PREFACE. y 



business abroad, instead of wasting his time in the pursuit 

 of transient and dissolute pleasure. 



But I had almost forgotten that this guide to the cultiva- 

 tion of the beauties of Nature is chiefly designed for the use 

 of the softer sex. I shall not content myself with merely 

 offering an apology for the digression, but will promise to 

 bear them in mind throughout my studies, not doubting that 

 my humble endeavours to amuse and instruct them will be 

 duly appreciated ; which, to an author, is a source of inex- 

 pressible satisfaction. 



Mean is the man who never will bestow 



A leaf of laurel on a female brow ; 



From the chaste fountain of whose fertile mind, 



Spring forth the graces which adorn mankind. 



Having thus introduced myself to my fair readers, I shall 

 proceed to treat of the cultivation of the various and most 

 admired kinds of flowering plants ; and I flatter myself that 

 if, by implanting a taste for rural subjects, I should succeed 

 in making them good cultivators in the fullest sense of the 

 word, they will be immeasurably happy in " The Matrimo- 

 nial Garden,"* should they ever enter therein; and in pro- 

 portion as they advance in the work of cultivation, will they 

 excel in virtue, which a wise man once declared was to a 

 woman of immense value, "far above rubies," yea, even 

 equal to a glittering " crown." 



" A virtuous conduct leaves behind 

 A lasting pleasure in the mind, 

 "Which by remembrance will assuage 

 Grief, sickness, poverty, and age ; 

 And oft impart a cheering ray, 

 To 'lumine life's declining day." 



I would fain confess here to my fair readers, that I have, 

 in the course of my studies, occasionally wandered from my 

 accustomed track, with a view to afford them mental recrea- 

 tion while engaged in cultivating the transient inmates of a 

 garden, and from a conviction that the flowers of poesy are 



* This refers to an article entitled " The Matrimonial Garden," which 

 will be found toward the end of the book. 



