103 



"I caim't, he excl;iinis, but think 1 may, with the miivorsal 

 consent of Mankind, suppose that nothing; on this side Ileav'n 

 is comparable to it" — What impelling' Passion could say move? 

 — Wh'n le^s rapturous he is more ekxpient ; Jeremy Taylor, 

 would not have blotted such a Passage as this — " Every gen- 

 tle breeze of air, a virtuous man will roadily esteem the imme- 

 diate breathing of his Maker; and every awful bend of a Tree, 

 the premonitions of his approaching end ; every green walk 

 will remind him of the very steps ho is taking towards hapi)i- 

 ness, the whole design of no loss than Heaven itself." 



After recommending to the Gentlemen of his time the intro- 

 duction of more Forest Trees into their grounds rather than 

 Evergreens, he proceeds to consider of the ])ropagation of them 

 in imitation of Virgil, into those that are produced spontane- 

 ously, those which are raised from seed, those from suckers, 

 those from cuttings, and those from grafts, &c. 



It is needless to refute here the opinion to which he accedes, 

 that some plants are produced innnediately from the com|)o- 

 nents of the soil, and not from seed previous received, or as 

 Virgil expresses it, " sponte sua veniunt,'' — Equivocal gene- 

 rations is one of the errors which the monarch of Botanical 

 knowledge has completely demonstrated. — In the section on 

 raising Forest Trees from seed he is more happy ; I have com- 

 pared his course of cultivation with that giveji in the best 

 works of the presentday, and I have not ascertained any point 

 demonstrative of improvement in the lime, (hat Las SMp( r- 

 vened since he wrote— he advocates a moderately fertile seed 

 bed, for he concludes "if they will d(? well ia an irulilTereul 

 Soil, they will do better in good" — his directions for sowing- 

 are ample and correct, his mode of sheltering the beds judi- 

 cious ; — he recommends with convincing observations that 

 Autumn is the best seed time — lie particularly dwells also uj)on 

 the iraportaucc of stirring the ground among the Trees, a r^- 



