THE PLEASURES OF SOLITUDE AND GARDENING, ETC. 11 



the Edinburgh nurserymen saw them, he said, " Bless me, Mr. — • — , 



how comes it to pass for you to have so many double flowers ; for we 

 have only a double one here and there, but you have only a single 

 one here and there?" 



If you, or any other readers of the Cabinet should think it 

 worthy of a trial, I am confident they will succeed, and 1 shall feel 

 happy in promoting the interests of floriculture. 



ARTICLE VI. 



THE PLEASURES OF SOLITUDE AND GARDENING TO A 

 CONTEMPLATIVE MIND. 



BY MR. WILLIAM HARRISON, SECRETARY TO THE FELTON FLORISTS' SOCIETY. 



(Concluded from p. 287, Vol. IX.) 



" Thus let me live unseen, unknown, 

 Thus unlamented let me die, 

 Steal from the world, and not a stone 



Tell where I lie." — Pope. 



Such are the calm feelings and unambitious views of those whom 

 solitude delights, and who feel pleasure in luxuriating in the uninter- 

 rupted enjoyment of their own thoughts. Who that has felt the un- 

 alloyed sweetness of seclusion stealing over the soul like a soothing 

 balm, does not recollect and admire the following magnificent and 

 beautiful description of solitude by the inspired but youthful 

 PoUock ? 



" Pleasant were many scenes, hut most to me 

 The solitude of vast extent, untouched 

 By hand of art, where Nature sowed herself 

 And reaped her crops ; whose garments were the clouds ; 

 Whose minstrels, brooks ; whose lamps, the moon and stars ; 

 Whose organ choir, the voice of many waters ; 

 Whose banquets, morning dews ; whose heroes, storms ; 

 Whose warriors, mighty winds ; whose lovers, flowers ; 

 Whose orators, the thunderbolts of God ; 

 Whose palaces, the everlasting hills ; 

 Whose ceiling, heaven's unfathomable blue ; 

 And from whose rocky turrets, battled high, 

 Prospects immense spread out on every side, 

 Now lost between the welkin and the main, 

 Now walled with hills that slept above the storm.'' 



But perhaps one of the greatest advantages to be derived from a 

 residence in the country is, that it naturally fits and trains the mind 

 for the study of Natural History. The continual contemplation of 

 the beauties of Flora, and the successful changes which the face of 

 nature undergoes, from the bursting of the buds to " the sere and 



