MATRIMONIAL GARDEN. 235 



necessary to caution you to avoid many productions in them 

 which are noxious, nauseous, and even fatal in their nature 

 and tendency, especially to the ignorant and unwary. 

 There is a low, small plant, which may be seen in almost 

 every path, called INDIFFERENCE. This, though not per- 

 ceived in the entrance, you will always know where it 

 grows, by a certain coldness in the air which surrounds it. 

 Contrary to the nature of plants in general, this grows by 

 cold and dies by warmth ; whenever you perceive this 

 change in the air, avoid the place as soon as you can. In 

 the same path is often found that baneful flower called 

 JEALOUSY, which I advise you never to look at, for it has the 

 strange quality of smiting the eye that beholds it with a 

 pain that is seldom or never got rid of. Jealousy is a 

 deadly flower ; it is the aconite of the garden, and hag 

 marred the happiness of thousands. 



As you proceed, you will meet with many little crooked 

 paths. I advise you as a friend, never to go into them ; 

 for although at the entrance of each, it is written in large 

 letters, i AM RIGHT, if you do enter, and get to the end of 

 them, you will find the true name to be PERVERSENESS. 

 These crooked paths occasion endless disputes, and as it is 

 difficult to make the crooked straight, it is better to avoid 

 them altogether, lest, as it sometimes happens, a total sepa- 

 ration be the consequence, and you take different paths the 

 rest of your lives. Near this spot, you will meet with a 

 rough, sturdy plant, called OBSTINACY, which bears a hard 

 knotty fruit that never digests, and of course must injure 

 the constitution; it even becomes fatal, when taken in large 

 quantities. Turn from it, avoid it as you would the 

 cholera. 



Just apposite to this, grows that lovely and lively shrub, 

 called COMPLIANCE, which, though not always pleasant to 

 the palate, is very salutary, and leaves a sweetness in the 

 mouth ; it is a most excellent shrub, and produces the 

 most delicious fruit. Never be without a very large sprig 

 in your hand ; it will often be wanted as you go along, /or 

 you cannot be happy without it in any part of the garden. 

 In one of the principal compartments, stands a~ very im- 



