LETTER FROM SAMUEL FOTHERGILL 415 



panion will see some who are not so, and thy indifference will 

 strike his eye, rf it does not offend it. Enter these paths 

 almost as soon as thou dost the garden, and take my word 

 for it, if thou dost not find them soon, thou wilt never find 

 them at all afterwards. 



Near to them is to be found that invaluable sweet shrub 

 Humility, which though of no worth in itself, yet when joined 

 with the other good qualities is worth them all put together. 

 It is never seen without being admired, and is most admired 

 when it is most invisible ; the virtue thereof is its own reward. 

 I am sure Pride is its own punishment ; fly from it as from 

 a contagion which it strangely resembles : it infects and 

 corrupts the soul. Cultivate with all thy care the humble, 

 lovely and delicious plant just mentioned, as the first antidote 

 against this poisonous weed. 



Allow me to drop a hint on the subject of cultivation as 

 that most probably will be your employ sooner or later. 

 Should you be entrusted with the raising of a flower, remember 

 something first : that it is but a flower, however fair, frail in 

 its nature and fading at every blast ; and secondly, that it is 

 a flower entrusted, for the culture of which you are accountable 

 to the great Owner of the garden. Should you be witness of a 

 blast upon its dawning beauties, oh, how your fond hearts 

 will bleed with tenderness, affection and sympathy. Your 

 feelings may be conceived, but they can't be described. The 

 young shoots will naturally and insensibly twine round all 

 the fibres of your frame. Should it live, then spare no pains 

 to teach this young production how to rise : weed it, water 

 it, prune it, it will require them all ; without this, many 

 baneful weeds will grow up and poison the very soil on which 

 it grows. I say this is a trust, for which you will both be 

 accountable to Him who giveth it. 



That you may be blessed with some of the sweetest produc- 

 tions of the garden, that they may be the delight of your eyes 

 and the joy of your hearts, that they may be your chief 

 ornaments in life, and your comforts in death, and that you 

 and they when the season of life is over may be transported 

 to some happy soil hereafter, and flourish together in immortal 

 regions in perfect and permanent felicity, is and ever will be 

 the ardent prayer of Thy affectionate Friend, 



SAMUEL FOTHERGILL. 



[The present writer has to thank his relative Mrs. Edward 

 Cadbury for a copy of this letter, long preserved in her family.] 



