINIANA C. M. 12 1DAINTHUS PROLIFER P. P. 1 0HIERACIUM PILOSELLA M. H. 0 2ANAGALLIS ARVENSIS S. P. 2 3ARENARIA PURPUREA P. S. 2 4CALENDULA ARVENSIS F. M. 3 0TACETES ERECTA A. M. 3 3CONVOLVULUS ARVENSIS S. B. 4 0ACHYROPHORUS MACULATUS S. A. 4 5NYMPHAEA ALBA W. W. B. 5 0PAPAVER NUDICAULE N. P. 7 0HEMEROCALLIS FULVA C. D. L. 7 0CICHORIUM INTYBUS W. S. 8 9TRAGOPOGON PRATENSIS Y. G. B. 9 10STELLARIA MEDIA C. 9 10LAPSANA COMMUNIS C. N. 10 0LACTUCA SATIVA G. L. 10 0SONCHUS LAEVIS S. T. 11 10PORTULACA OLERACEA S. P. 11 12

Of course it will be necessary to adjust the _Horologium Florae_ (orFlower clock) to the nature of the climate. Flowers expand at a laterhour in a cold climate than in a warm one. "A flower, " says Loudon, "that opens at six o'clock in the morning at Senegal, will not open inFrance or England till eight or nine, nor in Sweden till ten. A flowerthat opens at ten o'clock at Senegal will not open in France or Englandtill noon or later, and in Sweden it will not open at all. And a flowerthat does not open till noon or later at Senegal will not open at all inFrance or England. This seems as if heat or its absence were also (aswell as light) an agent in the opening and shutting of flowers; thoughthe opening of such as blow only in the night cannot be attributed toeither light or heat. "

The seasons may be marked in a similar manner by their floralrepresentatives. Mary Howitt quotes as a motto to her poem on _HolyFlowers_ the following example of religious devotion timed by flowers:--

"Mindful of the pious festivals which our church prescribes, " (says aFranciscan Friar) "I have sought to make these charming objects offloral nature, the _time-pieces of my religious calendar_, and themementos of the hastening period of my mortality. Thus I can light thetaper to our Virgin Mother on the blowing of the white snow-drop whichopens its floweret at the time of Candlemas; the lady's smock and thedaffodil, remind me of the Annunciation; the blue harebell, of theFestival of St George; the ranunculus, of the Invention of the Cross;the scarlet lychnis, of St. John the Baptist's day; the white lily, ofthe Visitation of our Lady, and the Virgin's bower, of her Assumption;and Michaelmas, Martinmas, Holyrood, and Christmas, have all theirappropriate monitors. I learn the time of day from the shutting of theblossoms of the Star of Jerusalem and the Dandelion, and the hour of thenight by the stars. "

Some flowers afford a certain means of determining the state of theatmosphere. If I understand Mr. Tyas rightly he attributes the followingremarks to Hartley Coleridge. --

"Many species of flowers are admirable barometers. Most of thebulbous-rooted flowers contract, or close their petals entirely on theapproach of rain. The African marigold indicates rain, if the corolla isclosed after seven or eight in the morning. The common bind-weed closesits flowers on the approach of rain; but the anagallis arvensis, or scarletpimpernel, is the most sure in its indications as the petals constantlyclose on the least humidity of the atmosphere. Barley is also singularlyaffected by the moisture or dryness of the air. The awns are furnishedwith stiff points, all turning towards one end, which extend when moist, and shorten when dry. The points, too, prevent their receding, so thatthey are drawn up or forward; as moisture is returned, they advance andso on; indeed they may be actually seen to travel forwards. The capsulesof the geranium furnish admirable barometers. Fasten the beard, whenfully ripe, upon a stand, and it will twist itself, or untwist, according as the air is moist or dry. The flowers of the chick-weed, convolvulus, and oxalis, or wood sorrel, close their petals on theapproach of rain. "

The famous German writer, Jean Paul Richter, describes what he calls _aHuman Clock_. 

A HUMAN CLOCK. 

"I believe" says Richter "the flower clock of Linnaeus, in Upsal(_Horologium Florae_) whose wheels are the sun and earth, and whoseindex-figures are flowers, of which one always awakens and opens laterthan another, was what secretly suggested my conception of the humanclock. 

I formerly occupied two chambers in Scheeraw, in the middle of themarket place: from the front room I overlooked the whole market-placeand the royal buildings and from the back one, the botanical garden. Whoever now dwells in these two rooms possesses an excellent harmony, arranged to his hand, between the flower clock in the garden and thehuman clock in the marketplace. At three o'clock in the morning, theyellow meadow goats-beard opens; and brides awake, and the stable-boybegins to rattle and feed the horses beneath the lodger. At four o'clockthe little hawk weed awakes, choristers going to the Cathedral who areclocks with chimes, and the bakers. At five, kitchen maids, dairy maids, and butter-cups awake. At six, the sow-thistle and cooks. At seveno'clock many of the Ladies' maids are awake in the Palace, the Chicoryin my botanical garden, and some tradesmen. At eight o'clock all thecolleges awake and the little mouse-ear. At nine o'clock, the femalenobility already begin to stir; the marigold, and even many youngladies, who have come from the country on a visit, begin to look out oftheir windows. Between ten and eleven o'clock the Court Ladies and thewhole staff of Lords of the Bed-chamber, the green colewort and theAlpine dandelion, and the reader of the Princess rouse themselves out oftheir morning sleep; and the whole Palace, considering that the morningsun gleams so brightly to-day from the lofty sky through the colouredsilk curtains, curtails a little of its slumber. 

At twelve o'clock, the Prince: at one, his wife and the carnation havetheir eyes open in their flower vase. What awakes late in the afternoonat four o'clock is only the red-hawkweed, and the night watchman ascuckoo-clock, and these two only tell the time as evening-clocks andmoon-clocks. 

From the eyes of the unfortunate man, who like the jalap plant(Mirabilia jalapa), first opens them at five o'clock, we will turn ourown in pity aside. It is a rich man who only exchanges the fever fanciesof being pinched with hot pincers for waking pains. 

I could never know when it was two o'clock, because at that time, together with a thousand other stout gentlemen and the yellow mouse-ear, I always fell asleep; but at three o'clock in the afternoon, and atthree in the morning, I awoke as regularly as though I was a repeater. Thus we mortals may be a flower-clock for higher beings, when ourflower-leaves close upon our last bed; or sand clocks, when the sand ofour life is so run down that it is renewed in the other world; orpicture-clocks because, when our death-bell here below strikes andrings, our image steps forth, from its case into the next world. 

On each event of the kind, when seventy years of human life have passedaway, they may perhaps say, what! another hour already gone! how thetime flies!"--_From Balfour's Phyto-Theology_. 

Some of the natives of India who possess extensive estates might thinkit worth their while to plant a LABYRINTH for the amusement of theirfriends. I therefore give a plan of one from London's _Arboretum etFruticetum Britannicum_. It would not be advisable to occupy much of alimited estate in a toy of this nature; but where the ground requiredfor it can be easily spared or would otherwise be wasted, there could beno objection to adding this sort of amusement to the very many othersthat may be included in a pleasure ground. The plan here given, resembles the labyrinth at Hampton Court. The hedges should be a littleabove a man's height and the paths should be just wide enough for twopersons abreast. The ground should be kept scrupulously clean and wellrolled and the hedges well trimmed, or in this country the labyrinthwould soon be damp and unwholesome, especially in the rains. To preventits affording a place of refuge and concealment for snakes and otherreptiles, the gardener should cut off all young shoots and leaves withinhalf a foot of the ground. The centre building should be a tastefulsummer-house, in which people might read or smoke or take refreshments. To make the labyrinth still more intricate Mr. Loudon suggests thatstop-hedges might be introduced across the path, at different places, asindicated in the figure by dotted lines. [110]

[Illustration of A GARDEN LABYRINTH with a scale in feet. ]

Of strictly Oriental trees and shrubs and flowers, perhaps the majorityof Anglo Indians think with much less enthusiasm than of the commonweeds of England. The remembrance of the simplest wild flower of theirnative fields will make them look with perfect indifference on thedecorations of an Indian Garden. This is in no degree surprizing. Yetnature is lovely in all lands. 

Indian scenery has not been so much the subject of description in eitherprose or verse as it deserves, but some two or three of our Anglo-Indianauthors have touched upon it. Here is a pleasant and truthful passagefrom an article entitled "_A Morning Walk in India_, " written by thelate Mr. Lawson, the Missionary, a truly good and a highly gifted man:--

"The rounded clumps that afford the deepest shade, are formed by themangoe, the banian, and the cotton trees. At the verge of this deep-greenforest are to be seen the long and slender hosts of the betle andcocoanut trees; and the grey bark of their trunks, as they catch thelight of the morning, is in clear relief from the richness of theback-ground. These as they wave their feathery tops, add much to thepicturesque interest of the straw-built hovels beneath them, which arevariegated with every tinge to be found amongst the browns and yellows, according to the respective periods of their construction. Some of themare enveloped in blue smoke, which oozes through every interstice of thethatch, and spreads itself, like a cloud hovering over these frailhabitations, or moves slowly along, like a strata of vapour not far fromthe ground, as though too heavy to ascend, and loses itself in the thinair, so inspiring to all who have courage to leave their beds and enjoyit. The champa tree forms a beautiful object in this jungle. It may berecognized immediately from the surrounding scenery. It has always beena favourite with me. I suppose most persons, at times, have beenunaccountably attracted by an object comparatively trifling in itself. There are also particular seasons, when the mind is susceptible ofpeculiar impressions, and the moments of happy, careless youth, rushupon the imagination with a thousand tender feelings. There are few thatdo not recollect with what pleasure they have grasped a bunch of wildflowers, when, in the days of their childhood, the languor of alingering fever has prevented them for some weary months from enjoyingthat chief of all the pleasures of a robust English boy, a ramblethrough the fields, where every tree, and bush, and hillock, andblossom, are endeared to him, because, next to a mother's caresses, theywere the first things in the world upon which he opened his eyes, and, doubtless, the first which gave him those indescribable feelings offairy pleasure, which even in his dreams were excited; while thecoloured clouds of heaven, the golden sunshine of a landscape, the freshnosegay of dog-roses and early daisies, and the sounds of busywhispering trees and tinkling brooks presented to the sleeping child allthe pure pleasure of his waking moments. And who is there here that doesnot sometimes recal some of those feelings which were his solace perhapsthirty years ago? Should I be wrong, were I to say that even, at hisdesk, amid all the excitements and anxieties of commercial pursuits, theweary Calcutta merchant has been lulled into a sort of pensivereminiscence of the past, and, with his pen placed between his lips andhis fevered forehead leaning upon his hand, has felt his heart bound atsome vivid picture rising upon his imagination. The forms of a fondmother, and an almost angel-looking sister, have been so stronglyconjured up with the scenes of his boyish days, that the pen has beenunceremoniously dashed to the ground, and 'I will go home' was the sighthat heaved from a bosom full of kindness and English feeling; while, asthe dream vanished, plain truth told its tale, and the man of commerceis still to be seen at his desk, pale, and getting into years andperhaps less desirous than ever of winding up his concern. No wonder!because the dearest ties of his heart have been broken, and those whowere the charm of home have gone down to the cold grave, the home ofall. Why then should he revisit his native place? What is the cottage ofhis birth to him? What charms has the village now for the gentleman justarrived from India? Every well remembered object of nature, seen after alapse of twenty years, would only serve to renew a host of buried, painful feelings. Every visit to the house of a surviving neighbourwould but bring to mind some melancholy incident; for into what housecould he enter, to idle away an hour, without seeing some wreck of hisown family, such as a venerable clock, once so loved for the paintedmoon that waxed and waned to the astonishment of the gazer, or somefavorite ancient chair, edged so nobly with rows of brass nails, --but perforated sore, and dull'd in holes By worms voracious, eating through and through. 

These are little things, but they are objects which will live in hismemory to the latest day of his life, and with which are associated inhis mind the dearest feelings and thoughts of his happiest hours. "

Here is an attempt at a description in verse of some of the most common

TREES AND FLOWERS OF BENGAL

 This land is not my father land, And yet I love it--for the hand Of God hath left its mark sublime On nature's face in every clime--

 Though from home and friends we part, Nature and the human heart Still may soothe the wanderer's care-- And his God is every where

 Beneath BENGALA'S azure skies, No vallies sink, no green hills rise, Like those the vast sea billows make-- The land is level as a lake[111] But, oh, what giants of the wood Wave their wide arms, or calmly brood Each o'er his own deep rounded shade When noon's fierce sun the breeze hath laid, And all is still. On every plain How green the sward, or rich the grain! In jungle wild and garden trim, And open lawn and covert dim, What glorious shrubs and flowerets gay, Bright buds, and lordly beasts of prey! How prodigally Gunga pours Her wealth of waves through verdant shores O'er which the sacred peepul bends, And oft its skeleton lines extends Of twisted root, well laved and bare, Half in water, half in air!

 Fair scenes! where breeze and sun diffuse The sweetest odours, fairest hues-- Where brightest the bright day god shows, And where his gentle sister throws Her softest spell on silent plain, And stirless wood, and slumbering main-- Where the lucid starry sky Opens most to mortal eye The wide and mystic dome serene Meant for visitants unseen, A dream like temple, air built hall, Where spirits pure hold festival!

 Fair scenes! whence envious Art might steal More charms than fancy's realms reveal-- Where the tall palm to the sky Lifts its wreath triumphantly-- And the bambu's tapering bough Loves its flexile arch to throw-- Where sleeps the favored lotus white, On the still lake's bosom bright-- Where the champac's[112] blossoms shine, Offerings meet for Brahma's shrine, While the fragrance floateth wide O'er velvet lawn and glassy tide-- Where the mangoe tope bestows Night at noon day--cool repose, Neath burning heavens--a hush profound Breathing o'er the shaded ground-- Where the medicinal neem, Of palest foliage, softest gleam, And the small leafed tamarind Tremble at each whispering wind-- And the long plumed cocoas stand Like the princes of the land, Near the betel's pillar slim, With capital richly wrought and trim-- And the neglected wild sonail Drops her yellow ringlets pale-- And light airs summer odours throw From the bala's breast of snow-- Where the Briarean banyan shades The crowded ghat, while Indian maids, Untouched by noon tide's scorching rays, Lave the sleek limb, or fill the vase With liquid life, or on the head Replace it, and with graceful tread And form erect, and movement slow, Back to their simple dwellings go-- [Walls of earth, that stoutly stand, Neatly smoothed with wetted hand-- Straw roofs, yellow once and gay, Turned by time and tempest gray--] Where the merry minahs crowd Unbrageous haunts, and chirrup loud-- And shrilly talk the parrots green 'Midst the thick leaves dimly seen-- And through the quivering foliage play, Light as buds, the squirrels gay, Quickly as the noontide beams Dance upon the rippled streams-- Where the pariah[113] howls with fear, If the white man passeth near-- Where the beast that mocks our race With taper finger, solemn face, In the cool shade sits at ease Calm and grave as Socrates-- Where the sluggish buffaloe Wallows in mud--and huge and slow, Like massive cloud of sombre van, Moves the land leviathan--[114] Where beneath the jungle's screen Close enwoven, lurks unseen The couchant tiger--and the snake His sly and sinuous way doth make Through the rich mead's grassy net, Like a miniature rivulet-- Where small white cattle, scattered wide, Browse, from dawn to even tide-- Where the river watered soil Scarce demands the ryot's toil-- And the rice field's emerald light Out vies Italian meadows bright, -- Where leaves of every shape and dye, And blossoms varied as the sky, The fancy kindle, --fingers fair That never closed on aught but air-- Hearts, that never heaved a sigh-- Wings, that never learned to fly-- Cups, that ne'er went table round-- Bells, that never rang with sound-- Golden crowns, of little worth-- Silver stars, that strew the earth-- Filagree fine and curious braid, Breathed, not labored, grown, not made-- Tresses like the beams of morn Without a thought of triumph worn-- Tongues that prate not--many an eye Untaught midst hidden things to pry-- Brazen trumpets, long and bright, That never summoned to the fight-- Shafts, that never pierced a side-- And plumes that never waved with pride;-- Scarcely Art a shape may know But Nature here that shape can show. 

 Through this soft air, o'er this warm sod, Stern deadly Winter never trod; The woods their pride for centuries wear, And not a living branch is bare; Each field for ever boasts its bowers, And every season brings its flowers. 

D. L. R. 

We all "uphold Adam's profession": we are all gardeners, eitherpractically or theoretically. The love of trees and flowers, and shrubsand the green sward, with a summer sky above them, is an almostuniversal sentiment. It may be smothered for a time by some one or otherof the innumerable chances and occupations of busy life; but a paintingin oils by Claude or Gainsborough, or a picture in words by Spenser orShakespeare that shall for ever

 Live in description and look green in song, or the sight of a few flowers on a window-sill in the city, can fill theeye with tears of tenderness, or make the secret passion for natureburst out again in sudden gusts of tumultuous pleasure and lighten upthe soul with images of rural beauty. There are few, indeed, who, whenthey have the good fortune to escape on a summer holiday from thecrowded and smoky city and find themselves in the heart of a deliciousgarden, have not a secret consciousness within them that the sceneaffords them a glimpse of a true paradise below. Rich foliage and gayflowers and rural quiet and seclusion and a smiling sun are everassociated with ideas of earthly felicity. 

 And oh, if there be an Elysium on earth, It is this, it is this!

The princely merchant and the petty trader, the soldier and the sailor, the politician and the lawyer, the artist and the artisan, when theypause for a moment in the midst of their career, and dream of thehappiness of some future day, almost invariably fix their imaginarypalace or cottage of delight in a garden, amidst embowering trees andfragrant flowers. This disposition, even in the busiest men, to indulgeoccasionally in fond anticipations of rural bliss--

 In visions so profuse of pleasantness--

shows that God meant us to appreciate and enjoy the beauty of his works. The taste for a garden is the one common feeling that unites us all. 

 One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. 

There is this much of poetical sensibility--of a sense of naturalbeauty--at the core of almost every human heart. The monarch shares itwith the peasant, and Nature takes care that as the thirst for hersociety is the universal passion, the power of gratifying it shall bemore or less within the reach of all. [115]

Our present Chief Justice, Sir Lawrence Peel, who has set so excellentan example to his countrymen here in respect to Horticultural pursuitsand the tasteful embellishment of what we call our "_compounds_" andwho, like Sir William Jones and Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd, sees no reasonwhy Themis should be hostile to the Muses, has obliged me with thefollowing stanzas on the moral or rather religious influence of agarden. They form a highly appropriate and acceptable contribution tothis volume. 

I HEARD THY VOICE IN THE GARDEN. 

 That voice yet speaketh, heed it well-- But not in tones of wrath it chideth, The moss rose, and the lily smell Of God--in them his voice abideth. 

 There is a blessing on the spot The poor man decks--the sun delighteth To smile upon each homely plot, And why? The voice of God inviteth. 

 God knows that he is worshipped there, The chaliced cowslip's graceful bending Is mute devotion, and the air Is sweet with incense of her lending. 

 The primrose, aye the children's pet, Pale bride, yet proud of its uprooting, The crocus, snowdrop, violet And sweet-briar with its soft leaves shooting. 

 There nestles each--a Preacher each-- (Oh heart of man! be slow to harden) Each cottage flower in sooth doth teach God walketh with us in the garden. 

I am surprized that in this city (of Calcutta) where so many kinds ofexperiments in education have been proposed, the directors of publicinstruction have never thought of attaching tasteful Gardens to theGovernment Colleges--especially where Botany is in the regular course ofCollegiate studies. The Company's Botanic Garden being on the other sideof the river and at an inconvenient distance from the city cannot bemuch resorted to by any one whose time is precious. An attempt was madenot long ago to have the Garden of the Horticultural Society (nowforming part of the Company's Botanic Garden) on this side of the river, but the public subscriptions that were called for to meet the necessaryexpenses were so inadequate to the purpose that the money realized wasreturned to the subscribers, and the idea relinquished, to the greatregret of many of the inhabitants of Calcutta who would have beendelighted to possess such a place of recreation and instruction within afew minutes' drive. 

Hindu students, unlike English boys in general, remind us of Beattie'sMinstrel:--

 The exploit of strength, dexterity and speed To him nor vanity, nor joy could bring. 

A sort of Garden Academy, therefore, full of pleasant shades, would bepeculiarly suited to the tastes and habits of our Indian Collegians. They are not fond of cricket or leap-frog. They would rejoice to devotea leisure hour to pensive letterings in a pleasure-garden, and on anoccasional holiday would gladly pursue even their severest studies, bookin hand, amidst verdant bowers. A stranger from Europe beholding them, in their half-Grecian garments, thus wandering amidst the trees, wouldbe reminded of the disciples of Plato. 

"It is not easy, " observes Lord Kames, "to suppress a degree ofenthusiasm, when we reflect on the advantages of gardening with respectto virtuous education. In the beginning of life the deepest impressionsare made; and it is a sad truth, that the young student, familiarized tothe dirtiness and disorder of many colleges pent within narrow bounds inpopulous cities, is rendered in a measure insensible to the elegantbeauties of art and nature. It seems to me far from an exaggeration, that good professors are not more essential to a college, than aspacious garden, sweetly ornamented, but without any thing glaring orfantastic, is upon the whole to inspire our youth with a taste no lessfor simplicity than for elegance. In this respect the University ofOxford may justly be deemed a model. "

It may be expected that I should offer a few hints on the laying out ofgardens. Much has been said (by writers on ornamental and landscapegardening) on _art_ and _nature_, and almost always has it been impliedthat these must necessarily be in direct opposition. I am far from beingof this opinion. If art and nature be not in some points of view almostidentical, they are at least very good friends, or may easily be madeso. They are not necessarily hostile. They admit of the most harmoniouscombinations. In no place are such combinations more easy or more properthan in a garden. Walter Scott very truly calls a garden the child ofArt. But is it not also the child of Nature?--of Nature and Arttogether? To attempt to exclude art--or even, the appearance ofart--from a small garden enclosure, is idle and absurd. He who objects toall art in the arrangement of a flower-bed, ought, if consistent withhimself, to turn away with an expression of disgust from a well arrangednosegay in a rich porcelain vase. But who would not loathe or laugh atsuch manifest affectation or such thoroughly bad taste? As there is atime for every thing, so also is there a place for every thing. No manof true judgment would desire to trace the hand of human art on the formof nature in remote and gigantic forests, and amidst vast mountains, asirregular as the billows of a troubled sea. In such scenery there is asublime grace in wildness, --_there_ "the very weeds are beautiful. " Butwhat true judgment would be enchanted with weeds and wildness in thesmall parterre. As Pope rightly says, we must

 Consult the genius of the place in all. 

It is pleasant to enter a rural lane overgrown with field-flowers, or tobehold an extensive common irregularly decorated with prickly gorse orfern and thistle, but surely no man of taste would admire nature in thiswild and dishevelled state in a little suburban garden. Symmetry, elegance and beauty, (--no _sublimity_ or _grandeur_--) trimness, snugness, privacy, cleanliness, comfort, and convenience--the results ofa happy conjunction of art and nature--are all that we can aim at withina limited extent of ground. In a small parterre we either trace withpleasure the marks of the gardener's attention or are disgusted with hisnegligence. In a mere patch of earth around a domestic dwelling natureought not to be left entirely to herself. 

What is agreeable in one sphere of life is offensive in another. A dirtysmock frock and a soiled face in a ploughman's child who has beenswinging on rustic gates a long summer morning or rolling down theslopes of hills, or grubbing in the soil of his small garden, may remindus, not unpleasantly, of one of Gainsborough's pictures; but we look fora different sort of nature on the canvas of Sir Joshua Reynolds or SirThomas Lawrence, or in the brilliant drawing-rooms of the nobility; andyet an Earl's child looks and moves at least as _naturally_ as apeasant's. 

There is nature every where--in the palace as well as in the hut, in thecultivated garden as well as in the wild wood. Civilized life is, afterall, as natural as savage life. All our faculties are natural, andcivilized man cultivates his mental powers and studies the arts of lifeby as true an instinct as that which leads the savage to make the mostof his mud hut, and to improve himself or his child as a hunter, afisherman, or a warrior. The mind of man is the noblest work of itsMaker (--in this world--) and the movements of man's mind may be quiteas natural, and quite as poetical too, as the life that rises from theground. It is as natural for the mind, as it is for a tree or flower toadvance towards perfection. Nature suggests art, and art again imitatesand approximates to nature, and this principle of action and reactionbrings man by degrees towards that point of comparative excellence forwhich God seems to have intended him. The mind of a Milton or aShakespeare is surely not in a more unnatural condition than that of anignorant rustic. We ought not then to decry refinement nor deem allconnection of art with nature an offensive incongruity. A noble mansionin a spacious and well kept park is an object which even an observer whohas no share himself in the property may look upon with pleasure. Itmakes him proud of his race. [116] We cannot witness so harmonious aconjunction of art and nature without feeling that man is somethingbetter than a mere beast of the field or forest. We see him turn bothart and nature to his service, and we cannot contemplate the lordlydwelling and the richly decorated land around it--and the neatness andsecurity and order of the whole scene--without associating them with thehigh accomplishments and refined tastes that in all probabilitydistinguish the proprietor and his family. It is a strange mistake tosuppose that nothing is natural beyond savage ignorance--that allrefinement is unnatural--that there is only one sort of simplicity. Forthe mind elevated by civilization is in a more natural state than a mindthat has scarcely passed the boundary of brutal instinct, and thesimplicity of a savage's hut, does not prevent there being a noblersimplicity in a Grecian temple. 

