252 OBSERVATIONS ON THE PLEASURE GARDEN. 



which our economical duties allow us. As years increase, a taste for 

 most pleasures in general diminishes ; those of the court become 

 fatiguing; the charms of the table appear to lessen; and, as passion 

 subsides and love languishes, the gay ball and splendid opera lose 

 their delights ; but the fondness for a garden increases, and is almost 

 the only earthly pleasure that does increase. Let us not, then, neglect 

 to cultivate a taste for what will form the delight and amusement of 

 the latter period of life. Every tree we plant adds to the entertain- 

 ment we prepare for future years, for ourselves, our friends, and 

 successors. 



" Should particular times and circumstances require a retrench- 

 ment to be made in domestic expenses, it should not begin with the 

 garden. This, once neglected or laid aside, cannot soon or with small 

 cost be re-established. There, are other more expensive and less pro- 

 fitable indulgences which may be lessened without injury, nay, 

 perhaps with benefit to an establishment. By giving one entertain- 

 ment less each season in London, more might be saved than by 

 ruining a whole pleasure ground, the only means of subsistence to a 

 few labourers, whose consequent discharge exposes them to want and 

 all the evils that accompany it. 



" The introduction of a useful or an ornamental plant into our 

 island is justly considered as one of the most important services that 

 a person can render his country ; for it is impossible to calculate on 

 the benefits that may be derived through this means, when the quali- 

 ties of the vegetable are ascertained and its virtues known. Even 

 what is introduced and planted merely from curiosity or ornament 

 seems to unite us to the nations from whence it comes. It bestows 

 on us a share of the blessings of other climates, and affords us a 

 portion of the smiles of a more genial sun. When, therefore, we 

 dwell on the beauty of exotic trees and shrubs, we wish to be under- 

 stood as expressing our gratitude to those who have enriched our land 

 with additional charms, and more fully displayed nature to our eyes, 

 and not as disregarding the plants that are indigenous to our soil. I 

 am aware that many an Englishman has sighed under the shade, of 

 the banana for a sight of his native banks, where the primrose 

 sparkles through the hazel hedge, and the violet peeps so modestly. 

 The plants of our country recall the idea of it in the most forcible 

 manner, wherever we meet them. They are often the first object that 



