JANUARY. 51 



on heath and mountain, the enchantments of past 

 days, can there grasp a multitude of her delights at 

 once. The sedentary man, 



Secluded but not buried, and with song 

 Cheering his days, 



there finds the most congenial relaxation, the most 

 restorative exercise ever at hand. The lover of all 

 bright hues and graceful forms, of all delicate and 

 spicy aromas, of curious processes and wonderful 

 phenomena, of all that is soothing to the mind, and 

 pleasant to the vision and the taste, there walks in 

 a fairy-land of his own creation. There the sun 

 shines tempered by the coolness of whispering 

 branches ; the breeze blows softly, charged with 

 fragrance; the dews fall to refresh and awaken 

 sleeping odours, and birds bring from their wilder 

 haunts their melodies. To the fair creature, who, 

 like Eve, is a lover of flowers, what a perpetual 

 source of affectionate interest, of hopes and fears, 

 and speculations of delightful labours, cares, and 

 watchings, is found in a garden ! Poets have 

 always delighted to describe their favourite heroines 

 amid the amenities of gardens, as places peculiarly 

 accordant with the grace and gentle nature of wo- 

 man. How beautiful is that passing view which 

 Chaucer gives us of Emilia, in Palemon and Arcite ! 



Emily ere day 



Arose and dress'd herself in rich array ; 

 Fresh as the month, and as the morning fair, 

 Adown her shoulders fell her length of hair ; 