Kent[117] the famous landscape gardener, tells us that _nature_ _abhorsa straight line_. And so she does--in some cases--but not in all. A rayof light is a straight line, and so also is a Grecian nose, and so alsois the stem of the betel-nut tree. It must, indeed, be admitted that hewho should now lay out a large park or pleasure-ground on strictlygeometrical principles or in the old topiary style would exhibit adeplorable want of taste and judgment. But the provinces of thelandscape gardener and the parterre gardener are perfectly distinct. Thelandscape gardener demands a wide canvas. All his operations are on alarge scale. In a small garden we have chiefly to aim at the_gardenesque_ and in an extensive park at the _picturesque_. Even in thelatter case, however, though

 'Tis Nature still, 'tis nature methodized:

Or in other words:

 Nature to advantage dressed. 

for even in the largest parks or pleasure-grounds, an observer of truetaste is offended by an air of negligence or the absence of all tracesof human art or care. Such places ought to indicate the presence ofcivilized life and security and order. We are not pleased to see weedsand jungle--or litter of any sort--even dry leaves--upon the princelydomain, which should look like a portion of nature set apart or devotedto the especial care and enjoyment of the owner and his friends:--astrictly private property. The grass carpet should be trimly shorn andwell swept. The trees should be tastefully separated from each other atirregular but judicious distances. They should have fine round heads offoliage, clean stems, and no weeds or underwood below, nor a single deadbranch above. When we visit the finest estates of the nobility andgentry in England it is impossible not to perceive in every case amarked distinction between the wild nature of a wood and the civilizednature of a park. In the latter you cannot overlook the fact that everything injurious to the health and growth and beauty of each individualtree has been studiously removed, while on the other hand, light, air, space, all things in fact that, if sentient, the tree could itself besupposed to desire, are most liberally supplied. There is as great adifference between the general aspect of the trees in a nobleman'spleasure ground and those in a jungle, as between the rustics of avillage and the well bred gentry of a great city. Park trees havegenerally a fine air of aristocracy about them. 

A Gainsborough or a Morland would seek his subjects in remote villagesand a Watteau or a Stothard in the well kept pleasure ground. The rudernature of woods and villages, of sturdy ploughmen and the healthy thoughsoiled and ragged children in rural neighbourhoods, affords a by nomeans unpleasing contrast and introduction to the trim trees andsmoothly undulating lawns, and curved walks, and gay parterres, and fineladies and well dressed and graceful children on some old ancestralestate. We look for rusticity in the village, and for elegance in thepark. The sleek and noble air of patrician trees, standing proudly onthe rich velvet sward, the order and grace and beauty of all that meetsthe eye, lead us, as I have said already, to form a high opinion of theowner. In this we may of course be sometimes disappointed; but a man'scharacter is generally to be traced in almost every object around himover which he has the power of a proprietor, and in few things are aman's taste and habits more distinctly marked than in his park andgarden. If we find the owner of a neatly kept garden and an elegantmansion slovenly, rude and vulgar in appearance and manners, weinevitably experience that shock of surprize which is excited by everything that is incongruous or out of keeping. On the other hand if thegarden be neglected and overgrown with weeds, or if every thing in itsarrangement indicate a want of taste, and a disregard of neatness andorder, we feel no astonishment whatever in discovering that theproprietor is as negligent of his mind and person as of his shrubberiesand his lawns. 

A civilized country ought not to look like a savage one. We need nothave wild nature in front of our neatly finished porticos. Nothing canbe more strictly artificial than all architecture. It would be absurd toerect an elegantly finished residence in the heart of a jungle. Thereshould be an harmonious gradation from the house to the grounds, andtrue taste ought not to object to terraces of elegant design andgraceful urns and fine statues in the immediate neighbourhood of a nobledwelling. 

Undoubtedly as a general rule, the undulating curve in garden scenery ispreferable to straight lines or abrupt turns or sharp angles, but ifthere should happen to be only a few yards between the outer gateway andthe house, could anything be more fantastical or preposterous than anattempt to give the ground between them a serpentine irregularity? Evenin the most spacious grounds the walks should not seem too studiouslywinding, as if the short turns were meant for no other purpose than toperplex or delay the walker. [118] They should have a natural sweep, andseem to meander rather in accordance with the nature of the ground andthe points to which they lead than in obedience to some idle sport offancy. They should not remind us of Gray's description of the divisionsof an old mansion:

 Long passages that lead to nothing. 

Foot-paths in small gardens need not be broader than will allow twopersons to walk abreast with ease. A spacious garden may have walks ofgreater breadth. A path for one person only is inconvenient and has amean look. 

I have made most of the foregoing observations in something of a spiritof opposition to those Landscape gardeners who I think once carried atrue principle to an absurd excess. I dislike, as much as any one can, the old topiary style of our remote ancestors, but the talk about freenature degenerated at last into downright cant, and sheer extravagance;the reformers were for bringing weeds and jungle right under our parlourwindows, and applied to an acre of ground those rules of Landscapegardening which required a whole county for their properexemplification. It is true that Milton's Paradise had "no nice art" init, but then it was not a little suburban pleasure ground but a world. When Milton alluded to private gardens, he spoke of their trimness. 

 Retired Leisure That in _trim_ gardens takes his pleasure. 

The larger an estate the less necessary is it to make it merely neat, and symmetrical, especially in those parts of the ground that aredistant from the house; but near the architecture some degree of finishand precision is always necessary, or at least advisable, to prevent thetoo sudden contrast between the straight lines and artificialconstruction of the dwelling and the flowing curves and wild butbeautiful irregularities of nature unmoulded by art. A garden adjacentto the house should give the owner a sense of _home_. He should not feelhimself abroad at his own door. If it were only for the sake of varietythere should be some distinction between the private garden and the openfield. If the garden gradually blends itself with a spacious park orchase, the more the ground recedes from the house the more it maylegitimately assume the aspect of a natural landscape. It will then benecessary to appeal to the eye of a landscape gardener or a painter or apoet before the owner, if ignorant of the principles of fine art, attempt the completion of the general design. 

I should like to see my Native friends who have extensive grounds, varythe shape of their tanks, but if they dislike a more natural form ofwater, irregular or winding, and are determined to have them with foursharp corners, let them at all events avoid the evil of several smalltanks in the same "compound. " A large tank is more likely to have goodwater and to retain it through the whole summer season than a smallerone and is more easily kept clean and grassy to the water's edge. I donot say that it would be proper to have a piece of winding water in asmall compound--that indeed would be impracticable. But even an oval orround tank would be better than a square one. [119]

If the Native gentry could obtain the aid of tasteful gardeners, I wouldrecommend that the level land should be varied with an occasionalartificial elevation, nicely sloped or graduated; but Native _malees_would be sure to aim rather at the production of abrupt round knobsresembling warts or excrescences than easy and natural undulations ofthe surface. 

With respect to lawns, the late Mr. Speede recommended the use of the_doob_ grass, but it is so extremely difficult to keep it clear of anyintermixture of the _ooloo_ grass, which, when it intrudes upon the_doob_ gives the lawn a patchwork and shabby look, that it is better touse the _ooloo_ grass only, for it is far more manageable; and if keptwell rolled and closely shorn it has a very neat, and indeed, beautifulappearance. The lawns in the compound of the Government House inCalcutta are formed of _ooloo_ glass only, but as they have been verycarefully attended to they have really a most brilliant and agreeableaspect. In fact, their beautiful bright green, in the hottest summer, attracts even the notice and admiration of the stranger fresh fromEngland. The _ooloo_ grass, however, on close inspection is found to beextremely coarse, nor has even the finest _doob_ the close texture andvelvet softness of the grass of English lawns. 

Flower beds should be well rounded. They should never have long narrownecks or sharp angles in which no plant can have room to grow freely. Nor should they be divided into compartments, too minute or numerous, for so arranged they must always look petty and toy-like. A lawn shouldbe as open and spacious as the ground will fairly admit without toogreatly limiting the space for flowers. Nor should there be anunnecessary multiplicity of walks. We should aim at a certain breadth ofstyle. Flower beds may be here and there distributed over the lawn, butcare should be taken that it be not too much broken up by them. A fewtrees may be introduced upon the lawn, but they must not be placed soclose together as to prevent the growth of the grass by obstructingeither light or air. No large trees should be allowed to smother up thehouse, particularly on the southern and western sides, for besidesimpeding the circulation through the rooms of the most wholesome windsof this country, they would attract mosquitoes, and give an air ofgloominess to the whole place. 

Natives are too fond of over-crowding their gardens with trees andshrubs and flowers of all sorts, with no regard to individual or generaleffects, with no eye to arrangement of size, form or color; and in thishot and moist climate the consequent exclusion of free air and thenecessary degree of light has a most injurious influence not only uponthe health of the resident but upon vegetation itself. Neither thefinest blossoms nor the finest fruits can be expected from anoverstocked garden. The native malee generally plants his fruit trees soclose together that they impede each other's growth and strength. EveryEnglishman when he enters a native's garden feels how much he couldimprove its productiveness and beauty by a free use of the hatchet. Toomany trees and too much embellishment of a small garden make it lookstill smaller, and even on a large piece of ground they produce confusedand disagreeable effects and indicate an absence of all true judgment. This practice of over-filling a garden is an instance of bad taste, analogous to that which is so conspicuously characteristic of our owncountrymen in India with respect to their apartments, which look morelike an upholsterer's show-rooms or splendid ornament-shops thandrawing-rooms or parlours. There is scarcely space enough to turn inthem without fracturing some frail and costly bauble. Where a garden isover-planted the whole place is darkened, the ground is green and slimy, the grass thin, sickly and straggling, and the trees and shrubsdeficient in freshness and vigor. 

Not only should the native gentry avoid having their flower-borders toothickly filled, --they should take care also that they are not too broad. We ought not to be obliged to leave the regular path and go across thesoft earth of the bed to obtain a sight of a particular shrub or flower. Close and entangled foliage keeps the ground too damp, obstructswholesome air, and harbours snakes and a great variety of other noxiousreptiles. Similar objections suggest the propriety of having no shrubsor flowers or even a grass-plot immediately under the windows and aboutthe doors of the house. A well exposed gravel or brick walk should belaid down on all sides of the house, as a necessary safeguard againstboth moisture and vermin. 

I have spoken already of the unrivalled beauty of English gravel. Itcannot be too much admired. _Kunkur_[120] looks extremely smart for afew weeks while it preserves its solidity and freshness, but it israpidly ground into powder under carriage wheels or blackened byoccasional rain and the permanent moisture of low grounds when onlypartially exposed to the sun and air. Why should not an opulent Rajah orNawaub send for a cargo of beautiful red gravel from the gravel pits atKensington? Any English House of Agency here would obtain it for him. Itwould be cheap in the end, for it lasts at least five times as long asthe kunkur, and if of a proper depth admits of repeated turnings withthe spade, looking on every turn almost as fresh as the day on which itwas first laid down. 

Instead of brick-bat edgings, the wealthy Oriental nobleman might trimall his flower-borders with the green box-plant of England, which wouldflourish I suppose in this climate or in any other. Cobbett in his_English Gardener_ speaks with so much enthusiasm and so much to thepurpose on the subject of box as an edging, that I must here repeat hiseulogium on it. 

The box is at once the most efficient of all possible things, and theprettiest plant that can possibly be conceived; the color of its leaf;the form of its leaf; its docility as to height, width and shape; thecompactness of its little branches; its great durability as a plant; itsthriving in all sorts of soils and in all sorts of aspects; _itsfreshness under the hottest sun_, and its defiance of all shade anddrip: these are the beauties and qualities which, for ages upon ages, have marked it out as the chosen plant for this very important purpose. 

The edging ought to be clipped in the winter or very early in spring onboth sides and at top; a line ought to be used to regulate the movementsof the shears; it ought to be clipped again in the same manner aboutmidsummer; and if there be _a more neat and beautiful thing than this inthe world, all that I can say is, that I never saw that thing_. 

A small green edging for a flower bed can hardly be too _trim_; butlarge hedges with tops and sides cut as flat as boards, and treesfantastically shaped with the shears into an exhibition as full ofincongruities as the wildest dream, have deservedly gone out of fashionin England. Poets and prose writers have agreed to ridicule all verdantsculpture on a large scale. Here is a description of the old topiarygardens. 

 These likewise mote be seen on every side The shapely box, of all its branching pride Ungently shorn, and, with preposterous skill To various beasts, and birds of sundry quill Transformed, and human shapes of monstrous size. 

 * * * * *

 Also other wonders of the sportive shears Fair Nature misadorning; there were found Globes, spiral columns, pyramids, and piers With spouting urns and budding statues crowned; And horizontal dials on the ground In living box, by cunning artists traced, And galleys trim, or on long voyage bound, But by their roots there ever anchored fast. 

_G. West_. 

The same taste for torturing nature into artificial forms prevailedamongst the ancients long after architecture and statuary had beencarried to such perfection that the finest British artists of thesetimes can do nothing but copy and repeat what was accomplished so manyages ago by the people of another nation. Pliny, in his description ofhis Tuscan villa, speaks of some of his trees having been cut intoletters and the forms of animals, and of others placed in such regularorder that they reminded the spectator of files of soldiers. [121] TheDutch therefore should not bear all the odium of the topiary style ofgardening which they are said to have introduced into England and othercountries of Europe. They were not the first sinners against naturaltaste. 

The Hindus are very fond of formally cut hedges and trimmed trees. Allsorts of verdant hedges are in some degree objectionable in a hot moistcountry, rife with deadly vermin. I would recommend ornamental ironrailings or neatly cut and well painted wooden pales, as more airy, light, and cheerful, and less favorable to snakes and centipedes. 

This is the finest country in the world for making gardens speedily. Inthe rainy season vegetation springs up at once, as at the stroke of anEnchanter's wand. The Landscape gardeners in England used to grieve thatthey could hardly expect to live long enough to see the effect of theirdesigns. Such artists would have less reason, to grieve on that accountin this country. Indeed even in England, the source of uneasinessalluded to, is now removed. "The deliberation with which trees grow, "wrote Horace Walpole, in a letter to a friend, "is extremelyinconvenient to my natural impatience. I lament living in so barbarousan age when we are come to so little perfection in gardening. I ampersuaded that 150 years hence it will be as common to remove oaks 150years old as it now is to plant tulip roots. " The writer was not a badprophet. He has not yet been dead much more than half a century and hisexpectations are already more than half realized. Shakespeare could nothave anticipated this triumph of art when he made Macbeth ask

 Who can impress the forest? Bid the tree Unfix his earth-bound root?

The gardeners have at last discovered that the largest (though notperhaps the _oldest_) trees can be removed from one place to anotherwith comparative facility and safety. Sir H. Stewart moved severalhundred lofty trees without the least injury to any of them. And ifbroad and lofty trees can be transplanted in England, how much moreeasily and securely might such a process be effected in the rainy seasonin this country. In half a year a new garden might be made to look likea garden of half a century. Or an old and ill-arranged plantation mightthus be speedily re-adjusted to the taste of the owner. The main objectis to secure a good ball of earth round the root, and the maindifficulty is to raise the tree and remove it. Many most ingeniousmachines for raising a tree from the ground, and trucks for removing it, have been lately invented by scientific gardeners in England. AScotchman, Mr. McGlashen, has been amongst the most successful of latetransplanters. He exhibited one of his machines at Paris to the presentEmperor of the French, and lifted with it a fir tree thirty feet high. The French ruler lavished the warmest commendations on the ingeniousartist and purchased his apparatus at a large price. [122]

Bengal is enriched with a boundless variety of noble trees admirablysuited to parks and pleasure grounds. These should be scattered about aspacious compound with a spirited and graceful irregularity, and sodisposed with reference to the dwelling as in some degree to vary theview of it, and occasionally to conceal it from the visitor driving upthe winding road from the outer gate to the portico. The trees, I mustrepeat, should be so divided as to give them a free growth and admitsufficient light and air beneath them to allow the grass to flourish. Grassless ground under park trees has a look of barrenness, discomfortand neglect, and is out of keeping with the general character of thescene. 

The Banyan (_Ficus Indica or Bengaliensis_)--

 The Indian tree, whose branches downward bent, Take root again, a boundless canopy--

and the Peepul or Pippul (_Ficus Religiosa_) are amongst the finesttrees in this country--or perhaps in the world--and on a very spaciouspleasure ground or park they would present truly magnificent aspects. Colonel Sykes alludes to a Banyan at the village of Nikow in Poonah with68 stems descending from and supporting the branches. This tree is saidto be capable of affording shelter to 20, 000 men. It is a tree of thissort which Milton so well describes. 

 The fig tree, not that kind for fruit renowned, But such as at this day, to Indians known In Malabar or Deccan, spreads her arms Branching so broad and long, a pillared shade, High over arched, and echoing walks between There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat, Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds At loop holes cut through the thickest shade those leaves, They gathered, broad as Amazonian taige; And with what skill they had together sewed, To gird their waste. 

Milton is mistaken as to the size of the leaves of this tree, though hehas given its general character with great exactness. [123]

A remarkable banyan or buri tree, near Manjee, twenty miles west ofPatna, is 375 inches in diameter, the circumference of its shadow atnoon measuring 1116 feet. It has sixty stems, or dropped branches thathave taken root. Under this tree once sat a naked fakir who had occupiedthat situation for 25 years; but he did not continue there the wholeyear, for his vow obliged him to be during the four cold months up tohis neck in the water of the Ganges![124]

It is said that there is a banyan tree near Gombroon on the Persiangulf, computed to cover nearly 1, 700 yards. 

The Banyan tree in the Company's Botanic garden, is a fine tree, but itis of small dimensions compared with those of the trees justmentioned. [125]

The cocoanut tree has a characteristically Oriental aspect and a naturalgrace, but it is not well suited to the ornamental garden or theprincely villa. It is too suggestive of the rudest village scenery, andperhaps also of utilitarian ideas of mere profit, as every poor man whohas half a dozen cocoanut trees on his ground disposes of the produce inthe bazar. 

I would recommend my native friends to confine their clumps of plaintaintrees to the kitchen garden, for though the leaf of the plaintain is aproud specimen of oriental foliage when it is first opened out to thesun, it soon gets torn to shreds by the lightest breeze. The tatteredleaves then dry up and the whole of the tree presents the most beggarlyaspect imaginable. The stem is as ragged and untidy as the leaves. 

The kitchen garden and the orchard should be in the rear of the house. The former should not be too visible from the windows and the latter ison many accounts better at the extremity of the grounds than close tothe house, as we too often find it. A native of high rank should keep asmuch out of sight as possible every thing that would remind a visitorthat any portion of the ground was intended rather for pecuniary profitthan the immediate pleasure of the owner. The people of India do notseem to be sufficiently aware that any sign of parsimony in themanagement of a large park or pleasure ground produces in the mind ofthe visitor an unfavorable impression of the character of the owner. Ihave seen in Calcutta vast mansions of which every little niche andcorner towards the street was let out to very small traders at a fewannas a month. What would the people of England think of an opulentEnglish Nobleman who should try to squeeze a few pence from the poor bydividing the street front of his palace into little pigeon-sheds ofpetty shops for the retail of petty wares? Oh! Princes of India "reformthis altogether. " This sordid saving, this widely published parsimony, is not only not princely, it is not only not decorous, it is positivelydisgusting to every passer-by who himself possesses any right thought orfeeling. 

The Natives seem every day more and more inclined to imitate Europeanfashions, and there are few European fashions, which could be borrowedby the highest or lowest of the people of this country with a morehumanizing and delightful effect than that attention to the exteriorelegance and neatness of the dwelling-house, and that tasteful garnitureof the contiguous ground, which in England is a taste common to theprince and the peasant, and which has made that noble country so full ofthose beautiful homes which surprize and enchant its foreign visitors. 

The climate and soil of this country are peculiarly favorable to thecultivation of trees and shrubs and flowers; and the garden here is atno season of the year without its ornaments. 

The example of the Horticultural Society of India, and the attractionsof the Company's Botanic Garden ought to have created a more generaltaste amongst us for the culture of flowers. Bishop Heber tells us thatthe Botanic Garden here reminded hint more of Milton's description ofthe Garden of Eden than any other public garden, that he had everseen. [126]

There is a Botanic Garden at Serampore. In 1813 it was in charge of Dr. Roxburgh. Subsequently came the amiable and able Dr. Wallich; then thevenerable Dr. Carey was for a time the Officiating Superintendent. Dr. Voigt followed and then one of the greatest of our Anglo-Indianbotanists, Dr. Griffiths. After him came Dr. McLelland, who is at thispresent time counting the teak trees in the forests of Pegu. He wassucceeded by Dr. Falconer who left this country but a few months ago. The garden is now in charge of Dr. Thomson who is said to be anenthusiast in his profession. He explored the region beyond the snowyrange I think with Captain Cunningham, some years ago. With theexceptions of Voigt and Carey, all who have had charge of the garden atSerampore have held at the same time the more important appointment ofSuperintendent of the Company's Botanic Garden at Garden Beach. 

There is a Botanic Garden at Bhagulpore, which owes its origin to MajorNapleton. I have been unable to obtain any information regarding itspresent condition. A good Botanic Garden has been already established inthe Punjab, where there is also an Agricultural and HorticulturalSociety. 

I regret that it should have been deemed necessary to make stupidpedants of Hindu malees by providing them with a classical nomenclaturefor plants. Hindostanee names would have answered the purpose just aswell. The natives make a sad mess of our simplest English names, buttheir Greek must be Greek indeed! A _Quarterly Reviewer_ observes thatMiss Mitford has found it difficult to make the maurandias andalstraemerias and eschxholtzias--the commonest flowers of our moderngarden--look passable even in prose. But what are these, he asks, to thepollopostemonopetalae and eleutheroromacrostemones of Wachendorf, withsuch daily additions as the native name of iztactepotzacuxochitlicohueyo, or the more classical ponderosity of Erisymum Peroffskyanum. 

 --like the verbum Graecum Spermagoraiolekitholakanopolides, Words that should only be said upon holidays, When one has nothing else to do. 

If these names are unpronounceable even by Europeans, what would thepoor Hindu malee make of them? The pedantry of some of our scientificBotanists is something marvellous. One would think that a love offlowers must produce or imply a taste for simplicity and nature in allthings. [127]

As by way of encouragement to the native gardeners--to enable them todispose of the floral produce of their gardens at a fair price--theHorticultural Society has withdrawn from the public the indulgence ofgratuitous supplies of plants, it would be as well if some men of tastewere to instruct these native nursery-men how to lay out their grounds, (as their fellow-traders do at home, ) with some regard to neatness, cleanliness and order. These flower-merchants, and even the common_malees_, should also be instructed, I think, how to make up a decentbouquet, for if it be possible to render the most elegant things in thecreation offensive to the eye of taste, that object is assuredly verycompletely effected by these swarthy artists when they arrange, withsuch worse than Dutch precision and formality, the ill-selected, ill-arranged, and tightly bound treasures of the parterre for theclassical vases of their British masters. I am often vexed to observe theidleness or apathy which suffers such atrocities as these specimens ofIndian taste to disgrace the drawing-rooms of the City of Palaces. This isquite inexcusable in a family where there are feminine hands for thetruly graceful and congenial task of selecting and arranging the dailysupply of garden decorations. A young lady--"herself a fairerflower"--is rarely exhibited to a loving eye in a more delightful point ofview than when her delicate and dainty fingers are so employed. 

If a lovely woman arranging the nosegays and flower-vases, in herparlour, is a sweet living picture, a still sweeter sight does shepresent to us when she is in the garden itself. Milton thus representsthe fair mother of the fair in the first garden:--

 Eve separate he spies. Veil'd in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood, Half spied, so thick the roses blushing round About her glow'd, oft stooping to support Each flower of slender stalk, whose head, though gay, Carnation, purple, azure, or speck'd with gold, Hung drooping unsustain'd; them she upstays Gently with myrtle band, mindless the while Herself, though fairest unsupported flower, From her best prop so far, and storm so nigh. Nearer he drew, and many a walk traversed Of stateliest covert, cedar, pine, or palm; Then voluble and bold, now hid, now seen, Among thick woven arborets, and flowers Imborder'd on each bank, the hand of Eve[128]

_Paradise Lost. Book IX_. 

Chaucer (in "The Knight's Tale, ") describes Emily in her garden asfairer to be seen

 Than is the lily on his stalkie green;

And Dryden, in his modernized version of the old poet, says, At every turn she made a little stand, And thrust among the thorns her lily hand To draw the rose. 

Eve's roses were without thorns--

 "And without thorn the rose, "[129]

It is pleasant to see flowers plucked by the fairest fingers for someelegant or worthy purpose, but it is not pleasant to see them _wasted_. Some people pluck them wantonly, and then fling them away and litter thegarden walks with them. Some idle coxcombs, vain

 Of the nice conduct of a clouded cane, amuse themselves with switching off their lovely heads. "That'svillainous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it. "Lander says

 And 'tis my wish, and over was my way, To let all flowers live freely, and so die. 

Here is a poetical petitioner against a needless destruction of thelittle tenants of the parterre. 

 Oh, spare my flower, my gentle flower, The slender creature of a day, Let it bloom out its little hour, And pass away. 

 So soon its fleeting charms must lie Decayed, unnoticed and o'erthrown, Oh, hasten not its destiny, Too like thine own. 

_Lyte_. 

Those who pluck flowers needlessly and thoughtlessly should be told thatother people like to see them flourish, and that it is as well for everyone to bear in mind the beautiful remark of Lord Bacon that "the breathof flowers is far sweeter in the air than in the hand; for in the air itcomes and goes like the warbling of music. "

The British portion of this community allow their exile to be much moredull and dreary than it need be, by neglecting to cultivate theirgardens, and leaving them entirely to the taste and industry of the_malee_. I never feel half so much inclined to envy the great men ofthis now crowded city the possession of vast but gardenless mansions, (partly blocked up by those of their neighbours, ) as I do to felicitatethe owner of some humbler but more airy and wholesome dwelling in thesuburbs, when the well-sized grounds attached to it have been touchedinto beauty by the tasteful hand of a lover of flowers. 

