xxxvi LETTERS TO MARCO 245 



children, ladies, and lazy people like myself, 

 which, with a slight modicum of scientific 

 knowledge, personal observation, and the 

 help of good illustrations, serve well enough 

 to teach one to recognise and name any plant 

 that may be met with in our own country, 

 without giving the trouble and time necessary 

 to master the deeper mysteries of the science. 

 The worst, however, of these books is that 

 so very little that is really interesting on the 

 subject of plants is afforded by them : most 

 of these sort of popular works being rendered 

 obnoxious to one by the vast amount of 

 superfluous padding that is worked into them ; 

 such, for instance, as pretty sentiments on 

 the happy years of childhood, rural felicity, 

 spring's delights, together with numerous 

 quotations from the poets. This "harmless 

 and blameless and free from all goodness " 

 style is, to those who regard God's handiwork 

 with the w r onder and reverence it demands, 

 nearly as repulsive as the facetious tone 

 assumed by many writers of popular works 



