CHAP. I.] CLIMATE, SEASONS, &C. 9? 



1818. 



April 24. Warm night, warm and fair day. 

 And here I close my Journal ; for, I 

 am in haste to get my manuscript 

 away ; and there now wants only 

 ten days to complete the year. I re 

 sume, now, the Numbering of my Pa 

 ragraphs, having begun my Journal 

 at the close of PARAGRAPH No. 20. 

 21. Let us, now, take a survey, or rather 

 glance, at the face, which nature now wears. 

 The grass begins to afford a good deal for sheep 

 and for rny grazing English pigs, and the cows 

 and oxen get a little food from it. The pears, 

 apples, and other fruit trees, have not made 

 much progress in the swelling or bursting of 

 their buds. The buds of the weeping-willow 

 have bursted (for, in spite of that conceited ass, 

 Mr. JAMES PERRY, to burst is a regular verb, 

 and vulgar pedants only make it irregular), and 

 those of a Lilac, in a warm place, are almost 

 bursted, which is a great deal better than to say, 

 " almost burst." Oh,- the coxcomb! As if an 

 absolute pedagogue like him could injure me 

 by his criticisms \ And, as if an error like this, 

 even if it had been one, could have any thing to 

 do with my capacity for developing principles, 

 and for simplifying things, which, in their nature, 

 are of great complexity! The oaks, which, in 

 England, have now their sap in fulljlow, are 