But generally speaking my countrymen in most parts of India allow theirgrounds to remain in a state which I cannot help characterizing asdisreputable. It is amazing how men or women accustomed to English modesof life can reconcile themselves to that air of neglect, disorder, anddiscomfort which most of their "compounds" here exhibit. 

It would afford me peculiar gratification to find this book read withinterest by my Hindu friends, (for whom, chiefly, it has been written, )and to hear that it has induced some of them to pay more attention tothe ornamental cultivation of their grounds; for it would be difficultto confer upon them a greater blessing than a taste for the innocent andelegant pleasures of the FLOWER-GARDEN. 

SUPPLEMENT. 

SACRED TREES AND SHRUBS OF THE HINDUS. 

The following list of the trees and shrubs held sacred by the Hindus isfrom the friend who furnished me with the list of Flowers used in Hinduceremonies. [130] It was received too late to enable me to include it inthe body of the volume. 

AMALAKI (_Phyllanthus emblica_). --A tree held sacred to Shiva. It has noflowers, and its leaves are in consequence used in worshipping thatdeity as well as Durga, Kali, and others. The natives of Bengal do notlook upon it with any degree of religious veneration, but those of theUpper Provinces annually worship it on the day of the _Shiva Ratri_, which generally falls in the latter end of February or the beginning ofMarch, and on which all the public offices are closed. 

ASWATH-THA (_Ficus Religiosa_). --It is commonly called by Europeans thePeepul tree, by which name, it is known to the natives of the UpperProvinces. The _Bhagavat Gita_ says that Krishna in giving an account ofhis power and glory to Arjuna, before the commencement of the celebratedbattle between the _Kauravas_ and _Pándavas_ at _Kurukshetra_, identified himself with the _Aswath-tha_ whence the natives consider itto be a sacred tree. [131]

BILWA OR SREEFUL (_Aegle marmelos_). --It is the common wood-apple tree, which is held sacred to Shiva, and its leaves are used in worshippinghim as well as Durga, Kali, and others. The _Mahabharat_ says that whenShiva at the request of Krishna and the Pandavas undertook theprotection of their camp at Kurukshetra on the night of the last day ofthe battle, between them and the sons of Dhritarashtra, Aswathama, afriend and follower of the latter, took up a Bilwa tree by its roots andthrew it upon the god, who considering it in the light of an offeringmade to him, was so much pleased with Aswathama that he allowed him toenter the camp, where he killed the five sons of the Pandavas and thewhole of the remnants of their army. Other similar stories are also toldof the Bilwa tree to prove its sacredness, but the one I have givenabove, will be sufficient to shew in what estimation it is held by theHindus. 

BAT (_Ficus indica_). --Is the Indian Banian tree, supposed to beimmortal and coeval with the gods; whence it is venerated as one ofthem. It is also supposed to be a male tree, while the Aswath-tha orPeepul is looked upon as a female, whence the lower orders of the peopleplant them side by side and perform the ceremony of matrimony with aview to connect them as man and wife. [132]

DURVA' (_Panicum dactylon_). --A grass held to be sacred to Vishnu, whoin his seventh _Avatara_ or incarnation, as Rama, the son of Dasaratha, king of Oude, assumed the colour of the grass, which is used in allreligious ceremonies of the Hindus. It has medicinal properties. 

KA'STA' (_Saccharum spontaneum_). --It is a large species of grass. Inthose ceremonies which the Hindus perform after the death of a person, or with a view to propitiate the Manes of their ancestors this grass isused whenever the Kusa is not to be had. When it is in flower, thenatives look upon the circumstance as indicative of the close of therains. 

KU'SA (_Poa cynosuroides_). --The grass to which, reference has been madeabove. It is used in all ceremonies performed in connection with thedeath of a person or having for their object the propitiation of theManes of ancestors. 

MANSA-SHIJ (_Euphorbia ligularia_). --This plant is supposed by thenatives of Bengal to be sacred to _Mansa_, the goddess of snakes, and isworshipped by them on certain days of the months of June, July, August, and September, during which those reptiles lay their eggs and breedtheir young. The festival of Arandhana, which is more especiallyobserved by the lower orders of the people, is in honor of the GoddessMansa. [133]

NA'RIKELA (_Coccos nucifera_). --The Cocoanut tree, which is supposed topossess the attributes of a Brahmin and is therefore held sacred. [134]

NIMBA (_Melia azadirachta_). --A tree from the trunk of which the idol atPooree was manufactured, and which is in consequence identified with theribs of Vishnu. [135]

TU'LSI (_Ocymum_). --The Indian Basil, of which there are severalspecies, such as the _Ram Tulsi_ (ocymum gratissimum) the _BabooyeTulsi_ (ocymum pilosum) the _Krishna Tulsi_ (osymum sanctum) and thecommon _Tulsi_ (ocymum villosum) all of which possess medicinalproperties, but the two latter are held to be sacred to Vishnu and usedin his worship. The _Puranas_ say that Krishna assumed the form of_Saukasura_, and seduced his wife Brinda. When he was discovered hemanifested his extreme regard for her by turning her into the _Tulsi_and put the leaves upon his head. [136]

APPENDIX. 

 * * * * *

THE FLOWER GARDEN IN INDIA. 

The following practical directions and useful information respecting theIndian Flower-Garden, are extracted from the late Mr. Speede's _NewIndian Gardener_, with the kind permission of the publishers, Messrs. Thacker Spink and Company of Calcutta. 

THE SOIL. 

So far as practicable, the soil should be renewed every year, by turningin vegetable mould, river sand, and well rotted manure to the depth ofabout a foot; and every second or third year the perennials should betaken up, and reduced, when a greater proportion of manure may be added, or what is yet better, the whole of the old earth removed, and new mouldsubstituted. 

It used to be supposed that the only time for sowing annuals or otherplants, (in Bengal) is the beginning of the cold weather, but althoughthis is the case with a great number of this class of plants, it is apopular error to think it applies to all, since there are many that growmore luxuriantly if sown at other periods. The Pink, for instance, maybe sown at any time, Sweet William thrives best if sown in March orApril, the variegated and light colored Larkspurs should not be put inuntil December, the Dahlia germinates most successfully in the rains, and the beautiful class of Zinnias are never seen to perfection unlesssown in June. 

This is the more deserving of attention, as it holds out the prospect ofmaintaining our Indian flower gardens, in life and beauty, throughoutthe whole year, instead of during the confined period hithertoattempted. 

The several classes of flowering plants are divided into PERENNIAL, BIENNIAL, and ANNUAL. 

PERENNIALS. 

The HERON'S BILL, Erodium; the STORK'S BILL, Pelargonium; and theCRANE'S BILL, Geranium; all popularly known under the common designationof Geranium, which gives name to the family, are well known, and arefavorite plants, of which but few of the numerous varieties are foundin this country. 

Of the first of these there are about five and twenty fixed species, besides a vast number of varieties; of which there are here found onlythe following:--

The _Flesh-colored Heron's bill_, E. Incarnatum, is a pretty plant ofabout six inches high, flowering in the hot weather, with flesh-coloredblossoms, but apt to become rather straggling. 

Of the hundred and ninety species of the second class, independently oftheir varieties, there are few indeed that have found their way here, only thirteen, most of which are but rarely met with. 

The _Rose-colored Stork's bill_, P. Roseum, is tuberous rooted, and inApril yields pretty pink flowers. 

The _Brick-colored Stork's bill_, P. Lateritium, affords red flowers inMarch and April. 

The _Botany Bay Stork's bill_, P. Australe, is rare, but may be made togive a pretty red flower in March. 

The _Common horse-shoe Stork's bill_, P. Zonale, is often seen, andyields its scarlet blossoms freely in April. 

The _Scarlet-flowered Stork's bill_, P. Inquinans, affords a very fineflower towards the latter end of the cold weather, and approaching tothe hot; it requires protection from the rains, as it is naturally of asucculent nature, and will rot at the joints if the roots become at allsodden: many people lay the pots down on their sides to prevent this, which is tolerably successful to their preservation. 

The _Sweet-Scented Stork's bill_, P. Odoratissimum, with pink flowers, but it does not blossom freely, and the branches are apt to grow longand straggling. 

The _Cut-leaved Stork's bill_, P. Incisum, has small flowers, the petalsbeing long and thin, and the flowers which appear in April are white, marked with pink. 

The _Ivy-leaved Stork's bill_, P. Lateripes, has not been known to yieldflowers in this country. 

The _Rose-scented Stork's bill_, P. Capitatum, the odour of the leavesis very pleasant, but it is very difficult to force into blossom. 

The _Ternate Stork's bill_, P. Ternatum, has variegated pink flowers inApril. 

The _Oak-leaved Stork's bill_, P. Quercifolium, is much esteemed for thebeauty of its leaves, but has not been known to blossom in this climate. 

The _Tooth-leaved Stork's bill_, P. Denticulatum, is not a freeflowerer, but may with care be made to bloom in April. 

The _Lemon, or Citron-scented Stork's bill_, P. Gratum, grows freely, and has a pretty appearance, but does not blossom. 

Of the second class of these plants the forty-eight species have onlythree representatives. 

The _Aconite-leaved Crane's bill_, G. Aconiti-folium, is a pretty plant, but rare, yielding its pale blue flowers with difficulty. 

The _Wallich's Crane's bill_ G. Wallichianum, indigenous to Nepal, having pale pink blossoms and rather pretty foliage, flowering in Marchand April; but requiring protection in the succeeding hot weather, andthe beginning of the rains, as it is very susceptible of heat, or excessof moisture. 

_Propagation_--may be effected by seed to multiply, or produce freshvarieties, but the ordinary mode of increasing the different sorts is bycuttings, no plant growing more readily by this mode. These should betaken off at a joint where the wood is ripening, at which point the rootfibres are formed, and put into a pot with a compost of one part gardenmould, one part vegetable mould, and one part sand, and then keptmoderately moist, in the shade, until they have formed strong rootfibres, when they may be planted out. The best method is to plant eachcutting in a separate pot of the smallest size. The germinating of theseeds will be greatly promoted by sinking the pots three parts of theirdepth in a hot bed, keeping them moist and shaded and until theygerminate. 

_Soil, &c. _ A rich garden mould, composed of light loam, rather sandythan otherwise, with very rotten dung, is desirable for this shrub. 

_Culture_. Most kinds are rapid and luxurious growers, and it isnecessary to pay them constant attention in pruning or nipping theextremities of the shoots, or they will soon become ill-formed andstraggling. This is particularly requisite during the rains, when heatand moisture combine to increase their growth to excess; allowing themto enjoy the full influence of the sun during the whole of the coldweather, and part of the hot. At the close of the rains, the plants hadbetter be put out into the open ground, and closely pruned, the shootstaken off affording an ample supply of cuttings for multiplying theplants; this putting out will cause them to throw up strong healthyshoots and rich blossoms; but as the hot weather approaches, or in thebeginning of March, they must be re-placed in moderate sized pots, witha compost similar to that required for cuttings and placed in the plantshed, as before described. The earth in the pots should be covered withpebbles, or pounded brick of moderate size, which prevents theaccumulation of moss or fungi. Geraniums should at no time be overwatered, and must at all seasons be allowed a free ventilation. 

There is no doubt that if visitors from this to the Cape, would pay alittle attention to the subject, the varieties might be greatlyincreased, and that without much trouble, as many kinds may be producedfreely by seed, if brought to the country fresh, and sown immediately onarrival; young plants also in well glazed cases would not take up muchspace in some of the large vessels coming from thence. 

The ANEMONE has numerous varieties, and is, in England, a very favoriteflower, but although A. Cernua is a native of Japan, and many varietiesare indigenous to the Cape, it is very rare here. 

The _Double anemone_ is the most prized, but there are several _Single_and _Half double_ kinds which are very handsome. The stem of a goodanemone should be eight or nine inches in height, with a strong uprightstalk. The flower ought not to be less than seven inches incircumference, the outer row of petals being well rounded, flat, andexpanding at the base, turning up with a full rounded edge, so as toform a well shaped cup, within which, in the double kinds, should arisea large group of long small petals reverted from the centre, andregularly overlapping each other; the colors clear, each shade beingdistinct in such as are variegated. 

The _Garden, or Star Wind flower_, A. Hortensis, _Boostan afrooz_, isanother variety, found in Persia, and brought thence to Upper India, ofa bright scarlet color; a blue variety has also blossomed in Calcutta, and was exhibited at the Show of February, 1847, by Mrs. Macleod, towhom Floriculture is indebted for the introduction of many beautifulexotics heretofore new to India. But it is to be hoped this handsomespecies of flowering plants will soon be more extensively found undercultivation. 

_Propagation_. Seed can hardly be expected to succeed in this country, as even in Europe it fails of germinating; for if not sown immediatelythat it is ripe, the length of journey or voyage would inevitablydestroy its power of producing. Offsets of the tubers therefore are theonly means that are left, and these should not be replanted until theyhave been a sufficient time out of the ground, say a month or so, tobecome hardened, nor should they be put into the earth until they havedried, or the whole offset will rot by exposure of the newly fracturedside to the moisture of the earth. The tubers should be selected whichare plump and firm, as well as of moderate size, the larger ones beinggenerally hollow; these may be obtained in good order from Hobart Town. 

_Soil, &c. _ A strong rich loamy soil is preferable, having aconsiderable portion of well rotted cow-dung, with a little leaf mould, dug to a depth of two feet, and the beds not raised too high, as it isdesirable to preserve moisture in the subsoil; if in pots, this iseffected by keeping a saucer of water under them continually, the potmust however be deep, or the fibres will have too much wet; an open airysituation is desirable. 

_Culture_. When the plant appears above ground the earth must be pressedwell down around the root, as the crowns and tubers are injured byexposure to dry weather, and the plants should be sheltered from theheat of the sun, but not so as to confine the air; they require themorning and evening sun to shine on them, particularly the former. 

The IRIS is a handsome plant, attractive alike from the variety and thebeauty of its blossoms; some of them are also used medicinally. Allvarieties produce abundance of seed, in which form the plant might withgreat care be introduced into this country. 

The _Florence Iris_, I. Florentina, _Ueersa_, is a large variety, growing some two feet in height, the flower being white, and produced inthe hot weather. 

The _Persian Iris_ I. Persica, _Hoobur_, is esteemed not only for itshandsome blue and purple flowers, but also for its fragrance, blossomingin the latter part of the cold weather; one variety has blue and yellowblossoms. 

The _Chinese Iris_, I. Chinensis, _Soosun peelgoosh_, in a small sizedvariety, but has very pretty blue and purple flowers in the beginning ofthe hot weather. 

_Propagation_. Besides seed, which should be sown in drills, at theclose of the rains, in a sandy soil, it may be produced by offsets. 

_Soil, &c. _ Almost any kind of soil suits the Iris, but the best flowersare obtained from a mixture of sandy loam, with leaf mould, the Persiankind requiring a larger proportion of sand. 

_Culture_. Little after culture is required, except keeping the bedsclear from weeds, and occasionally loosening the earth. But the rootsmust be taken, up every two, or at most three years, and replanted, after having been kept to harden for a month or six weeks; the properseason for doing this being when the leaves decay after blossoming. 

The TUBEROSE, Polianthes, is well deserving of culture, but it is not byany means a rare plant, and like many indigenous odoriferous flowers, has rather too strong an odour to be borne near at hand, and it isconsidered unwholesome in a room. 

The _Common Tuberose_, P. Tuberosa, _Chubugulshubboo_, being a native ofIndia thrives in almost any soil, and requires no cultivation: it ismultiplied by dividing the roots. It flowers at all times of the year inbunches of white flowers with long sepals. 

The _Double Tuberose_, P. Florepleno, is very rich in appearance, and ofmore delicate fragrance, although still too powerful for the room. Crowsare great destroyers of the blossoms, which they appear fond of pecking. This variety is more rare, and the best specimens have been obtainedfrom Hobart Town. It is rather more delicate and requires more attentionin culture than the indigenous variety, and should be earthed up, so asto prevent water lodging around the stem. 

The LOBELIA is a brilliant class of flowers which may be greatlyimproved by careful cultivation. 

The _Splendid Lobelia_, L. Splendens, is found in many gardens, and is ashowy scarlet flower, well worthy of culture. 

The _Pyramidal Lobelia_, L. Pyramidalis, is a native of Nepal, and is amodest pretty flower, of a purple color. 

_Propagation_--is best performed by offsets, suckers, or cuttings, butseeds produce good strong plants, which may with care, be made toimprove. 

_Soil, &c. _--A moist, sandy soil is requisite for them, the smallvarieties especially delighting in wet ground. Some few of this familyare annuals, and the roots of no varieties should remain more than threeyears without renewal, as the blossoms are apt to deteriorate; they allflower during the rains. 

The PITCAIRNIA is a very handsome species, having long narrow leaves, with, spined edges and throwing up blossoms in upright spines. 

The _Long Stamened Pitcairnia_, P. Staminea, is a splendid scarletflower, lasting long in blossom, which, appears in July or August, andcontinues till December. 

The _Scarlet Pitcairnia_, P. Bromeliaefolia, is also a fine rich scarletflower, but blossoming somewhat sooner, and may be made to continueabout a month later. 

_Propagation_--is by dividing the roots, or by suckers, which is bestperformed at the close of the rains. 

_Soil, &c. _ A sandy peat is the favorite soil of this plant, whichshould be kept very moist. 

The DAHLIA, Dahlia; a few years since an attempt was made to rename thisbeautiful and extensive family and to call it Georgina, but it failed, and it is still better known throughout the world by its old name thanthe new. It was long supposed that the Dahlia was only found indigenousin Mexico, but Captain Kirke some few years back brought to the noticeof the Horticultural Society, that it was to be met with in greatabundance in Dheyra Dhoon, producing many varieties both single anddouble; and he has from time to time sent down quantities of seed, whichhave greatly assisted its increase in all parts of India. It has alsobeen found in Nagpore. 

A good Dahlia is judged of by its form, size, and color. In respect tothe first of these its _form_ should be perfectly round, without anyinequalities of projecting points of the petals, or being notched, orirregular. These should also be so far revolute that the side viewshould exhibit a perfect semicircle in its outline, and the eye orprolific disc, in the centre should be entirely concealed. There hasbeen recently introduced into this country a new variety, all the petalsof which are quilled, which has a very handsome appearance. 

In _size_ although of small estimation if the other qualities aredefective, it is yet of some consideration, but the larger flowers areapt to be wanting in that perfect hemispherical form that is so muchadmired. 

The _color_ is of great importance to the perfection of the flower; ofthose that are of one color this should be clear, unbroken, anddistinct; but when mixed hues are sought, each color should be clearlyand distinctly defined without any mingling of shades, or running intoeach other. Further, the flowers ought to be erect so as to exhibit theblossom in the fullest manner to the view. The most usual colors of theimported double Dahlias, met with in India, are crimson, scarlet, orange, purple, and white. Amongst those raised from seed from. DheyraDhoon[137] of the double kind, there are of single colors, crimson, deepcrimson approaching to maroon, deep lilac, pale lilac, violet, pink, light purple, canary color, yellow, red, and white; and of mixed colors, white and pink, red and yellow, and orange and white: the single ones ofgood star shaped flowers and even petals being of crimson, puce, lilac, pale lilac, white, and orange. Those from Nagpore seed have yielded, double flowers of deep crimson, lilac, and pale purple, amongst singlecolors; lilac and blue, and red and yellow of mixed shades; and singleflowered, crimson, and orange, with mixed colors of lilac and yellow, and lilac and white. 

_Propagation_--is by dividing the roots, by cuttings, by suckers, or byseed; the latter is generally resorted to, where new varieties aredesired. Mr. George A. Lake, in an article on this subject (_Gardeners'Magazine_, 1833) says: "I speak advisedly, and from, experience, when Iassert that plants raised from cuttings do not produce equally perfectflowers, in regard to size, form, and fulness, with those produced byplants grown from division of tubers;" and he more fully shews inanother part of the same paper, that this appears altogether conformableto reason, as the cutting must necessarily for a long period want thatstore of starch, which is heaped up in the full grown tuber for thenutriment of the plant. This objection however might be met by notallowing the cuttings to flower in the season when they are struck. 

To those who are curious in the cultivation of this handsome species, itmay be well to know how to secure varieties, especially of mixed colors;for this purpose it is necessary to cover the blossoms intended forfecundation with fine gauze tied firmly to the foot stalk, and when itexpands take the pollen from the male flowers with a camel's hairpencil, and touch with it each floret of the intended bearing flower, tying the gauze again over it, and keeping it on until the petals arewithered. The operation requires to be performed two or three successivedays, as the florets do not expand together. 

_Soil &c. _ They thrive best in a rich loam, mixed with sand; but shouldnot be repeated too often on the same spot, as they exhaust the soilconsiderably. 

_Culture_. The Dahlia requires an open, airy position unsheltered bytrees or walls, the plants should be put out where they are to blossom, immediately on the cessation of the rains, at a distance of three feetapart, either in rows or in clumps, as they make a handsome show in amass; and as they grow should be trimmed from the lower shoots, to abouta foot in height, and either tied carefully to a stake, or, what isbetter, surrounded by a square or circular trellis, about five feet inheight. As the buds form they should be trimmed off, so as to leave butone on each stalk, this being the only method by which full, large, andperfectly shaped blossoms are obtained. Some people take up the tubersevery year in February or March, but this is unnecessary. The plantsblossom in November and December in the greatest perfection, but maywith attention be continued from the beginning of October to the end ofFebruary. 

Those plants which are left in the ground during the whole year shouldhave their roots opened immediately on the close of the rains, thesuperabundant or decayed tubers, and all suckers being removed, andfresh earth filled in. The earth should always be heaped up high aroundthe stems, and it is a good plan to surround each plant with a smalltrench to be filled daily with water so as to keep the stem and leavesdry. 

The PINK, Dianthus, _Kurunful_, is a well known species of greatvariety, and acknowledged beauty. 

The _Carnation_, D. Caryophyilus, _Gul kurunful_, is by this timenaturalized in India, adding both beauty and fragrance to the parterre;the only variety however that has yet appeared in the country is theclove, or deep crimson colored: but the success attending the culture ofthis beautiful flower is surely an encouragement to the introduction ofother sorts, there being above four hundred kinds, especially as theymay be obtained from seed or pipings sent packed in moss, which willremain in good condition for two or three months, provided no moisturebeyond what is natural to the moss, have access to them. 

The distinguishing marks of a good carnation may be thus described: thestem should be tall and straight, strong, elastic, and having rathershort foot stalks, the flower should be fully three inches in diameterwith large well formed petals, round and uncut, long and broad, so as tostand out well, rising about half an inch above the calyx, and then theouter ones turned off in a horizontal direction, supporting those of thecentre, decreasing gradually in size, the whole forming a near approachto a hemisphere. It flowers in April and May. 

_Propagation_--is performed either by seed, by layers, or by pipings;the best time for making the two latter is when the plant is in fullblossom, as they then root more strongly. In this operation the lowerleaves should be trimmed off, and an incision made with a sharp knife, by entering the knife about a quarter of an inch below the joint, passing it through its centre; it must then be pegged down with a hookedpeg, and covered with about a quarter of an inch of light rich mould; ifkept regularly moist, the layers will root in about a month's time: theymay then be taken off and planted out into pots in a shelteredsituation, neither exposed to excessive rain, nor sun, until they shootout freely. 

Pipings (or cuttings as they are called in other plants) must be takenoff from a healthy, free growing plant, and should have two completejoints, being cut off horizontally close under the second one; theextremities of the leaves must also be shortened, leaving the wholelength of each piping two inches; they should be thrown into a basin ofsoft water for a few minutes to plump them, and then planted out inmoist rich mould, not more than an inch being inserted therein, andslightly watered to settle the earth close around them; after this thesoil should be kept moderately moist, and never exposed to the sun. Seedis seldom resorted to except to introduce new varieties. 

_Soil, &c. _--A mixture of old well rotted stable manure, with one-thirdthe quantity of good fine loamy earth, and a small portion of sand, isthe best soil for carnations. 

_Culture_. --The plants should be sheltered from too heavy a fall ofrain, although they require to be kept moderately moist, and desire anairy situation. When the flower stalks are about six or eight inches inheight, they must be supported by sticks, and, if large full blossoms besought for, all the buds, except the leading one, must be removed with apair of scissors; the calyx must also be frequently examined, as it isapt to burst, and if any disposition to this should appear, it will bewell to assist the uniform expansion by cutting the angles with a sharppenknife. If, despite all precautions the calyx burst and let out thepetals, it should be carefully tied with thread, or a circular piece ofcard having a hole in the centre should be drawn over the bud so as tohold the petals together, and display them to advantage by the contrastof the white color. 

_Insects, &c. _--The most destructive are the red, and the large blackant, which attack, and frequently entirely destroy the roots before youcan be aware of its approach; powdered turmeric should therefore beconstantly kept strewed around this flower. 

The _Common Pink_, Dianthus Chinensis, _Kurunful_, and the _SweetWilliam_, D: barbatus, are pretty, ornamental plants, and may bepropagated and cultivated in the same way as the carnation, save thatthey do not require so much care, or so good a soil, any garden mouldsufficing; they are also more easily produced from seed. 

The VIOLET, Viola, _Puroos_, is a class containing many beautifulflowers, some highly ornamental and others odoriferous. 

The _Sweet Violet_, V. Odorata, _Bunufsh'eh_, truly the poet's flower. It is a deserved favorite for its delightful fragrance as well as itsdelicate and retiring purple flowers; there is also a white variety, butit is rare in this country, as is also the double kind. This blossoms inthe latter part of the cold weather. 

