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These love poems seem all to have been written in his old 

 age; and that passion causes him thus to open his first book: 

 — " Love was the inventor, and is still the maintainer, of 

 every noble science. It is chiefly that which hath made my 

 flowers and trees to flourish, though planted in a barren de- 

 sart, and hath brought me to the knowledge I now have in 

 plants and planting; for indeed it is impossible for any man 

 to have any considerable collection of plants to prosper, un- 

 less he love them: for neither the goodness of the soil, nor 

 the advantage of the situation, will do it, without the master's 

 affection; it is that which renders them strong and vigorous; 

 without which they wall languish and decay through neglect, 

 and soon cease to do him service. I have seen many gardens 

 of the new model, in the hands of unskilful persons, with 

 good walls, walks and grass-plots; but in the most essential 

 adornments so deficient, that a green meadow is a more de- 

 lightful object; there nature alone, without the aid of art, 

 spreads her verdant carpets, spontaneously embroidered with 

 many pretty plants and pleasing flowers, far more inviting 

 than such an immured nothing. And as noble fountains, 

 grottoes, statues, &c. are excellent ornaments and marks of 

 magnificence, so all such dead works in gardens, ill done, are 

 little better than blocks in the way to intercept the sight, but 

 not at all to satisfy the understanding. A choice collection 

 of living beauties, rare plants, flowers and fruits, are indeed 

 the wealth, glory, and delight of a garden." He seems en- 

 amoured with tulips. He describes no less than one hundred 

 and ninety different sorts. He calls them " Flora's choicest 

 jewels, and the most glorious ornaments of the best gardens. 

 Such is their rarity and excellence, and so numerous are the 

 varieties, that it is not possible any one person in the world 

 should be able to express, or comprehend the half of them, 

 every new spring discovering many new diversities never be- 

 fore observed, either arising from the seeds of some choice 

 kinds, the altering of off-sets, or by the busy and secret 



