THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 179 



is entirely covered with a mass of ivy, growing larger 

 and thicker every year. This originally sprung from 

 a slip planted by Jean Jacques Rousseau, who was 

 here as the guest of a gentleman to whom the estate 

 at that time belonged. 



The manner in which Rousseau put a sudden ter- 

 mination to the friendship between His host and him- 

 self is rather curious. The Duke of Noailles, propri- 

 etor of a very beautiful park at Saint Germain, wished 

 to see and chat with Ron >seau. As a direct invitation 

 from the duke would certainly have been refused, for 

 we know the misanthropic character of Rousseau, and 

 his aversion to the world, the duke resolved to em- 

 ploy a stratagem, and requested the poet's host, Tro- 

 chereau, to bring his friend into the park on the plea 

 of making a botanical excursion. The duke was to 

 wait behind the gate, and when the poet passed he 

 was to appear as if by accident and invite both to 

 come and see his collection of plants. All went well 

 up to the moment, when the philosopher caught sight 

 of the duke. In an instant he disappeared, and Tro- 

 chereau sought him in vain. On the following day 

 Rousseau wrote to his friend, informing him that from 

 that day he would cease to know him. 



There exists at Paris, in the Jardin des Plantes, a 

 tree 230 years of age Robin's acacia. 



This plant, we are officially informed, has been 

 the mother-plant of all the innumerable acacias which 

 now adorn the gardens and woods of Europe and 

 America. It stands in a square near the Rue de Buf- 

 fon, but its worm-eaten stem, full of chinks that have 