The _Shrubby Violet_, V. Arborescens, or suffruticosa, _Rutunpuroos_, grows wild in the hills, and is a pretty blue flower, but wants thefragrance of the foregoing. 

The _Dog's Violet_, V. Canina, is also indigenous in the hills. 

_Propagation_. --All varieties may be propagated by seed, but the mostusual method is by dividing the roots, or taking off the runners. 

_Soil, &c. _--The natural _habitat_ of the indigenous varieties is thesides and interstices of the rocks, where leaf mould, and micaceoussand, has accumulated and moisture been retained, indicating that thekind of soil favorable to the growth of this interesting little plant isa rich vegetable mould, with an admixture of sand, somewhat moist, buthaving a dry subsoil. 

_Culture_. --It would not be safe to trust this plant in the open groundexcept during a very short period of the early part of the cold weather, when the so doing will give it strength to form blossoms. In January, however, it should be re-potted, filling the pots about half-full ofpebbles or stone-mason's cuttings, over which should be placed good richvegetable mould, mixed with a large proportion of sand, covering with athin layer of the same material as has been put into the bottom of thepot; a top dressing of ground bones is said to improve the fineness ofthe blossoms. They should not be kept too dry, but at the same timewatered cautiously, as too much of either heat or moisture destroys theplants. 

The _Pansy_ or _Heart's-ease_, V. Tricolor, _Kheeroo, kheearee_, derivesits first name from the French _Pensée_. It was known amongst the earlyChristians by the name of _Flos Trinitatis_, and worn as a symbol oftheir faith. The high estimation which it has of late years attained inGreat Britain as a florist's flower has, in the last two or three years, extended itself to this country. There are nearly four hundredvarieties, a few of which only have been found here. 

_The characters of a fine Heart's-ease_ are, the flower being wellexpanded, offering a flat, or if any thing, rather a revolute surface, and the petals so overlapping each other as to form a circle without anybreak in the outline. These should be as nearly as possible of a size, and the greater length of the two upper ones concealed by the coveringof those at the side in such manner as to preserve the appearance ofjust proportion: the bottom petal being broad and two-lobed, and wellexpanded, not curving inwards. The eye should be of moderate, or rathersmall size, and much additional beauty is afforded, if the pencilling isso arranged as to give the appearance of a dark angular spot. The colorsmust also be clear, bright, and even, not clouded or indistinct. Undoubtedly the handsomest kinds are those in which the two upper petalsare of deep purple and the triade of a shade less: in all, the flowerstalk should be long and stiff. The plant blossoms in this country inFebruary and March, although it is elsewhere a summer flower. 

_Propagation_. --In England the moat usual methods are dividing theroots, layers, or cuttings from the stem, and these are certainly theonly sure means of preserving a good variety; but it is almostimpossible in India to preserve the plant through the hot weather, andtherefore it is more generally treated as an annual, and raised everyyear from seed, which should be sown at the close of the rains; ashowever their growth, in India is as yet little known, most people putthe imported seed into pots as soon as it arrives, lest the climateshould deteriorate its germinating power, as it is well known, that evenin Europe the seed should be sown as soon as possible after ripening. Itwill be well also to assist its sprouting with a little bottom heat, byplunging the pot up to its rim in a hot bed. American seed should beavoided as the blossoms are little to be depended on, and generallyyield small, ill-formed flowers, clouded and run in color. 

_Soil, &c. _--This should be moist, and the best compost is formed ofone-sixth of well rotted dung from an old hot bed, and five-sixth ofloam, or one-fourth of leaf mould and the remainder loam, but in eithercase well incorporated and exposed for some time previous to use to theaction of the sun and air by frequent turning. 

_Culture_. --A shady situation is to be preferred, especially for thedark varieties which assume a deeper hue if so placed. But it has beenobserved by Mackintosh, that "the light varieties bloomed lighter in theshade, and darker in the sunshine--a very remarkable effect, for which Icannot account. " The plants must at all times be kept moist, never beingallowed to become dry, and should be so placed as to receive only themorning sun before ten o'clock. Under good management the plants willextend a foot or more in height, and have a handsome appearance iftrained over a circular trellis of rattan twisted. When they rise toohigh, or it is desirable to fill out with side shoots, the tops must bepinched off, and larger flowers will be obtained if the flower buds arethinned out where they appear crowded. 

These plants look very handsome when grown in large masses of severalvarieties, but the seeds of those grown in this manner should not bemade use of, as they are sure to sport; to prevent which it is alsonecessary that the plants which it is desired to perpetuate in thismanner should be isolated at a distance from any other kind, and itwould be advisable to cover them with thin gauze to prevent impregnationfrom others by means of the bees and other insects. For show flowers thebranches should be kept down, and not suffered to straggle out ormultiply; these will also be improved by pegging the longer branchesdown under the soil, and thereby increasing the number of the rootfibres, hence adding to their power of accumulating nourishment, and notallowing them to expand beyond a limited number of blossoms, and thoseretained should be as nearly equal in age as possible. 

The HYDRANGEA is a hardy plant requiring a good deal of moisture, beingby nature an inhabitant of the marshes. 

The _Changeable Hydrangea_, H. Hortensis, is of Chinese origin and apretty growing plant that deserves to be a favorite; it blossoms inbunches of flowers at the extremities of the branches which arenaturally pink, but in old peat earth, or having a mixture of alum, oriron filings, the color changes to blue. It blooms in March and April. 

_Propagation_ may be effected by cuttings, which root freely, or bylayers. 

_Soil, &c. _--Loam and old leaf mould, or peat with a very smalladmixture of sand suits this plant. Their growth is much promoted bybeing turned out, for a month or two in the rains, into the open ground, and then re-potted with new soil, the old being entirely removed fromthe roots: and to make it flower well it must not be encumbered with toomany branches. 

The HOYA is properly a trailing plant, rooting at the joints, but havebeen generally cultivated here as a twiner. 

The _Fleshy-leaved Hoya_, H. Carnosa, is vulgarly called the wax flowerfrom its singular star shaped-whitish pink blossoms, with a deep coloredvarnished centre, having more the appearance of a wax model than aproduction of nature. The flowers appear in globular groups and have avery handsome appearance from the beginning of April to the close of therains. 

The _Green flowered Hoya_, H. Viridiflora, _Nukchukoree, teel kunga_, with its green flowers in numerous groups, is also an interesting plant, it is esteemed also for its medicinal properties. 

_Propagation_. --Every morsel of these plants, even a piece of the leaf, will form roots if put in the ground, cuttings therefore strike veryfreely, as do layers, the joints naturally throwing out root-fibresalthough not in the earth. 

_Soil, &c. _--A light loam moderately dry is the best for these plants, which look well if trained round a circular trellis in the open border. 

The STAPELIA is an extensive genus of low succulent plants withoutleaves, but yielding singularly handsome star-shaped flowers; they areof African origin growing in the sandy deserts, but in a natural statevery diminutive being increased to their present condition and numerousvarieties by cultivation, they mostly have an offensive smell whencesome people call them the carrion plant. They deserve more attentionthan has hitherto been shown to them in India. 

The _Variegated Stapelia_, S. Variegata, yields a flower in November, the thick petals of which are yellowish green with brown irregularspots, it is the simplest of the family. 

The _Revolute-flowered Stapelia_, S. Revoluta, has a green blossom veryfully sprinkled with deep purple, it flowers at the close of the rains. 

The _Toad Stapelia_, S. Bufonia, as its name implies, is marked like theback of the reptile from whence it has its name; it flowers in Decemberand January. 

The _Hairy Stapelia_, S. Hirsuta, is a very handsome variety, being, like the rest, of green and brown, but the entire flower covered withfine filaments or hairs of a light purple, at various periods of theyear. 

The _Starry Stapelia_, S. Stellaris, is perhaps the most beautiful ofthe whole, being like the last covered with hairs, but they are of abright pinkish blue color; there appears to be no fixed period forflowering. 

The HAIRY CARRULLUMA, C. Crinalata, belongs to the same family as theforegoing species, which it much resembles, except that it blossoms ingood sized globular groups of small star-shaped flowers of green, studded and streaked with brown. 

_Propagation_ is exceedingly easy with each of the last named twospecies; as the smallest piece put in any soil that is moist, withoutbeing saturated, will throw out root fibres. 

_Soil, &c. _--This should consist of one-half sand, one-fourth gardenmould, and one-fourth well rotted stable manure. The pots in which theyare planted should have on the top a layer of pebbles, or broken brick. All the after culture they require is to keep them within bounds, removing decayed portions as they appear and avoiding their having toomuch moisture. 

The perennial border plants, besides those included above, are verynumerous; the directions for cultivation admitting, from theirsimilarity, of the following general rules:--

_Propagation_. --Although some few will admit of other modes ofmultiplication, the most usually successful are by seed, by suckers, orby offsets, and by division of the root, the last being applicable tonine-tenths of the hardy herbaceous plants, and performed either bytaking up the whole plant and gently separating it by the hand, or byopening the ground near the one to be divided, and cutting off a part ofthe roots and crown to make new the sections being either at onceplanted where they are to stand, or placed for a short period in anursery; the best time for this operation is the beginning of the rains. Offsets or suckers being rapidly produced during the rains, will be bestremoved towards their close, at which period, also, seed should be sownto benefit by the moisture remaining in the soil. The depth at whichseeds are buried in the earth varies with their magnitude, all the peaor vetch kind will bear being put at a depth of from half an inch to oneinch; but with the smallest seeds it will be sufficient to scatter them, on the sifted soil, beating them down with, the palm of the hand. 

_Culture_. --Transplanting this description of plants will be performedto best advantage during the rains. The general management iscomprehended in stirring the soil occasionally in the immediate vicinityof the roots; taking up overgrown plants, reducing and replanting them, for which the rains is the best time; renewing the soil around theroots; sticking the weak plants; pruning and trimming others, so as toremove all weakly or decayed parts. 

Once a year, before the rains, the whole border should be dug one or twospits deep, adding soil from the bottom of a tank or river; and again, in the cold weather, giving a moderate supply of well rotted stablemanure, and leaf mould in equal portions. 

Crossing is considered as yet in its infancy even in England, and has, except with the Marvel of Peru, hardly even been attempted in thiscountry. The principles under which this is effected are fully explainedat page 27 of the former part of this work; but it may also be done inthe more woody kinds by grafting one or more of the same genus on thestock of another, the seed of which would give a new variety. 

Saving seed requires great attention in India, as it should be takenduring the hot weather if possible; to effect which the earliestblossoms must be preserved for this purpose. With some kinds it will beadvisable to assist nature by artificial impregnation with a camel hairpencil, carefully placing the pollen on the point of the stigma. Theseeds should be carefully dried in some open, airy place, but notexposed to the sun, care being afterwards taken that they shall bedeposited in a dry place, not close or damp, whence the usual plan ofstoring the seeds in bottles is not advisable. 

 * * * * *

BULBS. 

Bulbs have not as yet received that degree of attention in this country(India) that they deserve, and they may be considered to form a separateclass, requiring a mode of culture differing from that of others. Theirslow progress has discouraged many and a supposition that they will onlythrive in the Upper Provinces, has deterred others from attempting togrow them, an idea which has also been somewhat fostered by theHorticultural Society, when they received a supply from England, havingsent the larger portion of them to their subscribers in the North WestProvinces. 

The NARCISSUS will thrive with care, in all parts of India, and it is amatter of surprise that it is not more frequently met with. A goodNarcissus should have the six petals well formed, regularly and evenlydisposed, with a cup of good form, the colors distinct and clear, raisedon strong erect stems, and flowering together. 

The _Polyanthes Narcissus_, N. Tazetta, _Narjus, hur'huft nusreen_, isof two classes, white and sulphur colored, but these have sported intoalmost endless varieties, especially amongst the Dutch, with whom thisand most other bulbs are great favorites. It flowers in February andMarch. 

The _Poet's Narcissus_, N. Poeticus, _Moozhan, zureenkuda_ is thefavorite, alike for its fragrance and its delicate and gracefulappearance, the petals being white and the cup a deep yellow: it flowersfrom the beginning of January to the end of March and thrives well. Thefirst within the recollection of the author, in Bengal, was at Patna, nearly twelve years since, in possession of a lady there under whosecare it blossomed freely in the shade, in the month of February. 

The _Daffodil_, N. Pseudo-narcissus, _Khumsee buroonk_, is of paleyellow, and some of the double varieties are very handsome. 

_Propagation_ is by offsets, pulled off after the bulbs are taken out ofthe ground, and sufficiently hardened. 

_Soil, &c. _--The best is a fresh, light loam with some well rotted cowdung for the root fibres to strike into, and the bottom of the pot tothe height of one-third filled with pebbles or broken brick. They willnot blossom until the fifth year, and to secure strong flowers the bulbsshould only be taken up every third year. An eastern aspect where theyget only the morning sun, is to be preferred. The PANCRATIUM is ahandsome species that thrives well, some varieties being indigenous, andothers fully acclimated, generally flowering about May or June. 

The _One-flowered Pancratium_, P. Zeylanicum, is rather later than therest in flowering and bears a curiously formed white flower. 

The _Two-flowered Pancratium_, P. Triflorum, _Sada kunool_, was so namedby Roxburg, and gives a white flower in groups of threes, as its nameimplies. 

The _Oval leaved pancratium_, P. Ovatum, although of West Indian origin, is so thoroughly acclimated as to be quite common in the Indian Garden. 

_Propagation_. --The best method is by suckers or offsets which arethrown out very freely by all the varieties. 

_Soil, &c. _--Any common garden soil will suit this plant, but theythrive best with a good admixture of rich vegetable mould. 

The HYACINTH, Hyacinthus, is an elegant flower, especially the doublekind. The first bloomed in Calcutta was exhibited at the flower showsome three years since, but proved an imperfect blossom and not clearcolored; a very handsome one, however, was shown by Mrs. Macleod inFebruary 1847, and was raised from a stock originally obtained atSimlah. The Dutch florists have nearly two thousand varieties. 

The distinguishing marks of a good hyacinth are clear bright colors, free from clouding or sporting, broad bold petals, full, large andperfectly doubled, sufficiently revolute to give the whole mass a degreeof convexity: the stem strong and erect and the foot stalks horizontalat the base, gradually taking an angle upwards as they approach thecrown, so as to place the flowers in a pyramidical form, occupying aboutone-half the length of the stem. 

The _Amethyst colored Hyacinth_, H. Amethystimus, is a fine handsomeflower, varying in shade from pale blue to purple, and having bellshaped flowers, but the foot stalks are generally not strong and theyare apt to become pendulous. 

The _Garden Hyacinth_, H. Orientalis, _Sumbul, abrood_, is the handsomervariety, the flowers being trumpet shaped, very double and of varyingcolors--pink, red, blue, white, or yellow, and originally of easterngrowth. It flowers in February and has considerable fragrance. 

_Propagation_. --In Europe this is sometimes performed by seed, but asthis requires to be put into the ground as soon as possible afterripening, and moreover takes a long time to germinate, this method wouldhardly answer in this country, which must therefore, at least for thepresent, depend upon imported bulbs and offsets. 

_Soil, &c. _--This, as well as its after culture, is the same as for theNarcissus. They will not show flowers until the second year, and not ingood bloom before the fifth or sixth of their planting out. 

The CROCUS, Crocus lutens, having no native name, has yet, it isbelieved, been hardly ever known to flower here, even with the utmostcare. A good crocus has its colors clear, brilliant, and distinctlymarked. 

_Propagation_--must be effected, for new varieties, by seeds, but thespecies are multiplied by offsets of the bulb. 

_Soil, &c. _ Any fair garden soil is good for the crocus, but it prefersthat which is somewhat sandy. 

_Culture_. The small bulbs should be planted in clumps at the depth oftwo inches; the leaves should not be cut off after the plant has doneblossoming, as the nourishment for the future season's flower isgathered by them. 

The IXIA, is originally from the Cape, and belongs to the class ofIridae: the Ixia Chinensis, more properly Morea Chinensis, is a nativeof India and China, and common in most gardens. 

_Propagation_--is by offsets. 

_Soil, &c. _ The best is of peat and sand, it thrives however in goodgarden soil, if not too stiff, and requires no particular cultivation. 

The LILY, Lilium, _Soosun_, the latter derived from the Hebrew, is ahandsome species that deserves more care than it has yet received inIndia, where some of the varieties are indigenous. 

The _Japan Lily_, L. Japonicum, is a very tall growing plant, reachingabout 5 feet in height with broad handsome flowers of pure white, and asmall streak of blue, in the rains. 

The _Daunan Lily_, L. Dauricum, _Rufeef, soosun_, gives an erect, lightorange flower in the rains. 

The _Canadian lily_, L. Canadense _B'uhmutan_, flowers in the rains inpairs of drooping reflexed blossoms of a rather darker orange, sometimesspotted with a deeper shade. 

_Propagation_--is effected by offsets, which however will not floweruntil the third or fourth year. 

_Soil, &c. _ This is the same as for the Narcissus, but they do notrequire taking up more frequently than once in three years, and thatonly for about a month at the close of the rains, the Japan lily willthrive even under the shade of trees. 

The AMARYLLIS is a very handsome flower, which has been found to thrivewell in this country, and has a great variety, all of which possess muchbeauty, some kinds are very hardy, and will grow freely in the openground. 

The _Mexican Lily_, A. Regina Mexicanae, is a common hardy variety foundin most gardens, yielding an orange red flower in the months of Marchand April, and will thrive even under the shades of trees. 

The _Ceylonese Amaryllis_, A: zeylanica, _Suk'h dursun_, gives a prettyflower about the same period. 

The _Jacoboean Lily_, A, formosissima, has a handsome dark red flower ofsingular form, having three petals well expanded above, and three othersdownwards rolled over the fructile organs on the base, so as to give theidea of its being the model whence the Bourbon _fleur de lis_ was taken, the stem is shorter than the two previous kinds, blossoming in April orMay. 

The _Noble Amaryllis_, A: insignia, is a tall variety, having pinkflowers in March or April. 

The _Broad-leaved Amaryllis_, A: latifolia, is a native of India withpinkish white flowers about the same period of the year. 

The _Belladonna Lily_. A: belladonna is of moderately high stem, supporting a pink flower of the same singular form as the Jacoboeanlily, in May and June. 

_Propagation_--is by offsets of the bulb, which most kinds throw outvery freely, sometimes to the extent of ten, or a dozen in the season. 

_Soil, &c. _--For the choice kinds is the same as is required for thenarcissus, and water should on no account be given over the leaves orupper part of the bulb. 

The common kinds look well in masses, and a good form of planting themis in a series of raised circles, so as for the whole to form a roundbed. 

The DOG'S TOOTH VIOLET, Erythronium, is a pretty flowering bulb and agreat favorite with florists in Europe. 

The _Common Dog's tooth Violet_, E. Dens canis, is ordinarily found ofreddish purple, there is also a white variety, but it is rare, neitherof them grow above three or four inches in height, and flower in Marchor April. 

The _Indian Dog's tooth Violet_, E. Indicum, _junglee kanda_, is foundin the hills, and flowers at about the same time, with a pink blossom. 

The SUPERB GLORIOSA, Gloriosa superba, _Kareearee, eeskooee langula_, isa very beautiful species of climbing bulb, a native of this country, andon that account neglected, although highly esteemed as a stove plant inEngland; the leaves bear tendrils at the points, and the flower, whichis pendulous, when first expanded, throws its petals nearly erect ofyellowish green, which gradually changes to yellow at the base andbright scarlet at the point; the pistil which shoots from the seedvessel horizontally possesses the singular property of making an entirecircuit between sun-rise and sun-set each day that the flower continues, which is generally for some time, receiving impregnation from everyauthor as it visits them in succession. It blooms in the latter part ofthe rains. 

_Propagation_ is in India sometimes from seed, but in Europe it isconfined to division of the offsets. 

_Soil, &c. _--Most garden soils will suit this plant, but it affords thehandsomest, and richest colored flowers in fresh loam mixed with peat orleaf mould, without dung. It should not have too much water when firstcommencing its growth, and it requires the support of a trellis overwhich it will bear training to a considerable extent, growing to theheight of from five to six feet. 

MANY OTHER BULBS, there is no doubt, might be successfully grown inIndia where every thing is favorable to their growth, and so muchfacility presents itself for procuring them from the Cape of Good Hope;the natural _habitat_ of so many varieties of the handsomest species, nearly all of them flowering between the end of the cold weather and theclose of the rains. 

Some of these being hardy, thrive in the open ground with but littlecare or trouble, others requiring very great attention, protection fromexposure, and shelter from the heat of the sun, and the intensity of itsrays; which should therefore have a particular portion of the plant-shedassigned to them, such being inhabitants of the green house in colderclimates, and the reason of assigning them such separated part of thechief house, or what is better perhaps, a small house to themselves, isthat in culture, treatment, and other respects they do not associatewith plants of a different character. 

One great obstacle which the more extensive culture of bulbs has had tocontend against, may be found in that impatience that refuses to giveattention to what requires from three to five years to perfect, generally speaking people in India prefer therefore to cultivate suchplants only as afford an immediate result, especially with relation tothe ornamental classes. 

_Propagation_. --The bulb after the formation of the first floral core isinstigated by nature to continue its species, as immediately the flowerfades the portion of bulb that gave it birth dies, for which purpose iteach year forms embryo bulbs on each side of the blossoming one, andwhich although continued in the same external coat, are each perfect andcomplete plants in themselves, rising from the crown of the root fibres:in some kinds this is more distinctly exhibited by being as it were, altogether outside and distinct from, the main, or original bulb. Thesebeing separated for what are called offsets, and should be taken offonly when the parent bulb has been taken up and hardened, or the youngplant will suffer. 

Some species of bulbous rooted plants produce seeds, but this method ofreproduction, can seldom be resorted to in this country, and certainlynot to obtain new kinds, as the seeds require to be sown as soon asripe. 

_Soil, Culture, &c_. --For the delicate and rare bulbs, it is advisableto have pots purposely made of some fifteen inches in height with adiameter of about seven or eight inches at the top, tapering down tofive, with a hole at the bottom as in ordinary flower pots, and for thisto stand in, another pot should be made without any hole, of a height ofabout four inches, sufficient size to leave the space of about an inchall round between the outer side of the plant pot and the inner side ofthe smaller pot or saucer. 

This will allow the plant pot to be filled with crocks, pebbles, orstone chippings to the height of five inches, or about an inch higherthan the level of the water in the saucer, above which may be placedeight inches in depth of soil and one inch on the top of that, pebblesor small broken brick. By this arrangement, the saucer being keptfilled, or partly filled, as the plant may require, with water, thefibres of the root obtain a sufficiency of moisture for the maintenanceand advancement of the plant without chance of injury to the bulb orstem, by applying water to the upper earth which is also in thisprevented from becoming too much saturated. Light rich sandy loam, witha portion of sufficiently decomposed leaf mould, is the best soil forthe early stages of growing bulbs. 

So soon as the leaves change color and wither, then all moisture must bewithheld, but as the repose obtained by this means is not sufficient tosecure health to the plant, and ensure its giving strong blossoms, something more is required to effect this purpose. This being renderedthe more necessary because in those that form offsets by the sides ofthe old bulbs, they would otherwise become crowded and degenerate, thesame occurring also with those forming under the old ones, which willget down so deep that they cease to appear. 

The time to take up the bulb is when the flower-stem and leaves havecommenced decay; taking dry weather for the purpose, if the bulbs arehardy, or if in pots having reduced the moisture as above shown, but itmust be left to individual experience to discover how long the differentvarieties should remain out of the ground, some requiring one month'srest, and others enduring three or four, with advantage; more than thatis likely to be injurious. When out of the ground, during the first partof the period they are so kept, it should be, say for a fortnight atleast, in any room where no glare exists, with free circulation of air, after which the off-sets may be removed, and the whole exposed to dry ona table in the verandah, or any other place that is open to the air, butprotected from the sunshine, which would destroy them. 

Little peculiarity of after treatment is requisite, except perhaps thatthe bulbs which are to flower in the season should have a rather largerproportion of leaf mould in the compost, and that if handsome flowersare required, it will be well to examine the bulb every week at least bygently taking the mould from around them, and removing all off-sets thatappear on the old bulb. For the securing strength to the plant also, itwill be well to pinch off the flower so soon as it shews symptoms ofdecay. 

The wire worm is a great enemy to bulbs, and whenever it appears theyshould be taken up, cleaned, and re-planted. It is hardly necessary tosay that all other vermin and insects must be watched, and immediatelyremoved. 

 * * * * *

THE BIENNIAL BORDER PLANTS. 

It is only necessary to mention a few of these, as the curious infloriculture will always make their own selection, the following willtherefore suffice. --

The SPEEDWELL-LEAVED HEDGE HYSSOP, Gratiola veronicifolia, _Bhoomee, sooél chumnee_, seldom cultivated, though deserving to be so, has asmall blue flower. 

The SIMPLE-STALKED LOBELIA, Lobelia simplex, introduced from the Cape, yields a pretty blue flower. 

The EVENING PRIMROSE, Oenothera mutabilis, a pretty white flower thatblossoms in the evening, its petals becoming pink by morning. 

The FLAX-LEAVED PIMPERNEL, Anagallis linifolia, a rare plant, giving ablue flower in the rains; introduced from Portugal. 

The BROWALLIA, of two lauds, both pretty and interesting plants;originally from South America. 

The _Spreading Browallia_, B. Demissa is the smallest of these, andblossoms in single flowers of bright blue, at the beginning of the coldweather. 

The _Upright Browallia_, B. Alata, gives bloom in groups, of a brightblue; there is also a white variety, both growing to the height ofnearly two feet. 

