0\ THE THEORY OF A GARDEN. 5 



trance — the new life that grows in the womb of the 

 tomb — is happy augury to the soul that passes away, 

 immature and but half-expressed, of lusty days and 

 consumn-iate powers in the everlasting garden of 

 God. It is this very garden's message, " the best is 

 )et to be, '" that smothers the self-pitying whine in 

 poor David Gray's Elegy * and braces his spirit with 

 the tonic of a wholesome pride. To the human 

 tlower that is born to blush unseen, or born, per- 

 chance, not to bloom at all, but only to feel the 

 quickening thrill of April-passion — the first sweet 

 consciousness of life — the electric touch in the soul 

 like the faint beatings in the calyx of the rose — and 

 then to die, to die " not knowing what it was to 

 live" — to such seemingly cancelled souls the gar- 

 den's message is "trust, acquiesce, be passive in 

 the Master's hand : the game of life is lost, but not 

 for aye — 



. . . " There is life with God 

 In other Kingdom of a sweeter air : 

 In Eden every flower is blown." 



To come back to lower ground, a garden re- 

 presents what one may call the first simplicity of 



* " My Epitaph." 



" Below lies one whose name was traced in sand — 

 He died, not knowing what it was to live ; 

 Died while the first sweet consciousness of manhood 

 And maiden thought electrified his soul : 

 Faint beatings in the calyx of the rose. 

 Bewildered reader, pass without a sigh 

 In a proud sorrow ! There is life with God, 

 In other Kingdom of a sweeter air ; 

 In Eden every flower is blown. Amen." 

 David Gray ("A Poet's Sketch-book," R. Buchanan, p. 8i.) 



