DES 



196 



DIB 



any they can receive from illusions. 

 Certain properties, and certain disposi- 

 tions of the objects of nature, are adapt- 

 ed to excite particular ideas and sen- 

 sations. Many of them have been occa- 

 sionally mentioned, and all are very 

 well known : they require no discern- 

 ment, examination, or discussion, but 



monument revives the memory of for- 

 mer times, we do not stop at the sim- 

 ple fact which it records, but recol- 

 lect many more coeval circumstances, 

 which we see, not perhaps as they 

 were, but as they have come down to 

 us — venerable with age, and magnified 

 by fame. Even without the assistance 



are obvious at a glance, and instanta- of buildings, or other adventitious cir- 

 iieously distinguished by our feelings, cumstances, nature alone furnishes 

 Beauty alone is not so engaging as this j materials for scenes which may 'be 

 species of character; the impressions i adapted to almost every kind of ex- 



it makes are more transient and less in 

 leresting ; for it aims only at delighting 

 the eye, but the other affects our sensi- 

 bility. An assemblage of the most ele- 

 gant forms, in the happiest situations, 

 is to a degree indiscriminate, if they 

 liave not been selected and arranged 

 with a design to produce certain ex- 

 pressions; an air of magnificence or of 

 simplicity, of cheerfulness, tranquillity, 

 or some other general character, ought 

 to pervade the whole ; and objects 

 pleasing in themselves, if they contra- 

 dict that character, should therefore be 

 excluded. Those which are only in- 

 difi^erent must sometimes make room 

 for such as are more significant — may 

 occasionally be recommended by it. 

 Barrenness itself may be an acceptable 

 circumstance in a spot dedicated to soli- 

 tude and melancholy. 



" The power of such characters is 

 not confined to the ideas which the ob- 

 jects immediately suggest; for these 

 are connected with others which in- 

 sensibly lead to subjects far distant 

 perhaps from the original thought, and 

 related to it only by a similitude in the 

 sensations they excite. In a prospect 

 enriched and enlivened with inhabit- 

 ants and cultivation, the attention is 

 caught at first by the circumstances 

 which are gayest in their season — the 

 bloom of an orchard, the festivity of a 

 liay-field, and the carols of harvest- 

 liome; but the cheerfulness which these 

 infuse into the mind expands afterwards 

 to other objects than those immediately 

 presented to the eye ; and we are there- 

 by disposed to receive, and delighted 

 to pursue, a variety of pleasing ideas, 

 and every benevolent feeling. At the 

 sight of a ruin, reflections on the 



pression ; their operation is general, 

 and their consequences infinite. The 

 mind is elevated, depressed, or com- 

 posed, as gaiety, gloom, or tranquillity 

 prevail in the scene; and we soon lose 

 sight of the means by which the cha- 

 racter is formed. We forget the par- 

 ticular objects it presents ; and giving 

 way to their eflfects without recurring 

 to the cause, we follow the track they 

 have begun to any extent which the 

 disposition they accord with will al- 

 low." — Whateley. 



DESMANTHUS. Five species.— 

 Stove aquatics and evergreens. The 

 former by seeds in water ; the latter by 

 cuttings in peat and loam. 



DESMOCHCETA. Eight species.— 

 Stove and green-house evergreens, and 

 herbaceous. Seeds, division or cut- 

 tings. Sandy loam and peat. 



DESMODIUM. Thirty-two species. 

 Chiefly stove evergreens, but a few 

 hardy and herbaceous. Cuttings. — 

 Sandy loam and peat. 



DESMONCHUS. Four species. 

 Stove palms. Seed. Sandy peat. 



DEUTZIA scabra. Hardy decidu- 

 ous shrub. Layers and cuttings. Com- 

 mon soil. D. corymbosa is a hardy 

 evergreen shrub, similarly propagated. 



DEVONSHIRING. See Paring and 

 Burning. 



DEWBERRY. Rubus casius. 



DIANELLA. Nine species. Green- 

 house tubers. Division and seed. — 

 Loam and peat. 



DIANTHUS. One hundred species, 

 and very many varieties. Chiefly 

 hardy herbaceous. Seed and pipings. 

 Rich light loam. See Carnation and 

 Pink. 



DIAPENSIA lapponica. Hardy 



change, the decay, and the ^flesolation i herbaceous. Division and seed. Peat, 

 before us naturally occur ; and they DIBBER, or DIBBLE. This instru- 



introduce a long succession of others, 

 all tinctured with that melancholy 

 which these have inspired. Or, if the 



ment for making holes in which to in- 

 sert seeds or plants, is usually very 

 simple in its construction, being at the 



i 



