290 FLORA HISTORICA. 



and it is already become so far naturalized to our 

 climate, as to discharge its fragrance as freely over 

 our walks in the winter months, as the Egyptian 

 Reseda disperses its odours over those of the sum- 

 mer. We may hail it as the Heliotrope of the open 

 garden, and as a vegetable winter friend of no small 

 importance in the parterre. 



The modest flowers of this plant were too insig- 

 nificant to have attracted the notice of the ignorant, 

 who have not souls to admire humble merit, whe- 

 ther in men or flowers, until it has received the 

 sanction of fashion, or the patronage of the great. 

 It is the exalted mind alone which can penetrate 

 through the flimsy veil of a gaudy exterior, and 

 discover merit in a hovel. Had not Evelyn dragged 

 Gibbons from such a situation into the presence of 

 his sovereign, the world would never have been 

 enriched by his incomparable writings, nor would 

 England have had to boast of such a treasure. The 

 plants of the hedge are unobserved by the vulgar, 

 who cannot conceive that beauty can flourish out of 

 the garden's bounds. 



Madame de Latour could not leave this fragrant 

 plant without a place in floral language, and there- 

 fore says, under this head — 



On vous rendra justice. 



And as an illustration that the vulgar have not the 



