298 IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN 



out some love of flowers and gardens ; and the study 

 of them comes recommended not only as a refreshment 

 and from its practical usefulness, but also for its scien- 

 tific and literary associations. Yet it has its snares, of 

 which the chief is that it may become too interesting 

 and too absorbing. Its very innocence may help on 

 and even conceal the snare; but the snare is there 

 as it is in everything else in this world, however 

 good, and I never think of it without remembering 

 Newman's striking poem on Jonah. We know that 

 his great refreshment to mind and body was found 

 in music, yet he says 



' Our choicest bliss, the green repose 

 Of the sweet garden shade ' ; 



and that, too, in the poem which commences with the 

 beautiful yet almost stern stanzas with which I may 

 well close this chapter : 



' Deep in his meditative bower, 

 The tranquil seer reclined, 

 Numbering the creepers of an hour, 

 The gourds which o'er him twined. 



To note each plant, to rear each fruit 

 Which soothes the languid sense ; 



He deemed a safe, refined pursuit 

 His Lord, an indolence.' 



Lyra Apostolica. ' Jonah. ' 