The SMALL-FLOWERED TURNSOLE, Heliotropium parviflorum, _B'hoo roodee_, differs from the rest of this family which are mostly perennials; ityields groups of white flowers, which are fragrant. 

The FLAX-LEAVED CANDYTUFT, Iberis linifolia, with its purple blossoms, is very rare, but it has been sometimes grown with, success. 

The STOCK, Mathiola, is a very popular plant, and deserves moreextensive cultivation in this country. 

The _Great Sea Stock_, M sinuata, is rare and somewhat difficult tobring into bloom, it possesses some fragrance and its violet coloredgroups of flowers have rather a handsome appearance about May. 

The _Ten weeks' Stock_, M annua, is also a pleasing flower about thesame time. In England this is an annual, but here it is not found tobloom freely until the second year, its color is scarlet, and it hassome fragrance. 

The _Purple Gilly flower_, M incana, is a pretty flower of purple color, and fragrant. There are some varieties of it such as the _Double_, multiplex, the _Brompton_, coccinea, and the _White_, alba, varying incolor and blossoming in April. 

The STARWORT, Aster, is a hardy flowering plant not very attractive, except as it yields blossoms at all seasons, if the foot stalks are cutoff as soon as the flower has faded, there are very numerous varietiesof this plant which is, in Europe a perennial, but it is preferable totreat it here as only biennial, otherwise it degenerates. 

The _Bushy Starwort_, A dumosus, is a free blossoming plant in therains, with white flowers. 

The _Silky leaved Starwort_, A. Sericeus, is Indigenous in the hills, putting forth its blue blossoms during the rains. 

The _Hairy Starwort_, A pilosus, is of very pale blue, and may, withcare, be made to blossom throughout the year. 

The _Chinese Starwort, _ A chinensis, is of dark purple and very prolificof blossoms at all times. 

The BEAUTIFUL JUSTICIA, J speciosa, although, described by Roxburgh as aperennial, degenerates very much after the second year, it affordsbright carmine colored flowers at the end of the cold weather. 

The COMMON MARVEL OF PERU, Mirabilis Jalapa _Gul abas, krushna kelee_, is vulgarly called the Four o'clock from its blossoms expanding in theafternoon. There are several varieties distinguished only by differenceof color, lilac, red, yellow, orange, and white, which hybridizenaturally, and may easily be obliged to do so artificially, if anyparticular shades are desired. 

The HAIRY INDIGO, Indigofera hirsuta, yields an ornamental flower withabundance of purple blossoms. 

The HIBISCUS This class numbers many ornamental plants, the blossoms ofwhich all maintain the same character of having a darkened spot at thebase of each petal. 

The _Althaea frutex_, H syriacus, _Gurhul, _ yields a handsome purpleflower in the latter part of the rains, there are also a white, and ared variety. 

The _Stinging Hibiscus_ H pruriens, has a yellow flower at the sameseason. 

The _Hemp leaved Hibiscus_, H cannabinus, _Anbaree_, is much the same asthe last. 

The _Bladder Ketmia_, H trionum, is a dwarf species, yellow, with abrown spot at the base of the petal. 

The _African Hibiscus_ H africanus, is a very handsome flower growing toa considerable height, expanding to the diameter of six to seven inches, of a bright canary color, the dark blown spots at the base of the petalsvery distinctly marked, the seeds were considered a great acquisitionwhen first obtained from Hobarton, but the plant has since been seen ingreat perfection growing wild in the _Turaee_ at the foot of theDarjeeling range of hills, blooming in great perfection at the close ofthe rains. 

The _Chinese Hibiscus_, H rosa sinensis, _Jooua, jasoon, jupa_, although, really a perennial flower, is in greatest perfection if keptas a biennial, it flowers during the greater part of the season a darkred flower with a darker hued spot, there are also some other varietiesof different colors yellow, scarlet, and purple. 

The TREE MALLOW, Lavatera arborea, has of late years been introducedfrom Europe, and may now be found in many gardens in India yieldinghandsome purple flowers in the latter part of the rains. 

But it is unnecessary to continue such a mere catalogue, the characterand general cultivation of which require no distinct rules, but may allbe resolved into one general method, of which the following is a sketch. 

_Propagation_--They are all raised from seed, but the finest doublevarieties require to be continued by cuttings. The seed should be sownas soon as it can after opening, but if this occur during the rains, thebeds, or pots, perhaps better, must be sheltered, removing the plantswhen they are few inches high to the spot where they are to remain, carebeing at the same time taken in removing those that have tap roots, suchas Hollyhock, Lavatera, &c not to injure them, as it will check theirflowering strongly, the best mode is to sow those in pots and transplantthem, with balls of earth entire, into the borders, at the close of therains. Cuttings of such as are multiplied by that method, are takeneither from the flower stalks, or root-shoots, early in the rains, androoted either in pots, under shelter, or in beds, protected from theheavy showers. 

_Culture_--Cultivation after the plants are put into the borders, is thesame as for perennial plants. But the duration and beauty of the flowersis greatly improved by cutting off the buds that shew the earliest, soas to retard the bloom--and for the same reason the footstalk should becut off when the flowers fade, for as soon as the plant begins to formseed, the blossoms deteriorate. 

 * * * * *

THE ANNUAL BORDER PLANTS. 

These are generally known to every one, and many of them are so commonas hardly to need notice, a few of the most usual are however mentioned, rather to recal the scattered thoughts of the many, than as a list ofannuals. 

The MIGNIONETTE, Resoda odorata, is too great a favorite both on accountof its fragrance and delicate flowers not to be well known, and byrepeated sowings it may be made under care to give flowers throughoutthe year but it is advisable to renew the seed occasionally by freshimportations from Europe, the Cape, or Hobarton. 

The PROLIFIC PINK, Dianthus prolifer _Kurumful_, is a pretty variety;that blossoms freely throughout the year, sowing to keep up succession, the shades and net work marks on them are much varied, and they make avery pretty group together. 

The LUPINE, Lupinus, is a very handsome class of annuals, many of whichgrow well in India, all of them flowering in the cold season. 

The _Small blue Lupine_, L. Varius, was introduced from the Cape and isthe only one noticed by Roxburgh. 

The _Rose, and great blue Lupine_, L. Pilosus and hirsutus, are bothgood sized handsome flowers. 

The _Egyptian, or African Lupins_, L. Thermis, _Turmus_, is the only onenamed in the native language, and has a white flower. 

The _Tree Lupine_, L. Arboreus, is a shrubby plant with a profusion ofyellow flowers which has been successfully cultivated from Hobartonseed. 

The CATCHFLY, Silene, the only one known here is the small red, S. Rubella, having a very pretty pink flower appearing in the cold weather. 

The LARKSPUR, Delphinum, has not yet received any native name, anddeserves to be much more extensively cultivated, especially theNeapolitan and variegated sorts. The common purple, D. Bhinensis, beingthe one usually met with; it should be sown in succession from Septemberto December, but the rarer kinds must not be put in sooner than themiddle of November, as these do not blossom well before February, March, or April. 

The SWEET PEA, Lathyrus odoralus, is not usually cultivated withsuccess, because it has been generally sown too late in the season, togive a sufficient advance to secure blossoming. The seeds should be putin about the middle of the rains in pots and afterwards planted out whenthese cease, and carefully cultivated to obtain blossoms in February orMarch. 

The ZINNIA, has only of late years been introduced, but by a mistake ithas generally been sown too late in the year to produce good flowers, whereas if the seed is put into the ground about June, fine handsomeflowers will be the result, in the cold weather. 

The CENTAURY, Centaurea, is a very pretty class of annuals which grows, and blossoms freely in this country. 

The _Woolly Centaury_, C. Lanata, is mentioned by Roxburgh as indigenousto the country, but the flowers are very small, of a purple color, blossoming in December. 

The _Blue bottle_ O. Cyanus, _Azeez_, flowers in December and January, of pink and blue. 

The _Sweet Sultan_, C. Moschata, _Shah pusund_ is known by its fragrantand delicate lilac blossoms in January and February. 

The BALSAM, Impatiens, _Gulmu'hudee, doopatee_ is not cultivated, orencouraged as it should be in India, where some of the varieties areindigenous. A very rich soil should be used. 

Dr. R. Wight observes, that Balsams of the colder Hymalayas, like thoseof Europe, split from the base, rolling the segment towards the apex, whilst those of the hotter regions do the reverse. 

All annuals require the same, or nearly the same treatment, of which thefollowing may be considered a fair sketch. 

_Propagation_. --These plants are all raised from seed put in the earthgenerally on the close of the rains, although some plants, such asnasturtium, sweet pea, scabious, wall-flower, and stock, are better tobe sown in pots about June or July, and then put out into the border assoon as the rains cease. The seed must be sown in patches, rings, orsmall beds according to taste, the ground being previously stirred, andmade quite fine, the earth sifted over them to a depth proportioned tothe size of the seed, and then gently pressed down, so as closely toembrace every part of the seed. When the plants are an inch high theymust be thinned out to a distance of two, three, five, seven, or moreinches apart, according to their kind, whether spreading, or upright, having reference also to their size; the plants thinned out, ifcarefully taken up, may generally be transplanted to fill up any partsof the border where the seed may have failed. 

_Culture_. Weeding and occasionally stirring the soil, and sticking suchas require support, is all the cultivation necessary for annuals. If itbe desired to save seed, some of the earliest and most perfect blossomsshould be preserved for this purpose, so as to secure the best possibleseed for the ensuing year, not leaving it to chance to gather seed fromsuch plants as may remain after the flowers have been taken, as isgenerally the case with native gardeners, if left to themselves. 

 * * * * *

FLOWERS THAT GROW UNDER THE SHADE OF TREES. 

It is of some value to know what these are, but at the same time it mustbe observed that no plant will grow under trees of the fir tribe, and itwould be a great risk to place any under the _Deodar_--with all othersalso it must not be expected that any trees having their foliage so lowas to affect the circulation of air under their branches, can dootherwise than destroy the plants placed beneath them. 

Those which may be so planted are;--Wood Anemone. --Common Arum. --DeadlyNightshade--Indian ditto. --Chinese Clematis--Upright ditto--WoodyStrawberry--Woody Geranium. --Green Hellebore. --Hairy St. John'sWort. --Dog's Violet. --Imperial Fritillaria--The common Oxalis, and someother bulbs. --Common Hound's Tongue. --Common Antirrhinum. --CommonBalsam. --To these may be added many of the orchidaceous plants. 

 * * * * *

ROSES. 

THE ROSE, ROSA, _Gul_ or _gulab_: as the most universally admired, stands first amongst shrubs. The London catalogues of this beautifulplant contain upwards of two thousand names: Mr. Loudon, in his"_Encyclopaedia of Plants_" enumerates five hundred and twenty-two, ofwhich he describes three species, viz. Macrophylla, Brunonii, andMoschata Nepalensis, as natives of Nepal; two, viz. Involucrata, andMicrophylla, as indigenous to India, and Berberifolia, and Moschataarborea, as of Persian origin, whilst twelve appear to have come fromChina. Dr. Roxburgh describes the following eleven species asinhabitants of these regions:--

Rosa involucrata, -- Chinensis, -- semperflorens, -- recurva, -- microphylla, -- inermis, Rosa centiflora, -- glandulifera, -- pubescens, -- diffusa, -- triphylla, most of which, however, he represents to have been of Chinese origin. 

The varieties cultivated generally in gardens are, however, all thatwill be here described. 

These are--

1. The _Madras rose, _ or _Rose Edward_, a variety of R centifolia, _Gulssudburul_, is the most common, and has multiplied so fast within a fewyears, that no garden is without it, it blossoms all the year round, producing large bunches of buds at the extremities of its shoots of theyear, but, if handsome, well-shaped flowers are desired, these must bethinned out on their first appearance, to one or two, or at the mostthree on each stalk. It is a pretty flower, but has little fragrance. This and the other double sorts require a rich loam rather inclining toclay, and they must be kept moist. [138]

2. The _Bussorah Rose_, R gallica, _Gulsooree_, red, and white, thelatter seldom met with, is one of a species containing an immense numberof varieties. The fragrance of this rose is its greatest recommendation, for if not kept down, and constantly looked to, it soon gets straggling, and unsightly, like the preceding species too, the buds issue from theends of the branches in great clusters, which must be thinned, if wellformed fragrant blossoms are desired. The same soil is required as forthe preceding, with alternating periods of rest by opening the roots, and of excitement by stimulating manure. 

3. The _Persian rose_, apparently R collina, _Gul eeran_ bears a veryfull-petaled blossom, assuming a darker shade as these approach nearerto the centre, but, it is difficult to obtain a perfect flower, thecalyx being so apt to burst with excess of fulness, that if perfectflowers are required a thread should be tied gently round the bud, ithas no fragrance. A more sandy soil will suit this kind, with lessmoisture. 

4. The _Sweet briar_ R rubiginosa, _Gul nusreen usturoon_, grows to alarge size, and blossoms freely in India, but is apt to becomestraggling, although, if carefully clipped, it may be raised as a hedgethe same as in England, it is so universally a favorite as to need nodescription. 

5. The _China blush rose_, R Indica (R Chinensis of Roxburgh), _Kut'hgulab_, forms a pretty hedge, if carefully clipped, but is chieflyusefully as a stock for grafting on. It has no odour. 

6 The _China ever-blowing rose_, R damascena of Roxburgh, _Adnee gula, gulsurkh_, bearing handsome dark crimson blossoms during the whole ofthe year, it is branching and bushy, but rather delicate, and wantsodour. 

 7 The _Moss Rose_, R muscosa, having no native name is found to exist, but has only been known to have once blossomed in India; good plants maybe obtained from Hobart Town without much trouble. 

8 The _Indian dog-rose_, R arvensis, R involucrata of Roxburgh, _Gul béfurman_, is found to glow wild in some parts of Nepal and Bengal, aswell as in the province of Buhar, flowering in February, the blossomslarge, white, and very fragrant, its cultivation extending is improvingthe blossoms, particularly in causing the petals to be multiplied. 

9. The _Bramble-flowered rose_ R multiflora, _Gul rana_, naturally atrailer, may be trained to great advantage, when it will give beautifulbunches of small many petaled flowers in February and March, ofdelightful fragrance. 

10. The _Due de Berri rose_, a variety of R damascena, but having thepetals more rounded and more regular, it is a low rather drooping shrubwith delicately small branches. 

_Propagation_. --All the species may be multiplied by seed, by layers, bycuttings, by suckers, or from grafts, almost indiscriminately. Layeringis the easiest, and most certain mode of propagating this most beautifulshrub. 

The roots that branch, out and throw up distinct shoots may be divided, or cut off from the main root, and even an eye thus taken off may bemade to produce a good plant. 

Suckers, when they have pushed through the soil, may be taken up bydigging down, and gently detaching them from the roots. 

Grafting or budding is used for the more delicate kinds, especially thesweet briar, and, by the curious, to produce two or more varieties onone stem, the best stocks being obtained from the China, or the DogRose. 

_Soil &c. _--Any good loamy garden soil without much sand, suits therose, but to produce it in perfection the ground can hardly be too rich. 

_Culture_. --Immediately at the close of the rains, the branches of mostkinds of roses, especially the double ones, should be cut down to notmore than six inches in length, removing at the same time, all old anddecayed wood, as well as all stools that have branched out from the mainone, and which will form new plants; the knife being at the same timefreely exercised in the removal of sickly and crowded fibres from theroots; these should likewise be laid open, cleaned and pinned, andallowed to remain exposed until blossom buds begin to appear at the endof the first shoots; the hole must then be filled with good strongstable manure, and slightly earthed over. About a month after, a basketof stable dung, with the litter, should be heaped up round the stems, and broken brick or turf placed over it to relieve the unsightlyappearance. 

While flowering, too, it will be well to water with liquid manure atleast once a week. If it be desired to continue the trees in blossom, each shoot should be removed as soon as it has ceased flowering. Tosecure full large blossoms, all the buds from a shoot should be cut off, when quite young, except one. 

The _Sweet briar rose_ strikes its root low, and prefers shade, the bestsoil being a deep rich loam with very little sand, rather strong thanotherwise; it will be well to place a heap of manure round the stem, above ground, covering over with turf, but it is not requisite to openthe roots, or give them so much manure as for other varieties. The sweetbriar must not be much pruned, overgrowth being checked rather bypinching the young shoots, or it will not blossom, and it is ratherslower in throwing out shoots than other roses. In this country the bestmode of multiplying this shrub is by grafting on a China rose stock, aslayers do not strike freely, and cuttings cannot be made to root at all. 

The _Bramble-flowered rose_ is a climber, and though not needing sostrong a soil as other kinds, requires it to be rich, and frequentlyrenewed, by taking away the soil from about the roots and supplying itsplace with a good compost of loam, leaf mould, and well rotted dung, pruning the root. The plants require shelter from the cold wind from theNorth, or West, this, however, if carefully trained, they will form forthemselves, but until they do so, it is impossible to make them blossomfreely, the higher branches should be allowed to droop, and if growingluxuriantly, with the shoots not shortened, they will the followingseason, produce bunches of flowers at the end of every one, and have avery beautiful effect, no pruning should be given, except what is justenough to keep the plants within bounds, as they invariably suffer fromthe use of the knife. This rose is easily propagated by cuttings orlayers, both of which root readily. 

The _China rose_ thrives almost anywhere, but is best in a soil of loamand peat, a moderate supply of water being given daily during the hotweather. They will require frequent thinning out of the branches, andare propagated by cuttings, which strike freely. [139]

As before mentioned, Rose trees look well in a parterre by themselves, but a few may be dispersed along the borders of the garden. 

_Insects, &c. _ The green, and the black plant louse are great enemies tothe rose tree, and, whenever they appear, it is advisable to cut out atonce the shoot attacked, the green caterpillar too, often makesskeletons of the leaves in a short time, the ladybird, as it is commonlycalled, is an useful insect, and worthy of encouragement, as it is adestroyer of the plant louse. 

 * * * * *

CREEPERS AND CLIMBERS

The CLIMBING, and TWINING SHRUBS offer a numerous family, highlydeserving of cultivation, the following being a few of the mostdesirable. 

The HONEY-SUCKLE, Caprifolium, having no native name, is too well known, and too closely connected with the home associations of all to needparticularizing. It is remarkable that they always twine from east towest, and rather die than submit to a change. 

The TRUMPET FLOWER, Bignonia, are an eminently handsome family, chieflyconsidered stove plants in Europe, but here growing freely in the openground, and flowering in loose spikes. 

The MOUNTAIN EBONY, Bauhinia, the distinguishing mark of the class beingits two lobed leaves, most of them are indigenous, and in their nativewoods attain an immense size, far beyond what botanists in Europe appearto give them credit for. 

The VIRGIN'S BOWER, Clematis, finds some indigenous representatives inthis country, although unnamed in the native language; the odour howeveris rather too powerful, and of some kinds even offensive, exceptimmediately after a shower of rain. They are all climbers, requiring thesame treatment as the honey suckle. 

The PASSION FLOWER, Passiflora, is a very large family of twiningshrubs, many of them really beautiful, and generally of easycultivation, this country being of the same temperature with theirindigenous localities. 

The RACEMOSE ASPARAGUS, A. Racemosus, _Sadabooree, sutmoolee_, is anative of India, and by nature a trailing plant, but better cultivatedas a climber on a trellis, in which way its delicate setaceous foliagemakes it at all times ornamental, and at the close of the rains it sendsforth abundant bunches of long erect spires of greenish white color, andof delicious fragrance, shedding perfume all around to a great distance. 

 * * * * *

KALENDAR WORK TO BE PERFORMED. 

JANUARY. 

Thin out seeding annuals wherever they appear too thick. Water freely, especially such plants as are in bloom, and keep all clean from weeds. Cut off the footstalks of flowers, except such as are reserved for seed, as soon as the petals fade. Collect the seeds of early annuals as theyripen. 

FEBRUARY. 

Continue as directed in last month. Prepare stocks for roses to begrafted on, R. Bengalensis, and R. Canina are the best. Great care mustbe paid to thinning out the buds of roses to insure perfect blossoms, aswell as to rubbing off the succulent upright shoots and suckers that areapt to spring up at this period. Collect seeds as they ripen, to bedried, or hardened in the shade. 

Collect seeds as they ripen, drying them carefully, for a few days inthe pods, and subsequently when freed from them in the shade, to putthem in the sun being highly injurious. Give a plentiful supply of waterin saucers to Narcissus, or other bulbs when flowering. 

MARCH. 

Cut down the flower stalks of Narcissus that have ceased flowering, andlessen the supply of water. Take up the tubers of Dahlias, and drygradually in an open place in the shade, but do not remove the offsetsfor some days. Pot any of the species of Geranium that have been put outafter the rains, provided they are not in bloom. Give water freely tothe roots of all flowers that are in blossom. Mignionette that is inblossom should have the seed pods clipped off with a pair of scissorsevery day to continue it. Convolvulus in flower should be shaded earlyin the morning, or it will quickly fade. The Evening Primrose should befreely watered to increase the number of blossoms. Look to theCarnations that are coming into bloom, give support to the flower stem, cutting off all side shoots and buds, except the one intended to give ahandsome flower. 

APRIL. 

Careful watering, avoiding any wetting of the leaves is necessary atthis period, and the saucers of all bulbs not yet flowered should bekept constantly full, to promote blossoming--the saucers should howeverbe kept clean, and washed out every third day at least. Frequent weedingmust be attended to, with occasional watering all grass plots, or paths. Wherever any part of the garden becomes empty by the clearing off ofannuals, it should be well dug to a depth of at least eighteen inches, and after laying exposed in clods for a week or two, manured with tankor road mud; leaf mould, or other good well rotted manure. 

MAY. 

This is the time to make layers of Honeysuckle, Bauhinia, and otherclimbing and twining shrubs. 

Mignionette must be very carefully treated, kept moist, and everyseed-pod clipped off as soon as the flower fades, or it will not bepreserved. Continue to dig, and manure the borders, not leaving themanure exposed, or it will lose power. Make pipings and layers ofCarnations. 

JUNE. 

Thin out the multitudinous buds of the Madras rose, also examine thebuds of the Persian rose, to prevent the bursting of the calyx by tyingwith thread, or with a piece of parchment, or cardboard as directed forCarnations. 

Watch Carnations to prevent the bursting of the calyx, and to removesuperfluous buds. Re pot Geraniums that are in sheds, or verandahs, sosoon as they have done flowering, also take up, and pot any that may yetremain in the borders. Prune off also all superfluous, or stragglingbranches. Continue digging over and manuring the flowering borders. SowZinnias, also make cuttings of perennials and biennials that arepropagated by that means, and put in seeds of biennials under shelter, as well as a few of the early annuals, particularly Stock and Sweet-pea. 

JULY. 

Make cuttings and layers of hardy shrubs, and of the Fragrant Olive; putin cuttings of the Willow, and some other trees. Plant out Pines, andCasuarina, Cypress, Large-leaved fig, and the Laurel tribe. Transplantyoung shrubs of a hardy nature. 

Divide the roots, and plant out suckers, or offsets of perennial borderplants. Make cuttings and sow seeds of biennials, as required; also afew annuals to be hereafter transplanted. Sow also Geraniums. Continuemaking pipings of Carnation, plant out, or transplant hardy perennialsinto the borders. 

AUGUST. 

This may be considered the best time for sowing the seeds of hardyshrubs. Plant out Aralia, Canella, Magnolia, and other ornamental trees. Transplant delicate and exotic shrubs. Remove, and plant out suckers, and layers of hardy shrubs. Prune all shrubs freely. 

Divide, and plant out suckers, and offsets of hardy perennials, thathave formed during the rains. Plant out tender perennial plants, in theborders, also biennials. Prune, and thin out perennial plants in theborders. Put out in the borders such annuals as were sown in June, protecting them from the heat of the sun in the afternoon. Sow a fewearly annuals. Plant out Dahlia tubers where they are intended toblossom, keeping them as much as possible in classes of colors. Makepipings of Carnations. 

SEPTEMBER. 

Prick out the cuttings of hardy shrubs that have been made before, orduring the rains, in beds for growing. Prune all flowering shrubs, having due regard to the character of each, as bearing flowers on theend of the shoots, or from the side exits, give the annual dressing ofmanure to the entire shrubbery, with new upper soil. 

Remove the top soil from the borders, and renew with addition of amoderate quantity of manure. Put out Geraniums into the borders, and setrooted cuttings singly in pots. Plant out biennials in the borders, alsosuch annuals as have been sown in pots. Re-pot and give fresh earth toplants in the shed. 

OCTOBER. 

Open out the roots of a few Bussorah roses for early flowering, pruningdown all the branches to a height of six inches, removing all decayed, and superannuated wood, dividing the roots, and pruning them freely. TheMadras roses should be treated in the same manner, not all at the sametime, but at intervals of a week between each cutting down, so as tosecure a succession for blossoming. Plant out rooted cuttings in beds, to increase in size. 

Sow annuals freely, and thin out those put in last month, so as to leavesufficient space for growing, at the same time transplanting the mosthealthy to other parts of the border. 

NOVEMBER. 

Continue opening the roots of Bussorah roses, as well as the RoseEdward, and Madras roses, for succession to those on which thisoperation was performed last month. Prune, and trim the Sweetbriar, andMany-flowered rose. 

_Flower-Garden_--Divide, and plant bulbs of all kinds, both, for border, and pot flowering. Continue to sow annuals. 

DECEMBER

Continue opening the roots, and cutting down the branches of Bussorah, and other roses for late flowering. Prune, and thin out also the Chinaand Persian roses, as well as the Many-flowered rose, if not done lastmonth. Train carefully all climbing and twining shrubs. 

