PREFACE. XV 



the springing of the plants, would cherish the first peep of 

 vegetation, and having for many days watered and tended 

 the young plant, discover at last that he had bestowed all 

 this tenderness upon a weed ; a weed, perhaps, which had 

 choked the plant for which he had mistaken it. 



" Nelle cose de' giardini teneva il modo medesimo, che nel far de 

 versi, perche mai non lasciava cosa alcuna che piantasse piu di tre 

 mesi iu un loco'; e se piantava anime di persiche, o semente di alcuna 

 sorte, andava tante volte a vedere se germogliava, che finalmente, 

 rompea il germoglio : e perche avea poco cognizione d' erba, il piu delle 

 volte prossumea che qualunque erba, che nascesse vicina alia cosa semi- 

 nata da esso, fosse quella ; la custodiva con diligenza grande sin tanto 

 che la cosa fosse ridotta a' termini, che, non accascava averne dubbio. 

 I' mi ricordo, ch' avendo seminato de' capperi, ogni giorno andava a 

 vederli, e stava con una allegrezza grande di cosi bella nascione. Final- 

 raente trovo ch' eran sambuchi, e che de' capperi non n'eran nati 

 alcuni." 



" He treated his garden as he did his verses, never leaving any thing 

 three months in the same place. "Whenever he planted or sowed any 

 thing, he went so often to see if it sprouted, that at last he broke the 

 shoot : and having little knowledge of plants, he took any leaves that 

 appeared near the place where he had sown his seeds for the plants 

 sown, and tended them with the greatest diligence, till his mistake was 

 clear beyond doubt. I remember once when he had sown some capers, 

 he went every day to look at them, and was delighted to see them 

 thrive so well. At last he found these thriving plants were young 

 elders, and that none of the capers had appeared." 



Notes by Virginio Ariosto, for a Life of his Father. 



Who can read this anecdote of so great a man, and not 

 feel an additional interest in him ! In how amiable a lisfht 

 it represents him ! Was a cruel, unfeeling, or selfish man 

 ever known to take pleasure in working in his own garden ? 

 Surely not. This love of nature in detail (if the expression 

 may be allowed) is an union of affection, good taste, and 

 natural piety. 



How amiable a man was Cowper ! — and Evelyn, too, and 

 Evelyn's friend, Cowley, who addressed to him a poem 



