222 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



mosses. Fences were constructed in similar style, and vari- 

 ous other rude devices were executed and distributed in a 

 fanciful manner over the face of the landscape. But not even 

 the shaggy goat-footed Pan would acknowledge any such 

 thing for an altar. No such objects could be made to accord 

 with the high keeping of the grounds, nor could they give 

 an air of rusticity to scenes that were so elaborately orna- 

 mented. They were mere pieces of affectation ; blotches 

 upon the fair surface of beauty, that served no other purpose 

 but to add deformity to the unique productions of nature and 

 art. 



One day, as the ladies were strolling pensively along their 

 accustomed paths, lamenting that nothing could be done to 

 appease the divinities whom they had offended, they discov- 

 ered in a little nook, under a cliff that projected over a rude 

 entrance into the wood, a slab of weather-stained slate, re- 

 sembling a head-stone. Observing that it was lettered, they 

 knelt down upon the green turf and read the following 



INSCRIPTION. 



In peaceful solitudes and sylvan shades 



That lure to meditation ; where the birds 



Sing all day unmolested in their haunts, 



And the rude soil still bears the tender wilding — 



There dwell the rural deities. They love 



The moss-grown trees and rocks, the flowery knoll, 



The tangled wild-wood and the bower of ferns. 



They fill each scene Avith beauty, and they prompt 



The echoes to repeat the low of herds 



And bleat of tender flocks. The voice of him 



Who drives his team afield ; the joyous laugh 



Of children, when, on pleasant days, they come 



To take from gentle Spring her gift of flowers, 



Are music to their ears. All these they love ; 



But shun the place where wealth and art have joined 



To shut out nature from her own domains, 



Or dress her in the flaunting robes of fashion. 



Wouldst thou retain them ? — keep a humble heart, 



Nor in their temples seek to show thy pride. 



Or near their altars to parade thy wealth: 



Then may they come and dwell with thee, aa once 



With simple shepherdess and rural swain. 