Weed beds of annuals, and thin out, where necessary. Sow Nepolitan, andother fine descriptions of Larkspur, as well as all other annuals for alate show. Dahlias are now blooming in perfection, and should be closelywatched that every side-bud, or more than one on each stalk may be cutoff close, with a pair of scissors to secure full, distinctly colored, and handsome flowers. 

[For further instructions respecting the culture of flowers in India Imust refer my readers to the late Mr. Speede's works, where they willfind a great deal of useful information not only respecting theflower-garden, but the kitchen-garden and the orchard. ]

 * * * * *

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. 

THE TREE-MIGNONETTE. --This plant does not appear to be a distinctvariety, for the common mignonette, properly trained becomes shrubby. Itmay be propagated by either seed or cuttings. When it has put forth fourleaves or is about an inch high, take it from the bed and put it byitself into a moderate sized pot. As it advances in growth, carefullypick off all the side shoots, leaving the leaf at the base of each shootto assist the growth of the plant. When it has reached a foot in heightit will show flower. But every flower must be nipped off carefully. Support the stem with a stick to make it grow straight. Even when it hasattained its proper height of two feet again cut off the bloom for a fewdays. 

It is said that Miss Mitford, the admired authoress, was the first todiscover that the common mignonette could be induced to adopt tree-likehabits. The experiment has been tried in India, but it has sometimesfailed from its being made at the wrong season. The seed should be sownat the end of the rains. 

GRAFTING. --Take care to unite exactly the inner bark of the scion withthe inner bark of the stock in order to facilitate the free course ofthe sap. Almost any scion will take to almost any sort of tree or plantprovided there be a resemblance in their barks. The Chinese are fond ofmaking fantastic experiments in grafting and sometimes succeed in themost heterogeneous combinations, such as grafting flowers upon fruittrees. Plants growing near each other can sometimes be grafted by theroots, or on the living root of a tree cut down another tree can begrafted. The scions are those shoots which united with the stock formthe graft. It is desirable that the sap of the stock should be in briskand healthy motion at the time of grafting. The graft should besurrounded with good stiff clay with a little horse or cow manure in itand a portion of cut hay. Mix the materials with a little water and thenbeat them up with a stick until the compound is quite ductile. Whenapplied it may be bandaged with a cloth. The best season for grafting inIndia is the rains. 

MANURE. --Almost any thing that rots quickly is a good manure. It ispossible to manure too highly. A plant sometimes dies from too muchrichness of soil as well as from too barren a one. 

WATERING. --Keep up a regular moisture, but do not deluge your plantsuntil the roots rot. Avoid giving very cold water in the heat of the dayor in the sunshine. Even in England some gardeners in a hot summer useluke-warm water for delicate plants. But do not in your fear ofoverwatering only wet the surface. The earth all round and below theroot should be equally moist, and not one part wet and the other dry. Ifthe plant requires but little water, water it seldom, but let the waterreach all parts of the root equally when you water at all. 

GATHERING AND PRESERVING FLOWERS. --Always use the knife, and prefer suchas are coming into flower rather than such as are fully expanded. Ifpossible gather from crowded plants, or parts of plants, so that everygathering may operate at the same time as a judicious pruning andthinning. Flowers may be preserved when gathered, by inserting theirends in winter, in moist earth, or moss; and may be freshened, whenwithered, by sprinkling them with water, and putting them in a closevessel, as under a bellglass, handglass, flowerpot or in a botanic box;if this will not do, sprinkle them with warm water heated to 80° or 90°, and cover them with a glass. --_Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Gardening_. 

PIPING---is a mode of propagation by cuttings and is adopted in plantshaving joined tubular stems, as the dianthus tribe. When the shoot hasnearly done growing (soon after its blossom has fallen) its extremity isto be separated at a part of the stem where it is hard and ripe. This isdone by holding the root with one hand and with the other pulling thetop part above the pair of leaves so as to separate it from the rootpart of the stem at the socket, formed by the axillae of the leaves, leaving the stem to remain with a tubular or pipe-looking termination. The piping is inserted in finely sifted earth to the depth of the firstjoint or pipe and its future management regulated on the same generalprinciples as cuttings. --_From the same_. 

BUDDING. --This is performed when the leaves of plants have grown totheir full size and the bud is to be seen at the base of it. Therelative nature of the bud and the stock is the same as in grafting. Make a slit in the bark of the stock, to reach from half an inch to aninch and a half down the stock, according to the size of the plant; thenmake another short slit across, that you may easily raise the bark fromthe wood, then take a very thin slice of the bark from the tree or plantto be budded, a little below a leaf, and bring the knife out a littleabove it, so that you remove the leaf and the bud at its base, with thelittle slice you have taken. You will perhaps have removed a small bitof the wood with the bark, which you must take carefully out with thesharp point of your knife and your thumb; then tuck the bark and budunder the bark of the stock which you carefully bind over, letting thebud come at the part where the slits cross each other. No part of thestock should be allowed to grow after it is budded, except a littleshoot or so, above the bud, just to draw the sap past thebud. --_Gleenny's Hand Book of Gardening_. 

ON PYRAMIDS OF ROSES. --The standard Roses give a fine effect to a bed ofRoses by being planted in the middle, forming a pyramidal bed, or aloneon grass lawns; but the _ne plus ultra_ of a pyramid of Roses is thatformed of from one, two, or three plants, forming a pyramid by beingtrained up three strong stakes, to any length from 10 to 25 feet high(as may suit situation or taste), placed about two feet apart at thebottom; three forming an angle on the ground, and meeting close togetherat the top; the plant, or plants to be planted inside the stakes. In twoor three years, they will form a pyramid of Roses which baffles alldescription. When gardens are small, and the owners are desirous ofhaving _multum in parvo_, three or four may be planted to form onepyramid; and this is not the only object of planting more sorts than onetogether, but the beauty is also much increased by the mingled hues ofthe varieties planted. For instance, plant together a white Boursault, apurple Noisette, a Stadtholder, Sinensis (fine pink), and a Moschatascandens and such a variety may be obtained, that twenty pyramids mayhave each, three or four kinds, and no two sorts alike on the wholetwenty pyramids. A temple of Roses, planted in the same way, has abeautiful appearance in a flower garden--that is, eight, ten, or twelvestout peeled Larch poles, well painted, set in the ground, with a lightiron rafter from each, meeting at the top and forming a dome. An oldcable, or other old rope, twisted round the pillar and iron, gives anadditional beauty to the whole. Then plant against the pillars with twoor three varieties, each of which will soon run up the pillars, and forma pretty mass of Roses, which amply repays the trouble and expense, bythe elegance it gives to the garden--_Floricultural Cabinet_. 

How TO MAKE ROSE WATER, &c--Take an earthen pot or jar well glazedinside, wide in the month, narrow at the bottom, about 15 inches high, and place over the mouth a strainer of clean coarse muslin, to contain aconsiderable quantity of rose leaves, of some highly fragrant kind. Cover them with a second strainer of the same material, and close themouth of the jar with an iron lid, or tin cover, hermetically sealed. Onthis lid place hot embers, either of coal or charcoal, that the heat mayreach the rose-leaves without scorching or burning them. 

The aromatic oil will fall drop by drop to the bottom with the watercontained in the petals. When time has been allowed for extracting thewhole, the embers must be removed, and the vase placed in a cool spot. 

Rose-water obtained in this mode is not so durable as that obtained inthe regular way by a still but it serves all ordinary purposes. Smallalembics of copper with a glass capital, may be used in three differentways. 

In the first process, the still or alembic must be mounted on a smallbrick furnace, and furnished with a worm long enough to pass through apan of cold water. The petals of the rose being carefully picked so asto leave no extraneous parts, should be thrown into the boiler of thestill with a little water. 

The great point is to keep up a moderate fire in the furnace, such aswill cause the vapour to rise without imparting a burnt smell to therose water. 

The operation is ended when the rose water, which falls drop by drop inthe tube, ceases to be fragrant. That which is first condensed has verylittle scent, that which is next obtained is the best, and the third andlast portion is generally a little burnt in smell, and bitter in taste. In a very small still, having no worm, the condensation must be producedby linen, wetted in cold water, applied round the capital. A thirdmethod consists in plunging the boiler of the still into a larger vesselof boiling water placed over a fire, when the rose-water never acquiresthe burnt flavour to which we have alluded. By another process, thestill is placed in a boiler filled with sand instead of water, andheated to the necessary temperature. 

But this requires alteration, or it is apt to communicate a bakedflavour. 

SYRUP OF ROSES--May be obtained from Belgian or monthly roses, pickedover, one by one, and the base of the petal removed. In a China Jarprepared with a layer of powdered sugar, place a layer of rose-leavesabout half an inch thick; then of sugar, then of leaves, till the vesselis full. 

On the top, place a fresh wooden cover, pressed down with a weight. Bydegrees, the rose-leaves produce a highly-coloured, highly-scentedsyrup; and the leaves form a colouring-matter for liqueurs. 

PASTILLES DU SERAIL. --Sold in France as Turkish, in rosaries and otherornaments, are made of the petals of the Belgian or Puteem Rose, groundto powder and formed into a paste by means of liquid gum. 

Ivory-black is mixed with the gum to produce a black colour; andcinnabar or vermilion, to render the paste either brown or red. 

It may be modelled by hand or in a mould, and when dried in the sun, ora moderate oven, attains sufficient hardness to be mounted in gold orsilver. --_Mrs. Gore's Rose Fancier's Manual_. 

OF FORMING AND PRESERVING HERBARIUMS. --The most exact descriptions, accompanied with the most perfect figures, leave still something to bedesired by him who wishes to know completely a natural being. Thisnothing can supply but the autopsy or view of the object itself. Hencethe advantage of being able to see plants at pleasure, by forming driedcollections of them, in what are called herbariums. 

A good practical botanist, Sir J. E. Smith observes, must be educatedamong the wild scenes of nature, while a finished theoretical onerequires the additional assistance of gardens and books, to which mustbe superadded the frequent use of a good herbarium. When plants are welldried, the original forms and positions of even their minutest parts, though not their colours, may at any time be restored by immersion inhot water. By this means the productions of the most distant and variouscountries, such as no garden could possibly supply, are brought togetherat once under our eyes, at any season of the year. If these be assistedwith drawings and descriptions, nothing less than an actual survey ofthe whole vegetable world in a state of nature, could excel such a storeof information. 

With regard to the mode or state in which plants are preserved, desiccation, accompanied by pressing, is the most generally used. Somepersons, Sir J. E. Smith observes, recommend the preservation ofspecimens in weak spirits of wine, and this mode is by far the mosteligible for such as are very juicy: but it totally destroys theircolours, and often renders their parts less fit for examination than bythe process of drying. It is, besides, incommodious for frequent study, and a very expensive and bulky way of making an herbarium. 

The greater part of plants dry with facility between the leaves ofbooks, or other paper, the smoother the better. If there be plenty ofpaper, they often dry best without shifting; but if the specimens arecrowded, they must be taken out frequently, and the paper dried beforethey are replaced. The great point to be attended to is, that theprocess should meet with no check. Several vegetables are so tenaciousof their vital principle, that they will grow between papers; theconsequence of which is, a destruction of their proper habit and colors. It is necessary to destroy the life of such, either by immersion inboiling water or by the application of a hot iron, such as is used forlinen, after which they are easily dried. The practice of applying suchan iron, as some persons do, with great labor and perseverance, till theplants are quite dry, and all their parts incorporated into a smoothflat mass is not approved of. This renders them unfit for subsequentexamination, and destroys their natural habit, the most important thingto be preserved. Even in spreading plants between papers, we shouldrefrain from that practice and artificial disposition of their branches, leaves, and other parts, which takes away from their natural aspect, except for the purpose of displaying the internal parts of some one ortwo of their flowers, for ready observation. The most approved method ofpressing is by a box or frame, with a bottom of cloth or leather, like asquare sieve. In this, coarse sand or small shot may be placed; in anyquantity very little pressing is required in drying specimens; what isfound necessary should be applied equally to every part of the bundleunder the operation. 

Hot-pressing, by means of steel net-work heated, and placed in alternatelayers with the papers, in the manner of hot pressing paper, and thewhole covered with the equalizing press, above described, would probablybe an improvement, but we have not heard of its being tried. At allevents, pressing by screw presses, or weighty non-elastic bodies, mustbe avoided, as tending to bruise the stalks and other protuberant partsof plants. 

"After all we can do, " Sir J. E. Smith observes, "plants dry veryvariously. The blue colours of their flowers generally fade, nor arereds always permanent. Yellows are much more so, but very few whiteflowers retain their natural aspect. The snowdrop and parnassia, if welldried, continue white. Some greens are much more permanent than others;for there are some natural families whose leaves, as well as flowers, turn almost black by drying, as melampyrum, bartsia, and their allies, several willows, and most of the orchideae. The heaths and firs ingeneral cast off their leaves between papers, which appears to be aneffort of the living principle, for it is prevented by immersion of thefresh specimen in boiling water. "

The specimens being dried, are sometimes kept loose between leaves ofpaper; at other times wholly gummed or glued to paper, but mostgenerally attached by one or more transverse slips of paper, glued onone end and pinned at the other, so that such specimens can readily betaken out, examined, and replaced. On account of the aptitude of theleaves and other parts of dried plants to drop off, many glue thementirely, and such seems to be the method adopted by Linnaeus, andrecommended by Sir J. E. Smith. "Dried specimens, " the professorobserves, "are best preserved by being fastened, with weak carpenter'sglue, to paper, so that they may be turned over without damage. Thickand heavy stalks require the additional support of a few transversestrips of paper, to bind them more firmly down. A half sheet, of aconvenient folio size, should be allotted to each species, and all thespecies of a genus may be placed in one or more whole sheets or folios. On the latter outside should be written the name of the genus, while thename of every species, with its place of growth, time of gathering, thefinder's name, or any other concise piece of information, may beinscribed on its appropriate paper. This is the plan of the Linnaeanherbarium. "--_Loudon_. 

THE END. 

FOOTNOTES. 

[001] Some of the finest _Florists flowers_ have been reared by themechanics of Norwich and Manchester and by the Spitalfield's weavers. The pitmen in the counties of Durham and Northumberland reside in longrows of small houses, to each of which is attached a little garden, which they cultivate with such care and success, that they frequentlybear away the prize at Floral Exhibitions. 

[002] Of Rail-Road travelling the reality is quite different from theidea that descriptions of it had left upon my mind. Unpoetical as thissort of transit may seem to some minds, I confess I find it excite andsatisfy the imagination. The wondrous speed--the quick change ofscene--the perfect comfort--the life-like character of the power inmotion, the invisible, and mysterious, and mighty steam horse, urged, and guided, and checked by the hand of Science--the cautionary, long, shrill whistle--the beautiful grey vapor, the breath of the unseen animal, floating over the fields by which we pass, sometimes hanging stationaryfor a moment in the air, and then melting away like a vision--furnishsufficiently congenial amusement for a period-minded observer. 

[003] "That which peculiarly distinguishes the gardens of England, " saysRepton, "is the beauty of English verdure: _the grass of the mown lawn_, uniting with, the grass of the adjoining pastures, and presenting _thatpermanent verdure_ which is the natural consequence of our soft andhumid clime, but unknown to the cold region of the North or the parchingtemperature of the South. This it is impossible to enjoy in Portugalwhere it would be as practicable to cover the general surface with thesnow of Lapland as with the verdure of England. " It is much the same inFrance. "There is everywhere in France, " says Loudon, "a want _of closegreen turf_, of ever-green bushes and of good adhesive gravel. " SomeFrench admirers of English gardens do their best to imitate our lawns, and it is said that they sometimes partially succeed with English grassseed, rich manure, and constant irrigation. In Bengal there is a verybeautiful species of grass called Doob grass, (_Panicum Dactylon_, ) butit only flourishes on wide and exposed plains with few trees on them, and on the sides of public roads, Shakespeare makes Falstaff say that"the camomile the more it is trodden on the faster it grows" and, thisis the case with the Doob grass. The attempt to produce a permanent Doobgrass lawn is quite idle unless the ground is extensive and open, andmuch trodden by men or sheep. A friend of mine tells me that he covereda large lawn of the coarse Ooloo grass (_Saccharum cylindricum_) withmats, which soon killed it, and on removing the mats, the finest Doobgrass sprang up in its place. But the Ooloo grass soon again over-grewthe Doob. 

[004] I allude here chiefly to the ryots of wealthy Zemindars and toother poor Hindu people in the service of their own countrymen. All thesubjects of the British Crown, even in India, are _politically free_, but individually the poorer Hindus, (especially those who reside at adistance from large towns, ) are unconscious of their rights, and eventhe wealthier classes have rarely indeed that proud and noble feeling ofpersonal independence which characterizes people of all classes andconditions in England. The feeling with which even a Hindu of wealth andrank approaches a man in power is very different indeed from that of thepoorest Englishman under similar circumstances. But national educationwill soon communicate to the natives of India a larger measure of trueself-respect. It will not be long, I hope, before the Hindus willunderstand our favorite maxim of English law, that "Every man's house ishis castle, "--a maxim so finely amplified by Lord Chatham: "_The poorestman may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. Itmay be frail--its roof may shake--the wind may blow through it--thestorm may enter--but the king of England cannot enter!--all his forcedares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement_. "

[005] _Literary Recreations_. 

[006] I have in some moods preferred the paintings of our ownGainsborough even to those of Claude--and for this single reason, thatthe former gives a peculiar and more touching interest to his landscapesby the introduction of sweet groups of children. These lovely littlefigures are moreover so thoroughly English, and have such an out-of-doorsair, and seem so much a part of external nature, that an Englishmanwho is a lover of rural scenery and a patriot, can hardly failto be enchanted with the style of his celebrated countryman. --_LiteraryRecreations_. 

[007] Had Evelyn only composed the great work of his 'Sylva, or aDiscourse of Forest Trees, ' &c. His name would have excited thegratitude of posterity. The voice of the patriot exults in hisdedication to Charles II, prefixed to one of the later editions:--'Ineed not acquaint your Majesty, how many millions of timber-trees, besides infinite others, have been propagated and planted throughoutyour vast dominions, at the instigation and by the sole direction ofthis work, because your Majesty has been pleased to own it publicly formy encouragement. ' And surely while Britain retains her awful situationamong the nations of Europe, the 'Sylva' of Evelyn will endure with hertriumphant oaks. It was a retired philosopher who aroused the genius ofthe nation, and who casting a prophetic eye towards the age in which welive, has contributed to secure our sovereignty of the seas. The presentnavy of Great Britain has been constructed with the oaks which thegenius of Evelyn planted. --_D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature_. 

[008] _Crisped knots_ are figures curled or twisted, or having wavinglines intersecting each other. They are sometimes planted in box. Children, even in these days, indulge their fancy in sowing mustard andcress, &c. In 'curious knots, ' or in favorite names and sentences. Ihave done it myself, "I know not how oft, "--and alas, how long ago! ButI still remember with what anxiety I watered and watched the ground, andwith what rapture I at last saw the surface gradually rising andbreaking on the light green heads of the delicate little new-bornplants, all exactly in their proper lines or stations, like awell-drilled Lilliputian battalion. 

Shakespeare makes mention of garden _knots_ in his _Richard the Second_, where he compares an ill governed state to a neglected garden. 

 Why should we, in the compass of a pale, Keep law, and form, and due proportion, Showing, as in a model, our firm estate? When our sea-walled garden, the whole land, Is full of weeds; her finest flowers choked up, Her fruit-trees all unpruned, her hedges ruined, Her _knots_ disordered, and her wholesome herbs Swarming with caterpillars. 

There is an allusion to garden _knots_ in _Holinshed's Chronicle_. In1512 the Earl of Northumberland "had but one gardener who attendedhourly in the garden for setting of erbis and _chipping of knottis_ andsweeping the said garden clean. "

[009] Ovid, in his story of Pyramus and Thisbe, tells us that the blackMulberry was originally white. The two lovers killed themselves under awhite Mulberry tree and the blood penetrating to the roots of the treemixed with the sap and gave its color to the fruit. 

[010] _Revived Adonis_, --for, according to tradition he died every yearand revived again. _Alcinous, host of old Laertes' son_, --that is, ofUlysses, whom he entertained on his return from Troy. _Or that, notmystic_--not fabulous as the rest, but a real garden which Solomon madefor his wife, the daughter of Pharoah, king of Egypt--WARBURTON

"Divested of harmonious Greek and bewitching poetry, " observes HoraceWalpole, "the garden of Alcinous was a small orchard and vineyard withsome beds of herbs and two fountains that watered them, inclosed withina quickset hedge. " Lord Kames, says, still more boldly, that it wasnothing but a kitchen garden. Certainly, gardening amongst the ancientGreeks, was a very simple business. It is only within the presentcentury that it has been any where elevated into a fine art. 

[011] "We are unwilling to diminish or lose the credit of Paradise, oronly pass it over with [the Hebrew word for] _Eden_, though the Greek beof a later name. In this excepted, we know not whether the ancientgardens do equal those of late times, or those at present in Europe. Ofthe gardens of Hesperides, we know nothing singular, but some goldenapples. Of Alcinous his garden, we read nothing beyond figs, apples, olives; if we allow it to be any more than a fiction of Homer, unhappilyplaced in Corfu, where the sterility of the soil makes men believe therewas no such thing at all. The gardens of Adonis were so empty that theyafforded proverbial expression, and the principal part thereof was emptyspaces, with herbs and flowers in pots. I think we little understand thepensile gardens of Semiramis, which made one of the wonders of it[Babylon], wherein probably the structure exceeded the plants containedin them. The excellency thereof was probably in the trees, and if thedescension of the roots be equal to the height of trees, it was not[absurd] of Strebæus to think the pillars were hollow that the rootsmight shoot into them. "--_Sir Thomas Browne. --Bohn's Edition of SirThomas Browne's Works, vol. 2, page_ 498. 

[012] The house and garden before Pope died were large enough for theirowner. He was more than satisfied with them. "As Pope advanced inyears, " says Roscoe, "his love of gardening, and his attention to thevarious occupations to which it leads, seem to have increased also. Thispredilection was not confined to the ornamental part of this delightfulpursuit, in which he has given undoubted proofs of his proficiency, butextended to the useful as well as the agreeable, as appears from severalpassages in his poems; but he has entered more particularly into thissubject in a letter to Swift (March 25, 1736); "I wish you had anymotive to see this kingdom. I could keep you: for I am rich, that is, have more than I want, I can afford room to yourself and two servants. Ihave indeed room enough; nothing but myself at home. The kind and heartyhousewife is dead! The agreeable and instructive neighbour is gone! Yetmy house is enlarged, and the gardens extend and flourish, as knowingnothing of the guests they have lost. I have more fruit trees andkitchen garden than you have any thought of; and, I have good melons andapples of my own growth. I am as much a better gardener, as I am a worsepoet, than when you saw me; but gardening is near akin to philosophy, for Tully says, _Agricultura proxima sapientiae_. For God's sake, whyshould not you, (that are a step higher than a philosopher, a divine, yet have too much grace and wit than to be a bishop) even give all youhave to the poor of Ireland (for whom you have already done every thingelse, ) so quit the place, and live and die with me? And let _tales animaconcordes_ be our motto and our epitaph. "

[013] The leaves of the willow, though green above, are hoar below. Shakespeare's knowledge of the fact is alluded to by Hazlitt as one ofthe numberless evidences of the poet's minute observation of externalnature. 

[014] See Mr. Loudon's most interesting and valuable work entitled_Arboretum et Fruticetum Britanicum_. 

[015] All the rules of gardening are reducible to three heads: thecontrasts, the management of surprises and the concealment of thebounds. "Pray, what is it you mean by the contrasts?" "The dispositionof the lights and shades. "--"'Tis the colouring then?"--"Justthat. "--"Should not variety be one of the rules?"--"Certainly, one ofthe chief; but that is included mostly in the contrasts. " I haveexpressed them all in two verses[140] (after my manner, in very littlecompass), which are in imitation of Horace's--_Omne tulit punctum. Pope. --Spence's Anecdotes_. 

[016] In laying out a garden, the chief thing to be considered is thegenius of the place. Thus at Tiskins, for example, Lord Bathurst shouldhave raised two or three mounts, because his situation is _all_ plain, and nothing can please without variety. _Pope--Spence's Anecdotes_. 

[017] The seat and gardens of the Lord Viscount Cobham, inBuckinghamshire. Pope concludes the first Epistle of his Moral Essayswith a compliment to the patriotism of this nobleman. 

 And you, brave Cobham! to the latest breath Shall feel your ruling passion strong in death: Such in those moments as in all the past "Oh, save my country, Heaven!" shall be your last. 

[018] Two hundred acres and two hundred millions of francs were madeover to Le Notre by Louis XIV. To complete these geometrical gardens. One author tells us that in 1816 the ordinary cost of putting a certainportion of the waterworks in play was at the rate of 200 £. Per hour, and another still later authority states that when the whole were set inmotion once a year on some Royal fête, the cost of the half hour duringwhich the main part of the exhibition lasted was not less than 3, 000 £. This is surely a most senseless expenditure. It seems, indeed, almostincredible. I take the statements from _Loudon's_ excellent_Encyclopaedia of Gardening_. The name of one of the original reportersis Neill; the name of the other is not given. The gardens formerly wereand perhaps still are full of the vilest specimens of verdant sculpturein every variety of form. Lord Kames gives a ludicrous account of thevomiting stone statues there;--"A lifeless statue of an animal pouringout water may be endured" he observes, "without much disgust: but herethe lions and wolves are put in violent action; each has seized itsprey, a deer or a lamb, in act to devour; and yet, as by hocus-pocus, the whole is converted into a different scene: the lion, forgetting hisprey, pours out water plentifully; and the deer, forgetting its danger, performs the same work: a representation no less absurd than that in theopera, where Alexander the Great, after mounting the wall of a townbesieged, turns his back to the enemy, and entertains his army with asong. "

[019] Broome though a writer of no great genius (if any), had yet thehonor to be associated with Pope in the translation of the Odyssey. Hetranslated the 2nd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 16th, 18th, and 23rd books. Henley(Orator Henley) sneered at Pope, in the following couplet, for receivingso much assistance:

 Pope came clean off with Homer, but they say, Broome went before, and kindly swept the way. 

