PLANTS WITH MAN AND ANIMALS. 19 



the highest boon bestowed by Providence on our mortal estate, is surely 

 raore than adequate exchange for the aimless enjoyments of infancy. 

 The power of doing good ; the privilege of framing our ways according 

 to the dictates of God ; the capability of seeing with the eye of reflection 

 all that is beautiful and well-ordered and wise in the universe, the work 

 of His hands j and the permission to consecrate ourselves to His worship 

 and glory, are among the rich blessings of our riper years, and with 

 these in our possession we can scarcely sigh for the grey dawn that 

 preceded the meridian splendour of day. Besides he who is for ever 

 regretting the past, poisons the present, and sows the seed of bitterness 

 and disappointment for the future : surely this is a poor philosophy and 

 one by which Mr. Lees will scarcely venture to abide. 



And now a word or two on another topic : to apply the epithet 

 " tastefully*' to any emanation of the genius of Shakspeare, is to make 

 a most unhappy choice of expression ; the adjective " pretty," used to 

 characterise the magnificent visions of Michael Angelo, or the sublime 

 conceptions of Milton, would not be more inappropriate. Where Shaks- 

 peare adorns, he flings the fiery grace of a master, or touches his out- 

 line with indescribable beauty ; but the Swan of Avon to illustrate a 

 subject " tastefully /" Again, Mr. Lees celebrates Dr. Darwin as 

 ** most poetically" illustrating the Linnaean system ; to this we object 

 also; Dr. Darwin was an ingenious and indefatigable botanist, an 

 amiable man, a frequenter of tea-table coteries, an admirer of Anna 

 Seward's muse, and a smooth and elaborate versifier, but we shake our 

 head at his poetry, and recommend the term *' tastefully" to be clipped 

 out of the passage on Shakspeare, and delicately pasted over the more 

 flattering epithet with which the lecturer (from his passion for botany, 

 we suppose,) has eulogised the Doctor's effusions. In conclusion, we 

 may affirm that this little pamphlet deserves to become popular, and 

 ranks among the many honourable proofs of talent in a Society instituted 

 for one of the noblest objects of human ertf^uiry. The moderate price 

 of the publication, when the style of the engravings and the typography 

 is estimated, is an additional reason why its number of purchasers should 

 be great ; and we hope it will circulate widely among the lovers of 

 Natural History, and those less ardent votaries who do not choose to 

 bestow the necessary time and labour upon the perusal of more scientific 

 and formidable volumes. 



To dismiss the writerVithout affording the reader an opportunity of 

 judging of his authorship would be an injustice to the merits of his 

 little work, and though our remarks have occupied more room than 

 we originally designed, we present the following as fair specimens of 

 his pages. 



" Plants have their peculiar social or solitary habits, similar to the solitary or 

 gregarious animals. Some, like the heaths or the violets, associate in tribes or 

 families ; others, like the solemn yew, have dozed in moody solitude for ages. 

 Some, like the drosera, the pinguiculaf and the rose-pimpernel, delight in each 

 other's society, and, in secluded spots among verdant hills and tinkling rivulets, 

 hold sweet communion. * * On the other hand, lurid and poisonous plants, as 

 the sullen Paris quadrifolia, the hyosciamus, or the Atropa belladonna, sternly 

 refuse associates, and, like the speckled snake, appear meditating mischief within 

 their gloomy holds. The localities of plants are as various as their habits, and 

 become peculiarly interesting from their connecting associations. With what delight 

 the wanderer beholds the white water lily of the mountain lakes, reclining like an 

 Indian beauty upon the water, while its white tiara is surrounded by spreading 

 leaves that flap and play as the zephyr curls the sparkling water. There too the 

 buck-bean displays its pale fringed clusters^ and the amphibious polygonum, 

 launching its verdant boats on the waves, quickly decorates them with those pink 



