MAGNIFICENCE OF THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 53 



crown ; and the poets of all lands and of all times never tune their 

 harps to sweeter melodies than when describing in rapturous 

 strains the balmy groves or the verdant meads of the beloved 

 country of their birth. 



It is no caprice of chance or blind agency of mechanical or 

 physical laws which has so wonderfully decorated the earth, and 

 gifted us with such a deep-felt sympathy with the charms of 

 the vegetable world. 



When Nature revives in spring, and thousands of birds make 

 the woods and fields resound with their song, then also a voice 

 awakens in our heart which tells us that all these lovely scenes 

 are but the visible revelation of an invisible (rod, an enchanted 

 mirror in which we see the reflection of His glory. 