Fenton was another of Pope's auxiliaries. He translated the 1st, 4th, 19th and 20th books (of the Odyssey). Pope himself translated the rest. 

[020] Stowe

[021] The late Humphrey Repton, one of the best landscape-gardenersthat England has produced, and who was for many years employed onalterations and improvements in the house and grounds at Cobham, inKent, the seat of the Earl of Darnley, seemed to think that Stowe oughtnot to monopolize applause and admiration, "Whether, " he said, "weconsider its extent, its magnificence or its comfort, there are fewplaces that can vie with Cobham. " Repton died in 1817, and his patronand friend the Earl of Darnley put up at Cobham an inscription to hismemory. 

The park at Cobham extends over an area of no less than 1, 800 acres, diversified with thick groves and finely scattered single trees andgentle slopes and broad smooth lawns. Some of the trees are singularlybeautiful and of great age and size. A chestnut tree, named the FourSisters, is five and twenty feet in girth. The mansion, of which, thecentral part was built by Inigo Jones, is a very noble one. George theFourth pronounced the music room the finest room in England. The wallsare of polished white marble with pilasters of sienna marble. Thepicture gallery is enriched with valuable specimens of the genius ofTitian and Guido and Salvator Rosa and Sir Joshua Reynolds. There isanother famous estate in Kent, Knole, the seat of

 Dorset, the grace of courts, the Muse's pride. 

The Earl of Dorset, though but a poetaster himself, knew how toappreciate the higher genius of others. He loved to be surrounded by thefinest spirits of his time. There is a pleasant anecdote of the companyat his table agreeing to see which amongst them could produce the bestimpromptu. Dryden was appointed arbitrator. Dorset handed a slip ofpaper to Dryden, and when all the attempts were collected, Drydendecided without hesitation that Dorset's was the best. It ran thus: "_Ipromise to pay Mr. John Dryden, on demand, the sum of £500. Dorset_. "

[022] This is generally put into the mouth of Pope, but if we are tobelieve Spence, who is the only authority for the anecdote, it wasaddressed to himself. 

[023] It has been said that in laying out the grounds at Hagley, LordLyttelton received some valuable hints from the author of _The Seasons_, who was for some time his Lordship's guest. The poet has commemoratedthe beauties of Hagley Park in a description that is familiar to alllovers of English poetry. I must make room for a few of the concludinglines. 

 Meantime you gain the height, from whose fair brow, The bursting prospect spreads immense around: And snatched o'er hill, and dale, and wood, and lawn, And verdant field, and darkening heath between, And villages embosomed soft in trees, And spiry towns by surging columns marked, Of household smoke, your eye excursive roams; Wide stretching from the hall, in whose kind haunt The hospitable genius lingers still, To where the broken landscape, by degrees, Ascending, roughens into rigid hills; O'er which the Cambrian mountains, like far clouds, That skirt the blue horizon, dusky rise. 

It certainly does not look as if there had been any want of kindlyfeeling towards Shenstone on the part of Lyttelton when we find thefollowing inscription in Hagley Park. 

 To the memory of William Shenstone, Esquire, In whose verse Were all the natural graces. And in whose manners Was all the amiable simplicity Of pastoral poetry, With the sweet tenderness Of the elegiac. 

There is also at Hagley a complimentary inscription on an urn toAlexander Pope; and, on an octagonal building called _Thomson's Seat_, there is an inscription to the author of _The Seasons_. Hagley is keptup with great care and is still in possession of the descendants of thefounder. But a late visitor (Mr. George Dodd) expresses a doubt whetherthe Leasowes, even in its comparative decay, is not a finer bit oflandscape, a more delightful place to lose one-self in, than even itslarger and better preserved neighbour. 

[024] Coleridge is reported to have said--"There is in Crabbe anabsolute defect of high imagination; he gives me little pleasure. Yet nodoubt he has much power of a certain kind, and it is good to cultivate, even at some pains, a catholic taste in literature. " Walter SavageLandor, in his "Imaginary Conversations, " makes Porson say--"Crabbewrote with a two-penny nail and scratched rough truths and rogues' factson mud walls. " Horace Smith represents Crabbe, as "Pope in worstedstockings. " That there is merit of some sort or other, and that of noordinary kind, in Crabbe's poems, is what no one will deny. Theyrelieved the languor of the last days of two great men, of verydifferent characters--Sir Walter Scott and Charles James Fox. 

[025] The poet had a cottage and garden in Kew-foot-Lane at or nearRichmond. In the alcove in the garden is a small table made of the woodof the walnut tree. There is a drawer to the table which in allprobability often received charge of the poet's effusions hot from thebrain. On a brass tablet inserted in the top of the table is thisinscription--"_This table was the property of James Thomson, and alwaysstood in this seat. _"

[026] Shene or Sheen: the old name of Richmond, signifying in Saxon_shining_ or _splendour_. 

[027] Highgate and Hamstead. 

[028] In his last sickness

[029] On looking back at page 36 I find that I have said in the footnote that it is only within _the present century_ that gardening hasbeen elevated into _a fine art_. I did not mean within the 55 years ofthis 19th century, but _within a hundred years_. Even this, however, wasan inadvertency. We may go a little further back. Kent and Pope lived tosee Landscape-Gardening considered a fine art. Before their time therewere many good practical gardeners, but the poetry of the art was notthen much regarded except by a very few individuals of more thanordinary refinement. 

[030] Catherine the Second grossly disgraced herself as a woman--partlydriven into misconduct herself by the behaviour of her husband--but as asovereign it cannot be denied that she exhibited a penetrating sagacityand great munificence; and perhaps the lovers of literature and scienceshould treat her memory with a little consideration. When Diderot was indistress and advertized his library for sale, the Empress sent him anorder on a banker at Paris for the amount demanded, namely fifteenthousand livres, on condition that the library was to be left as adeposit with the owner, and that he was to accept a gratuity of onethousand livres annually for taking charge of the books, until theEmpress should require them. This was indeed a delicate and ingeniouskindness. Lord Brougham makes D'Alembert and not Diderot the subject ofthis anecdote. It is a mistake. See the Correspondence of Baron de Gummand Diderot with the Duke of Saxe-Gotha. 

Many of the Russian nobles keep up to this day the taste in gardeningintroduced by Catherine the Second, and have still many gardens laid outin the English style. They have often had in their employ both Englishand Scottish gardeners. There is an anecdote of a Scotch gardener in theCrimea in one of the public journals:--

"Our readers"--says the _Banffshire Journal_--"will recollect that whenthe Allies made a brief expedition to Yalto, in the south of the Crimea, they were somewhat surprised and gratified by the sight of some splendidgardens around a seat of Prince Woronzow. Little did our countrymenthink that these gardens were the work of a Scotchman, and a Moray loon;yet such was the case. " The history of the personage in question is asomewhat singular one: "Jamie Sinclair, the garden boy, had a naturalgenius, and played the violin. Lady Cumming had this boy educated by thefamily tutor, and sent him to London, where he was well known in1836-7-8, for his skill in drawing and colouring. Mr. Knight, of theExotic Nursery, for whom he used to draw orchids and new plants, senthim to the Crimea, to Prince Woronzow, where he practised for thirteenyears. He had laid out these beautiful gardens which the allies theother day so much admired; had the care of 10, 000 acres of vineyardsbelonging to the prince; was well known to the Czar, who often consultedhim about improvements, and gave him a "medal of merit" and a diploma orpassport, by which he was free to pass from one end of the empire to theother, and also through Austria and Prussia, I have seen theseinstruments. He returned to London in 1851, and was just engaged with aLondon publisher for a three years' job, when Menschikoff found theTurks too hot for him last April twelve-month; the Russians then made upfor blows, and Mr. Sinclair was more dangerous for them in London thanLord Aberdeen. He was the only foreigner who was ever allowed to see allthat was done in and out of Sebastopol, and over all the Crimea. TheCzar, however, took care that Sinclair could not join the allies; butwhere he is and what he is about I must not tell, until the war isover--except that he is not in Russia, and that he will never play firstfiddle again in Morayshire. "

[031] Brown succeeded to the popularity of Kent. He was nicknamed, _Capability Brown_, because when he had to examine grounds previous toproposed alterations and improvements he talked much of their_capabilities_. One of the works which are said to do his memory mosthonor, is the Park of Nuneham, the seat of Lord Harcourt. The groundsextend to 1, 200 acres. Horace Walpole said that they contained scenesworthy of the bold pencil of Rubens, and subjects for the tranquilsunshine of Claude de Lorraine. The following inscription is placed overthe entrance to the gardens. 

 Here universal Pan, Knit with the Graces and the Hours in dance, Leads on the eternal Spring. 

It is said that the _gardens_ at Nuneham were laid out by Mason, thepoet. 

[032] Mrs. Stowe visited the Jardin Mabille in the Champs Elysées, asort of French Vauxhall, where small jets of gas were so arranged as toimitate "flowers of the softest tints and the most perfect shape. "

[033] Napoleon, it is said, once conceived the plan of roofing withglass the gardens of the Tuileries, so that they might be used as awinter promenade. 

[034] Addison in the 477th number of the _Spectator_ in alluding toKensington Gardens, observes; "I think there are as many kinds ofgardening as poetry; our makers of parterres and flower gardens areepigrammatists and sonnetteers in the art; contrivers of bowers andgrottos, treillages and cascades, are romance writers. Wise and Londonare our heroic poets; and if I may single out any passage of their worksto commend I shall take notice of that part in the upper garden atKensington, which was at first nothing but a gravel pit. It must havebeen a fine genius for gardening that could have thought of forming suchan unsightly hollow unto so beautiful an area and to have hit the eyewith so uncommon and agreeable a scene as that which it is now wroughtinto. "

[035] Lord Bathurst, says London, informed Daines Barrington, that _he_(Lord Bathurst) was the first who deviated from the straight line insheets of water by following the lines in a valley in widening a brookat Ryskins, near Colnbrook; and Lord Strafford, thinking that it wasdone from poverty or economy asked him to own fairly how little more itwould have cost him to have made it straight. In these days no possessorof a park or garden has the water on his grounds either straight orsquare if he can make it resemble the Thames as described by Wordsworth:

 The river wanders at its own sweet will. 

Horace Walpole in his lively and pleasant little work on ModernGardening almost anticipates this thought. In commending Kent's style oflandscape-gardening he observes: "_The gentle stream was taught toserpentize at its pleasure. "_

[036] This Palm-house, "the glory of the gardens, " occupies an area of362 ft. In length; the centre is an hundred ft. In width and 66 ft. Inheight. 

It must charm a Native of the East on a visit to our country, to beholdsuch carefully cultured specimens, in a great glass-case in England, ofthe trees called by Linnaeus "the Princes of the vegetable kingdom, " andwhich grow so wildly and in such abundance in every corner of Hindustan. In this conservatory also are the banana and plantain. The people ofEngland are in these days acquainted, by touch and sight, with almostall the trees that grow in the several quarters of the world. Ourartists can now take sketches of foreign plants without crossing theseas. An allusion to the Palm tree recals some criticisms onShakespeare's botanical knowledge. 

"Look here, " says _Rosalind_, "what I found on a palm tree. " "A palmtree in the forest of Arden, " remarks Steevens, "is as much out of placeas a lioness in the subsequent scene. " Collier tries to get rid of thedifficulty by suggesting that Shakespeare may have written _plane tree_. "Both the remark and the suggestion, " observes Miss Baker, "might havebeen spared if those gentlemen had been aware that in the countiesbordering on the Forest of Arden, the name of an exotic tree istransferred to an indigenous one. " The _salix caprea_, or goat-willow, is popularly known as the "palm" in Northamptonshire, no doubt fromhaving been used for the decoration of churches on Palm Sunday--itsgraceful yellow blossoms, appearing at a time when few other trees haveput forth a leaf, having won for it that distinction. Clare so callsit:--

 "Ye leaning palms, that seem to look Pleased o'er your image in the brook. "

That Shakespeare included the willow in his forest scenery is certain, from another passage in the same play:--

 "West of this place, down in the neighbour bottom. The _rank of osiers_ by the murmuring stream, Left on your right hand brings you to the place. "

The customs and amusements of Northamptonshire, which are frequentlynoticed in these volumes, were identical with those of the neighbouringcounty of Warwick, and, in like manner illustrate very clearly manypassages in the great dramatist. --_Miss Baker's "Glossary ofNorthamptonshire Words. " (Quoted by the London Athenaeum_. )

[037] Mrs. Hemans once took up her abode for some weeks with Wordsworthat Rydal Mount, and was so charmed with the country around, that she wasinduced to take a cottage called _Dove's Nest_, which over-looked thelake of Windermere. But tourists and idlers so haunted her retreat andso worried her for autographs and Album contributions, that she wasobliged to make her escape. Her little cottage and garden in the villageof Wavertree, near Liverpool, seem to have met the fate which hasbefallen so many of the residences of the poets. "Mrs. Hemans's littleflower-garden" (says a late visitor) "was no more--but rank grass andweeds sprang up luxuriously; many of the windows were broken; theentrance gate was off its hinges: the vine in front of the house trailedalong the ground, and a board, with '_This house to let_' upon it, wasnailed on the door. I entered the deserted garden and looked into thelittle parlour--once so full of taste and elegance; it was gloomy andcheerless. The paper was spotted with damp, and spiders had built theirwebs in the corner. As I mused on the uncertainty of human life, Iexclaimed with the eloquent Burke, --'What shadows we are, and whatshadows we pursue!'"

The beautiful grounds of the late Professor Wilson at Elleray, we aretold by Mr. Howitt in his interesting "_Homes and Haunts of the BritishPoets_" have also been sadly changed. "Steam, " he says, "as little astime, has respected the sanctity of the poet's home, but has drawn itsroaring iron steeds opposite to its gate and has menaced to rush throughit and lay waste its charmed solitude. In plain words, I saw the stagesof a projected railway running in an ominous line across the very lawnand before the windows of Elleray. " I believe the whole place has beenpurchased by a Railway Company. 

[038] In Churton's _Rail Book of England_, published about three yearsago, Pope's Villa is thus noticed--"Not only was this temple of theMuses--this abode of genius--the resort of the learned and the wittiestof the land--levelled to the earth, but all that the earth produced toremind posterity of its illustrious owner, and identify the dead withthe living strains he has bequeathed to us, was plucked up by the rootsand scattered to the wind. " On the authority of William Hewitt I havestated on an earlier page that some splendid Spanish chesnut trees andsome elms and cedars planted by Pope at Twickenham were still inexistence. But Churton is a later authority. Howitt's book was publishedin 1847. 

[039] _One would have thought &c. _ See the garden of Armida, asdescribed by Tasso, C. Xvi. 9, &c. 

 "In lieto aspetto il bel giardin s'aperse &c. "

Here was all that variety, which constitutes the nature of beauty: hilland dale, lawns and crystal rivers, &c. 

 "And, that which all faire works doth most aggrace, "The art, which all that wrought, appearéd in no place. "

Which is literally from Tasso, C, xvi 9. 

 "E quel, che'l bello, e'l caro accresce à l'opre, "L'arte, che tutto fa, nulla si scopre. "

The next stanza is likewise translated from Tasso, C. Xvi 10. And, ifthe reader likes the comparing of the copy with the original, he may seemany other beauties borrowed from the Italian poet. The fountain, andthe two bathing damsels, are taken from Tasso, C. Xv, st. 55, &c. Whichhe calls, _Il fonte del riso_. UPTON. 

[040] Cowper was evidently here thinking rather of Milton than of Homer. 

 _Flowers of all hue_, and without thorns the rose. 

_Paradise Lost_. 

Pope translates the passage thus;

 Beds of all various _herbs_, for ever green, In beauteous order terminate the scene. 

Homer referred to pot-herbs, not to flowers of all hues. Cowper isgenerally more faithful than Pope, but he is less so in this instance. In the above description we have Homer's highest conception of aprincely garden:--in five acres were included an orchard, a vineyard, and some beds of pot-herbs. Not a single flower is mentioned, by theoriginal author, though his translator has been pleased to steal somefrom the garden of Eden and place them on "the verge extreme" of thefour acres. Homer of course meant to attach to a Royal residence asRoyal a garden; but as Bacon says, "men begin to build stately soonerthan to garden finely, as if gardening were the greater perfection. " Themansion of Alcinous was of brazen walls with golden columns; and theGreeks and Romans had houses that were models of architecture when theirgardens exhibited no traces whatever of the hand of taste. 

[041] _And over him, art stryving to compayre With nature, did an arber greene dispied_

This whole episode is taken from Tasso, C. 16, where Rinaldo isdescribed in dalliance with Armida. The bower of bliss is her garden

 "Stimi (si misto il culto e col negletto) "Sol naturali e gli ornamenti e i siti, "Di natura arte par, che per diletto "L'imitatrice sua scherzando imiti. "

See also Ovid, _Met_ iii. 157

 "Cujus in extremo est antrum nemorale necessu, "Arte laboratum nulla, simulaverat artem "Ingenio natura fuo nam pumice vivo, "Et lenibus tophis nativum duxerat arcum "Fons sonat a dextra, tenui perlucidas unda "Margine gramineo patulos incinctus hiatus"

UPTON

If this passage may be compared with Tasso's elegant description ofArmida's garden, Milton's _pleasant grove_ may vie with both. [141] Heis, however, under obligations to the sylvan scene of Spenser before us. Mr. J. C. Walker, to whom the literature of Ireland and of Italy is highlyindebted, has mentioned to me his surprise that the writers on moderngardening should have overlooked the beautiful pastoral description inthis and the two following stanzas. [142] It is worthy a place, he adds, in the Eden of Milton. Spenser, on this occasion, lost sight of the"trim gardens" of Italy and England, and drew from the treasures of hisown rich imagination. TODD. 

 _And fast beside these trickled softly downe. A gentle stream, &c. _

Compare the following stanza in the continuation of the _OrlandoInnamorato_, by Nilcolo degli Agostinti, Lib. Iv, C. 9. 

 "Ivi è un mormorio assai soave, e basso, Che ogniun che l'ode lo fa addornientare, L'acqua, ch'io dissi gia per entro un sasso E parea che dicesse nel sonare. Vatti riposa, ormai sei stanco, e lasso, E gli augeletti, che s'udian cantare, Ne la dolce armonia par che ogn'un dica, Deh vien, e dormi ne la piaggia, aprica, "

Spenser's obligations to this poem seem to have escaped the notice ofhis commentators. J. C. WALKER. 

[042] The oak was dedicated to Jupiter, and the poplar to Hercules. 

[043] _Sicker_, surely; Chaucer spells it _siker_. 

[044] _Yode_, went. 

[045] _Tabreret_, a tabourer. 

[046] _Tho_, then

[047] _Attone_, at once--with him. 

[048] Cato being present on one occasion at the floral games, the peopleout of respect to him, forbore to call for the usual exposures; wheninformed of this he withdrew, that the spectators might not be deprivedof their usual entertainment. 

[049] What is the reason that an easterly wind is every whereunwholesome and disagreeable? I am not sufficiently scientific to answerthis question. Pope takes care to notice the fitness of the easterlywind for the _Cave of Spleen_. 

 No cheerful breeze this sullen region knows, The dreaded east is all the wind that blows. 

_Rape of the Lock_. 

[050] One sweet scene of early pleasures in my native land I havecommemorated in the following sonnet:--

NETLEY ABBEY. 

 Romantic ruin! who could gaze on thee Untouched by tender thoughts, and glimmering dreams Of long-departed years? Lo! nature seems Accordant with thy silent majesty! The far blue hills--the smooth reposing sea-- The lonely forest--the meandering streams-- The farewell summer sun, whose mellowed beams Illume thine ivied halls, and tinge each tree, Whose green arms round thee cling--the balmy air-- The stainless vault above, that cloud or storm 'Tis hard to deem will ever more deform-- The season's countless graces, --all appear To thy calm glory ministrant, and form A scene to peace and meditation dear!

D. L. R. 

[051] "I was ever more disposed, " says Hume, "to see the favourable thanthe unfavourable side of things; _a turn of mind which it is more happyto possess, than to be born to an estate of ten thousand a year_. "

[052] So called, because the grounds were laid out in a tasteful style, under the direction of Lord Auckland's sister, the Honorable Miss Eden. 

[053] _Songs of the East by Mrs. W. S. Carshore. D'Rozario & Co, Calcutta_ 1854. 

[054] The lines form a portion of a poem published in _Literary Leaves_in the year 1840. 

[055] Perhaps some formal or fashionable wiseacres may pronounce suchsimple ceremonies _vulgar_. And such is the advance of civilization thateven the very chimney-sweepers themselves begin to look upon their oldMay-day merry-makings as beneath the dignity of their profession. "Suppose now" said Mr. Jonas Hanway to a sooty little urchin, "I were togive you a shilling. " "Lord Almighty bless your honor, and thank you. ""And what if I were to give you a fine tie-wig to wear on May-day?" "Ah!bless your honor, my master wont let me go out on May-day, " "Why not?""Because, he says, _it's low life_. " And yet the merrie makings onMay-day which are now deemed _ungenteel_ by chimney-sweepers were once thedelight of Princes:--

 Forth goth all the court, both most and least, To fetch the flowres fresh, and branch and blome, And namely hawthorn brought both page and grome, And then rejoicing in their great delite Eke ech at others threw the flowres bright, The primrose, violet, and the gold With fresh garlants party blue and white. 

_Chaucer_. 

[056] The May-pole was usually decorated with the flowers of thehawthorn, a plant as emblematical of the spring as the holly is ofChristmas. Goldsmith has made its name familiar even to the people ofBengal, for almost every student in the upper classes of the GovernmentColleges has the following couplet by heart. 

 The _hawthorn bush_, with seats beneath the shade, For talking age and whispering lovers made. 

The hawthorn was amongst Burns's floral pets. "I have, " says he, "somefavorite flowers in spring, among which are, the mountain daisy, theharebell, the fox-glove, the wild-briar rose, the budding birch and thehoary hawthorn, that I view and hang over with particular delight. "

L. E. L. Speaks of the hawthorn hedge on which "the sweet May has showeredits white luxuriance, " and the Rev. George Croly has a patrioticallusion to this English plant, suggested by a landscape in France. 

 'Tis a rich scene, and yet the richest charm That e'er clothed earth in beauty, lives not here. Winds no green fence around the cultured farm _No blossomed hawthorn shields the cottage dear_: The land is bright; and yet to thine how drear, Unrivalled England! Well the thought may pine For those sweet fields where, each a little sphere, In shaded, sacred fruitfulness doth shine, And the heart higher beats that says; 'This spot is mine. '

[057] On May-day, the Ancient Romans used to go in procession to thegrotto of Egeria. 

[058] See what is said of palms in a note on page 81. 

[059] Phillips's _Flora Historica_. 

[060] The word primrose is supposed to be a compound of _prime_ and_rose_, and Spenser spells it prime rose

 The pride and prime rose of the rest Made by the maker's self to be admired

The Rev. George Croly characterizes Bengal as a mountainous country--

 There's glory on thy _mountains_, proud Bengal--

and Dr. Johnson in his _Journey of a day_, (Rambler No. 65) charms thetraveller in Hindustan with a sight of the primrose and the oak. 

"As he passed along, his ears were delighted with the morning song ofthe bird of paradise; he was fanned by the last flutters of the sinkingbreeze, and sprinkled with dew by groves of spices, he sometimescontemplated the towering height of the oak, monarch of the hills; andsometimes caught the gentle fragrance of the primrose, eldest daughterof the spring. "

In some book of travels, I forget which, the writer states, that he hadseen the primrose in Mysore and in the recesses of the Pyrenees. Thereis a flower sold by the Bengallee gardeners for the primrose, though itbears but small resemblance to the English flower of that name. Onturning to Mr. Piddington's Index to the Plants of India I find underthe head of _Primula_--Primula denticula--Stuartii--rotundifolia--withthe names in the Mawar or Nepaulese dialect. 

[061] In strewing their graves the Romans affected the rose; the Greeksamaranthus and myrtle: the funeral pyre consisted of sweet fuel, cypress, fir, larix, yew, and trees perpetually verdant lay silentexpressions of their surviving hopes. _Sir Thomas Browne_. 

[062] The allusion to the cowslip in Shakespeare's description ofImogene must not be passed over here. --

 On her left breast A mole cinque-spotted, like the crimson drop I' the bottom of the cowslip. 

[063] The Guelder rose--This elegant plant is a native of Britain, andwhen in flower, has at first sight, the appearance of a little mapletree that has been pelted with snow balls, and we almost fear to seethem melt away in the warm sunshine--_Glenny_. 

[064] In a greenhouse

[065] Some flowers have always been made to a certain degreeemblematical of sentiment in England as elsewhere, but it was the Turkswho substituted flowers for words to such an extent as to entitlethemselves to be regarded as the inventors of the floral language. 

[066] The floral or vegetable language is not always the language oflove or compliment. It is sometimes severe and scornful. A gentlemansent a lady a rose as a declaration of his passion and a slip of paperattached, with the inscription--"If not accepted, I am off to the war. "The lady forwarded in return a mango (man, go!)

