StCt. I. GARDENING; ' 



I see him smile, methinks, as he does talk 

 With the ambassador, who came in vaiu 

 TPentice him to a throne again : 

 If I, my friends, said he, should to you show 

 All the delights which in these gardens grow, 

 Tis likelier much that you should with me 

 Than 'tis that you should carry me away : 

 And trust me not, my friends, if every day 



I walk not here with more delight 

 Than ever after the most happy tight, 

 In triumph to the capitol I trod, 

 To thank the Gods, and to be thought myself a God. 



Mr* Cowleys passion for retirement was indeed 

 very strong ; but might he not well say, " Is there 

 not a cause ?" He had been conversant in high and 

 public life, and was very glad to leave 



Those dangerous posts, where customs ill agree 

 With virtuous rules, or sound philosophy. 



As one reason for his going out from Sodom (a* 

 he speaks) to his little Zoar^ he asks-, 



Who that has reason and his smell 

 Would not among roses and jasmin dwell> 

 Rather than all his spirits choak 

 With exhalations of dirt and smoak ; 

 And all th' uncleanness which does drown 

 In pestilential clouds a populous town. 



Another poet (Clericus) retiring from town to a 

 cottage and a garden, says, 



I strait betook myself to trace the laws 

 Of nature, upwards to its fruitfu 1 cause; 

 And, digging mines of true philosophy, 

 The mystic stone I found, whose energy 

 Apply'd, transmutes some matter, some sublimes, 

 Drawing within my circle golden times. 



Often amused with feats of gardening, 



Delightful exercise, I work and sing ! 



And moving cheerful feel not half my toil, * 



Like swains that whistle, while they plough the soil ; 