[067] No part of the creation supposed to be insentient, exhibits to animaginative observer such an aspect of spiritual life and such anapparent sympathy with other living things as flowers, shrubs and trees. A tree of the genus Mimosa, according to Niebuhr, bends its branchesdownward as if in hospitable salutation when any one approaches near toit. The Arabs, are on this account so fond of the "courteous tree" thatthe injuring or cutting of it down is strictly prohibited. 

[068] It has been observed that the defense is supplied in the followingline--_want of sense_--a stupidity that "errs in ignorance and not incunning. "

[069] There is apparently so much doubt and confusion is to the identityof the true Hyacinth, and the proper application of its several namesthat I shall here give a few extracts from other writers on thissubject. 

Some authors suppose the Red Martagon Lily to be the poetical Hyacinthof the ancients, but this is evidently a mistaken opinion, as the azureblue color alone would decide and Pliny describes the Hyacinth as havinga sword grass and the smell of the grape flower, which agrees with theHyacinth, but not with the Martagon. Again, Homer mentions it withfragrant flowers of the same season of the Hyacinth. The poets alsonotice the hyacinth under different colours, and every body knows thatthe hyacinth flowers with sapphire colored purple, crimson, flesh andwhite bells, but a blue martagon will be sought for in vain. _Phillips'Flora Historica_. 

A doubt hangs over the poetical history of the modern, as well as of theancient flower, owing to the appellation _Harebell_ being, indiscriminately applied both to _Scilla_ wild Hyacinth, and also to_Campanula rotundifolia, Blue Bell_. Though the Southern bards haveoccasionally misapplied the word _Harebell_ it will facilitate ourunderstanding which flower is meant if we bear in mind as a general rulethat that name is applied differently in various parts of the island, thus the Harebell of Scottish writers is the _Campanula_, and theBluebell, so celebrated in Scottish song, is the wild Hyacinth or_Scilla_ while in England the same names are used conversely, the_Campanula_ being the Bluebell and the wild Hyacinth the Harebell. _EdenWarwick_. 

The Hyacinth of the ancient fabulists appears to have been thecorn-flag, (_Gladiolus communis_ of botanists) but the name was appliedvaguely and had been early applied to the great larkspur (DelphiniumAjacis) on account of the similar spots on the petals, supposed torepresent the Greek exclamation of grief _Ai Ai_, and to the hyacinth ofmodern times. 

Our wild hyacinth, which contributes so much to the beauty of ourwoodland scenery during the spring, may be regarded as a transitionspecies between scilla and hyacinthus, the form and drooping habit ofits flower connecting it with the latter, while the six pieces that formthe two outer circles, being separate to the base, give it the technicalcharacter of the former. It is still called _Hyacinthus non-scriptus_--butas the true hyacinth equally wants the inscription, the name issingularly inappropriate. The botanical name of the hyacinth is_Hyacinthus orientalis_ which applies equally to all the varieties ofcolour, size and fulness. --_W. Hinks_. 

[070] Old Gerard calls it Blew Harebel or English _Jacint_, from theFrench _Jacinthe_. 

[071] Inhabitants of the Island of Chios

[072] Supposed by some to be Delphinium Ajacis or Larkspur. But no onecan discover any letters on the Larkspur. 

[073] Some _savants_ say that it was not the _sunflower_ into which thelovelorn lass was transformed, but the _Heliotrope_ with its sweet odourof vanilla. Heliotrope signifies _I turn towards the sun_. It could nothave been the sun flower, according to some authors because that camefrom Peru and Peru was not known to Ovid. But it is difficult to settlethis grave question. As all flowers turn towards the sun, we cannot fixon any one that is particularly entitled to notice on that account. 

[074] Zephyrus. 

[075] "A remarkably intelligent young botanist of our acquaintanceasserts it as his firm conviction that many a young lady who wouldshrink from being kissed under the mistletoe would not have the sameobjection to that ceremony if performed _under the rose_. "--_Punch_. 

[076] Mary Howitt mentions that amongst the private cultivators of rosesin the neighbourhood of London, the well-known publisher Mr. Henry S. Bohn is particularly distinguished. In his garden at Twickenham onethousand varieties of the rose are brought to great perfection. He givesa sort of floral fete to his friends in the height of the rose season. 

[077] The learned dry the flower of the Forget me not and flatten itdown in their herbals, and call it, _Myosotis Scorpioides--Scorpionshaped mouse's ear_! They have been reproached for this by a brothersavant, Charles Nodier, who was not a learned man only but a man of witand sense. --_Alphonse Karr_. 

[078] The Abbé Molina in his History of Chili mentions a species ofbasil which he calls _ocymum salinum_: he says it resembles the commonbasil, except that the stalk is round and jointed; and that though itgrows sixty miles from the sea, yet every morning it is covered withsaline globules, which are hard and splendid, appearing at a distancelike dew; and that each plant furnishes about an ounce of fine saltevery day, which the peasants collect and use as common salt, but esteemit superior in flavour. --_Notes to Darwin's Loves of the Plants_. 

[079] The Dutch are a strange people and of the most heterogeneouscomposition. They have an odd mixture in their nature of the coldestutilitarianism and the most extravagant romance. A curious illustrationof this is furnished in their tulipomania, in which there was a strugglebetween the love of the substantial and the love of the beautiful. Oneof their authors enumerates the following articles as equivalent inmoney value to the price of one tulip root--"two lasts of wheat--fourlasts of rye--four fat oxen--eight fat swine--twelve fat sheep--twohogsheads of wine--four tons of butter--one thousand pounds of cheese--acomplete bed--a suit of clothes--and a silver drinking cup. "

[080] _Maun_, must

[081] _Stoure_, dust

[082] _Weet_, wetness, rain

[083] _Glinted_, peeped

[084] _Wa's_, walls. 

[085] _Bield_, shelter

[086] _Histie_, dry

[087] _Stibble field_, a field covered with stubble--the stalks of cornleft by the reaper. 

[088] _The origin of the Daisy_--When Christ was three years old hismother wished to twine him a birthday wreath. But as no flower wasgrowing out of doors on Christmas eve, not in all the promised land, andas no made up flowers were to be bought, Mary resolved to prepare aflower herself. To this end she took a piece of bright yellow silk whichhad come down to her from David, and ran into the same, thick threads ofwhite silk, thread by thread, and while thus engaged, she pricked herfinger with the needle, and the pure blood stained some of the threadswith crimson, whereat the little child was much affected. But when thewinter was past and the rains were come and gone, and when spring cameto strew the earth with flowers, and the fig tree began to put forth hergreen figs and the vine her buds, and when the voice or the turtle washeard in the land, then came Christ and took the tender plant with itssingle stem and egg shaped leaves and the flower with its golden centreand rays of white and red, and planted it in the vale of Nazareth. Then, taking up the cup of gold which had been presented to him by the wisemen of the East, he filled it at a neighbouring fountain, and wateredthe flower and breathed upon it. And the plant grew and became the mostperfect of plants, and it flowers in every meadow, when the snowdisappears, and is itself the snow of spring, delighting the young heartand enticing the old men from the village to the fields. From then untilnow this flower has continued to bloom and although it may be plucked ahundred times, again it blossoms--_Colshorn's Deutsche Mythologie fursDeutsche Volk_. 

[089] The Gorse is a low bush with prickly leaves growing like ajuniper. The contrast of its very brilliant yellow pea shaped blossomswith the dark green of its leaves is very beautiful. It grows in hedgesand on commons and is thought rather a plebeian affair. I think it wouldmake quite an addition to our garden shrubbery. Possibly it might makeas much sensation with us (Americans) as our mullein does in foreigngreen-houses, --_Mrs. Stowe_. 

[090] George Town. 

[091] The hill trumpeter. 

[092] Nutmeg and Clove plantations. 

[093] Leigh Hunt, in the dedication of his _Stories in Verse_ to theDuke of Devonshire speaks of his Grace as "the adorner of the countrywith beautiful gardens, and with the far-fetched botany of otherclimates; one of whom it may be said without exaggeration and evenwithout a metaphor, that his footsteps may be traced in flowers. "

[094] The following account of a newly discovered flower may beinteresting to my readers. "It is about the size of a walnut, perfectlywhite, with fine leaves, resembling very much the wax plant. Upon theblooming of the flower, in the cup formed by the leaves, is the exactimage of a dove lying on its back with its wings extended. The peak ofthe bill and the eyes are plainly to be seen and a small leaf before theflower arrives at maturity forms the outspread tail. The leaf can beraised or shut down with the finger without breaking or apparentlyinjuring it until the flower reaches its bloom, when it drops, "--_PanamaStar_. 

[095] Signifying the _dew of the sea_. The rosemary grows best near thesea-shore, and when the wind is off the land it delights thehome-returning voyager with its familiar fragrance. 

[096] Perhaps it is not known to _all_ my readers that some flowers notonly brighten the earth by day with their lovely faces, but emit lightat dusk. In a note to Darwin's _Loves of the Plants_ it is stated thatthe daughter of Linnaeus first observed the Nasturtium to throw outflashes of light in the morning before sunrise, and also during theevening twilight, but not after total darkness came on. The philosophersconsidered these flashes to be electric. Mr. Haggren, Professor ofNatural History, perceived one evening a faint flash of light repeatedlydarted from a marigold. The flash was afterwards often seen by him onthe same flower two or three times, in quick succession, but morecommonly at intervals of some minutes. The light has been observed alsoon the orange, the lily, the monks hood, the yellow goats beard and thesun flower. This effect has sometimes been so striking that the flowershave looked as if they were illuminated for a holiday. 

Lady Blessington has a fanciful allusion to this flower light. "Someflowers, " she says, "absorb the rays of the sun so strongly that in theevening they yield slight phosphoric flashes, may we not compare theminds of poets to those flowers which imbibing light emit it again in adifferent form and aspect?"

[097] The Shan and other Poems

[098] My Hindu friend is not answerable for the following notes. 

[099] And infants winged, who mirthful throw Shafts rose-tipped from nectareous bow. 

Kam Déva, the Cupid of the Hindu Mythology, is thus represented. His bowis of the sugar cane, his string is formed of wild bees, and his arrowsare tipped with the rose. --_Tales of the Forest_. 

[100] In 1811 this plant was subjected to a regular set of experimentsby Dr. G. Playfair, who, with many of his brethren, bears ampletestimony of its efficacy in leprosy, lues, tenia, herpes, dropsy, rheumatism, hectic and intermittent fever. The powdered bark is given indoses of 5-6 grains twice a day. --_Dr. Voight's Hortus SuburbanusCalcuttensis_. 

[101] It is perhaps of the Flax tribe. Mr. Piddington gives it theSanscrit name of _Atasi_ and the Botanical name _Linum usitatissimum_. 

[102] Roxburgh calls it "intensely fragrant. "

[103] Sometimes employed by robbers to deprive their victims of thepower of resistance. In a strong dose it is poison. 

[104] It is said to be used by the Chinese to blacken their eyebrows andtheir shoes. 

[105] _Mirábilis jálapa_, or Marvel of Peru, is called by the countrypeople in England _the four o'clock flower_, from its opening regularlyat that time. There is a species of broom in America which is called theAmerican clock, because it exhibits its golden flowers every morning ateleven, is fully open by one and closes again at two. 

[106] Marvell died in 1678; Linnaeus died just a hundred years later. 

[107] This poem (_The Sugar Cane_) when read in manuscript at Sir JoshuaReynolds's, had made all the assembled wits burst into a laugh, whenafter much blank-verse pomp the poet began a paragraph thus. --

 "Now, Muse, let's sing of rats. "

And what increased the ridicule was, that one of the company who slylyoverlooked the reader, perceived that the word had been originally_mice_ and had been altered to _rats_ as more dignified. --_Boswell'sLife of Johnson_. 

[108] Hazlitt has a pleasant essay on a garden _Sun-dial_, from which Itake the following passage:--

_Horas non numero nisi serenas_--is the motto of a sun dial near Venice. There is a softness and a harmony in the words and in the thoughtunparalleled. Of all conceits it is surely the most classical. "I countonly the hours that are serene. " What a bland and care-dispellingfeeling! How the shadows seem to fade on the dial plate as the skylooms, and time presents only a blank unless as its progress is markedby what is joyous, and all that is not happy sinks into oblivion! What afine lesson is conveyed to the mind--to take no note of time but by itsbenefits, to watch only for the smiles and neglect the frowns of fate, to compose our lives of bright and gentle moments, turning always to thesunny side of things, and letting the rest slip from our imaginations, unheeded or forgotten! How different from the common art of selftormenting! For myself, as I rode along the Brenta, while the sun shonehot upon its sluggish, slimy waves, my sensations were far fromcomfortable, but the reading this inscription on the side of a glaringwall in an instant restored me to myself, and still, whenever I think ofor repeat it, it has the power of wafting me into the region of pure andblissful abstraction. 

[109] These are the initial letters of the Latin names of the plants, they will be found at length on the lower column. 

[110] Hampton Court was laid out by Cardinal Wolsey. The labyrinth, oneof the best which remains in England, occupies only a quarter of anacre, and contains nearly a mile of winding walks. There is an adjacentstand, on which the gardener places himself, to extricate theadventuring stranger by his directions. Switzer condemns this plan forhaving only four stops and gives a plan for one with twenty. --_Loudon_. 

[111] The lower part of Bengal, not far from Calcutta, is here described

[112] Sir William Jones states that the Brahmins believe that the _blue_champac flowers only in Paradise, it being yellow every where else. 

[113] The wild dog of Bengal

[114] The elephant. 

[115] Even Jeremy Bentham, the great Utilitarian Philosopher, whopronounced the composition and perusal of poetry a mere amusement of nohigher rank than the game of Pushpin, had still something of the commonfeeling of the poetry of nature in his soul. He says of himself--"_I waspassionately fond of flowers from my youth, and the passion has neverleft me. _" In praise of botany he would sometimes observe, "_We cannotpropagate stones_:" meaning that the mineralogist cannot circulate histreasures without injuring himself, but the botanist can multiply hisspecimens at will and add to the pleasures of others without lesseninghis own. 

[116] A man of a polite imagination is let into a great many pleasuresthat the vulgar are not capable of receiving. He can converse with apicture and find an agreeable companion in a statue. He meets with asecret refreshment in a description, _and often feels a greatersatisfaction in the prospect of fields and meadows, than another does inthe possession_. --_Spectator_. 

[117] Kent died in 1748 in the 64th year of his age. As a painter he hadno great merit, but many men of genius amongst his contemporaries hadthe highest opinion of his skill as a Landscape-gardener. He sometimes, however, carried his love of the purely natural to a fantastic excess, as when in Kensington-garden he planted dead trees to give an air ofwild truth to the landscape. 

 In Esher's peaceful grove, Where Kent and nature strove for Pelham's love, this landscape-gardener is said to have exhibited a very remarkabledegree of taste and judgment. I cannot resist the temptation to quotehere Horace Walpole's eloquent account of Kent: "At that moment appearedKent, painter and poet enough to taste the charms of landscape, bold andopinionative enough to dare and to dictate, and born with a genius tostrike out a great system from the twilight of imperfect essays. Heleaped the fence and saw that all nature was a garden[143]. He felt thedelicious contrast of hill and valley changing imperceptibly into eachother, tasted the beauty of the gentle swell, or concave swoop, andremarked how loose groves crowned an easy eminence with happy ornament, and while they called in the distant view between their graceful stems, removed and extended the perspective by delusive comparison. "--_OnModern Gardening_. 

[118] When the rage for a wild irregularity in the laying out of gardenswas carried to its extreme, the garden paths were so ridiculouslytortuous or zig-zag, that, as Brown remarked, a man might put one footupon _zig_ and the other upon _zag_. 

[119] The natives are much too fond of having tanks within a few feet oftheir windows, so that the vapours from the water go directly into thehouse. These vapours are often seen hanging or rolling over the surfaceof the tank like thick wreaths of smoke. 

[120] Broken brick is called _kunkur_, but I believe the real kunkur isreal gravel, and if I am not mistaken a pretty good sort of gravel, formed of particles of red granite, is obtainable from the Rajmahalhills. 

[121] Pope in his well known paper in the _Guardian_ complains that acitizen is no sooner proprietor of a couple of yews but he entertainsthoughts of erecting them into giants, like those of Guildhall. "I knowan eminent cook, " continues the writer, "who beautified his country seatwith a coronation dinner in greens, where you see the Championflourishing on horseback at one end of the table and the Queen inperpetual youth at the other. "

When the desire to subject nature to art had been carried to theludicrous extravagances so well satirized by Pope, men rushed into anopposite extreme. Uvedale Price in his first rage for nature and horrorof art, destroyed a venerable old garden that should have been respectedfor its antiquity, if for nothing else. He lived to repent his rashnessand honestly to record that repentance. Coleridge, observed to JohnSterling, that "we have gone too far in destroying the old style ofgardens and parks. " "The great thing in landscape gardening" hecontinued "is to discover whether the scenery is such that the countryseems to belong to man or man to the country. "

[122] In England it costs upon the average about 12 shillings or sixrupees to have a tree of 30 feet high transplanted. 

[123] I believe the largest leaf in the world is that of the Fan Palm orTalipot tree in Ceylon. "The branch of the tree, " observes the author of_Sylvan Sketches_, "is not remarkably large, but it bears a leaf largeenough to cover twenty men. It will fold into a fan and is then nobigger than a man's arm. "

[124] Southey's Common-Place Book. 

[125] The height of a full grown banyan may be from sixty to eightyfeet; and many of them, I am fully confident, cover at least twoacres. --_Oriental Field Sports_. 

There is a banyan tree about five and twenty miles from Berhampore, remarkable for the height of the lower branches from the ground. A manstanding up on the houdah of an elephant may pass under it withouttouching the foliage. 

A tree has been described as growing in China of a size so prodigiousthat one branch of it only will so completely cover two hundred sheepthat they cannot be perceived by those who approach the tree, andanother so enormous that eighty persons can scarcely embrace thetrunk. --_Sylvan Sketches_. 

[126] This praise is a little extravagant, but the garden is really verytastefully laid out, and ought to furnish a useful model to such of thepeople of this city as have spacious grounds. The area of the garden isabout two hundred and fifty nine acres. This garden was commenced in1768 by Colonel Kyd. It then passed to the care of Dr. Roxburgh, whoremained in charge of it from 1793 to the date of his death 1813. 

[127] Alphonse Karr, bitterly ridicules the Botanical _Savants_ withtheir barbarous nomenclature. He speaks of their mesocarps andquinqueloculars infundibuliform, squammiflora, guttiferas monocotyledous&c. &c. With supreme disgust. Our English poet, Wordsworth, also used tocomplain that some of our familiar English names of flowers, names sofull of delightful associations, were beginning to be exchanged even incommon conversation for the coldest and harshest scientific terms. 

[128] _The Hand of Eve_--the handiwork of Eve. 

[129] _Without thorn the rose_: Dr. Bentley calls this a puerile fancy. But it should be remembered, that it was part of the curse denouncedupon the Earth for Adam's transgression, that it should bring forththorns and thistles. _Gen. _ iii. 18. Hence the general opinion hasprevailed, that there were _no thorns_ before; which is enough tojustify a poet, in saying "_the rose was without thorn_. "--NEWTON. 

[130] See page 188. My Hindu friend is not responsible for the selectionof the following notes. 

[131] Birdlime is prepared from the tenacious milky juice of the Peepuland the Banyan. The leaves of the Banyan are used by the Bramins to eatoff, for which purpose they are joined together by inkles. Birds arevery fond of the fruit of the Peepul, and often drop the seeds in thecracks of buildings, where they vegetate, occasioning great damage ifnot removed in time. --_Voight_. 

[132] The ancient Greeks and Romans also married trees together in asimilar manner. --_R. _

[133] The root of this plant, (_Euphorbia ligularia_, ) mixed up withblack pepper, is used by the Natives against snake bites. --_Roxburgh_. 

[134] Coccos nucifera, the _root_ is sometimes masticated instead of theBetle-nut. In Brazil, baskets are made of the _small fibres_. The _hardcase of the stem_ is converted into drums, and used in the constructionof huts. The lower part is so hard as to take a beautiful polish, whenit resembles agate. The reticulated substance at base of the leaf isformed into cradles, and, as some say, into a coarse kind of cloth. The_unexpanded terminal bud_ is a delicate article of food. The _leaves_furnish thatch for dwellings, and materials for fences, buckets, andbaskets; they are used for writing on, and make excellent torches;potash in abundance is yielded by their ashes. The _midrib of the_ leafserves for oars. The _juice of the flower and stems_ is replete withsugar, and is fermented into excellent wine, or distilled into arrack, or the sugary part is separated as Jagary. The tree is cultivated inmany parts of the Indian islands, for the sake not only of the sap and_milk_ it yields, but for the _kernel_ of its fruit, used both as foodand for culinary purposes, and as affording a large proportion of _oil_which is burned in lamps throughout India, and forms also a largearticle of export to Europe. The fibrous and uneatable rind of the fruitis not only used to polish furniture and to scour the floors of rooms, but is manufactured into a kind of cordage, (_Koir_) which is nearlyequal in strength to hemp, and which Roxburgh designates as the very bestof all materials for cables, on account of its great elasticity andstrength. The sap of this as well as of other palms is found to be thesimplest and easiest remedy that can be employed for removingconstipation in persons of delicate habit, especially Europeanfemales. --_Voigt's Suburbanus Calcuttensis_. 

[135] The root is bitter, nauseous, and used in North America asanthelmintic. _A. Richard_. 

[136] Of one species of tulsi (_Babooi-tulsi_) the seeds, if steeped inwater, swell into a pleasant jelly, which is used by the Natives incases of catarrh, dysentry, chronic diarrhoea &c. And is very nourishingand demulcent--_Voigt_. 

[137] This list is framed from such as were actually grown by the authorbetween 1837 and the present year, from seed received chiefly throughthe kindness of Captain Kirke. 

[138] The native market gardens sell Madras roses at the rate ofthirteen young plants for the rupee. Mrs. Gore tells us that in Londonthe most esteemed kinds of old roses are usually sold by nurserymen atfifty shillings a hundred the first French and other varieties seldomexceed half a guinea a piece. 

[139] I may add to Mr. Speede's list of Roses the _Banksian Rose_. Theflowers are yellow, in clusters, and scentless. Mrs. Gore says it wasimported into England from the Calcutta Botanical Garden, it is called_Wong moue heong_. There is another rose also called the _Banksian Rose_extremely small, very double, white, expanding from March till May, highly scented with violets. The _Rosa Brownii_ was brought from Nepaulby Dr. Wallich. A very sweet rose has been brought into Bengal fromEngland. It is called _Rosa Peeliana_ after the original importer SirLawrence Peel. It is a hybrid. I believe it is a tea scented rose and isprobably a cross between one of that sort and a common China rose, butthis is mere conjecture. The varieties of the tea rose are nowcultivated by Indian malees with great success. They sell at the priceof from eight annas to a rupee each. A variety of the Bengal yellowrose, is now comparatively common. It fetches from one to three rupees, each root. It is known to the native gardeners by the English name of"_Yellow Rose_". Amongst the flowers introduced here since Mr. Speede'sbook appeared, is the beautiful blue heliotrope which the natives call_kala heliotrope_. 

[140] He gains all points who pleasingly confounds, Surprizes, varies, and conceals the bounds. 

[141] The following is the passage alluded to by Todd

 A pleasant grove With chant of tuneful birds resounding loud, Thither he bent his way, determined there To rest at noon, and entered soon the shade, High roofed, and walks beneath and alleys brown, That opened in the midst a woody scene, Nature's own work it seemed (nature taught art) And to a superstitious eye the haunt Of wood gods and wood nymphs. 

_Paradise Regained, Book II_

[142] The following stanzas are almost as direct translations from Tassoas the two last stanzas in the words of Fairfax on page 111:--

 The whiles some one did chaunt this lovely lay;-- Ah! see, whoso fayre thing doest faine to see, In springing flowre the image of thy day! Ah! see the virgin rose, how sweetly shee Doth first peepe forth with bashful modesty; That fairer seems the less you see her may! Lo! see soone after how more bold and free Her baréd bosome she doth broad display; Lo! see soone after how she fades and falls away!

 So passeth, in the passing of a day, Of mortal life, the leaf, the bud, the flowre, Ne more doth florish after first decay, That erst was sought, to deck both bed and bowre Of many a lady and many a paramoure! Gather therefore the rose whilest yet is prime For soone comes age that will her pride deflowre; Gather the rose of love, whilest yet is time Whilest loving thou mayst loved be with equal crime[144]

_Fairie Queene, Book II. Canto XII. _

[143] I suppose in the remark that Kent leapt the fence, Horace Walpolealludes to that artist's practice of throwing down walls and otherboundaries and sinking fosses called by the common people _Ha! Ha's!_to express their astonishment when the edge of the fosse brought them toan unexpected stop. 

Horace Walpole's History of Modern Gardening is now so little read thatauthors think they may steal from it with safety. In the _EncyclopaediaBritannica_ the article on Gardening is taken almost verbatim from it, with one or two deceptive allusions such as--"_As Mr. Walpoleobserves_"--"_Says Mr. Walpole_, " &c. But there is nothing to mark whereWalpole's observations and sayings end, and the Encyclopaedia thus getsthe credit of many pages of his eloquence and sagacity. The whole ofWalpole's _History of Modern Gardening_ is given piece-meal as anoriginal contribution to _Harrrison's Floricultural Cabinet_, eachportion being signed CLERICUS. 

[144] Perhaps Robert Herrick had these stanzas in his mind's ear when hewrote his song of

 Gather ye rosebuds while ye may Old time is still a flying; And this same flower that smiles to-day To-morrow will be dying. 

 * * * * *

 Then be not coy, but use your time; And while ye may, so marry: For having lost but once your prime You may for ever tarry.