WoodpatJis. 9 



ing succession, and looking upon us as with the eyes of so many little senti- 

 nels of light and beauty, placed here to make the scene delightful to the sight 

 and the imagination. Like birds that multiply around a human dwelling 

 in the forest, flowers are always numerous in these woodland paths, and 

 consecrate them to Nature. 



There is nothing here to suggest any disagreeable ideas of pride and 

 pretence, or to excite envy by the ostentatious parade of wealth. Nature 

 never insults the most humble person who enters her sacred precincts. 

 The rich and the poor, the learned and the unlearned, if they have any 

 love of truth and beauty, are equally pleased and instructed. They sur- 

 render their hearts to the simplicity of the scenes around them, forget the 

 cares that usually perplex them, and find pleasure in every object they 

 meet. Here are both freedom and seclusion ; as, though every foot of 

 land has an owner, no invidious signs of appropriation are made apparent 

 to the pilgrim of these walks. Every thing here has grown up without 

 culture ; for these wildings are the flowers that Nature strewed at her 

 feet when she first stepped out of Paradise to bless and beautify the earth. 

 No spaded earth about the roots of the flowering shrubs indicates their 

 petted value to some proprietor ; no nicely-cut turf at the borders of the 

 path shows the exercise of the topiary art, and the consequent exclusion 

 of Nature and freedom. 



The flow^ers that peep out from this grassy path and its tangled borders 

 are eclipsed in splendor by the prouder ones of the garden. They are 

 lovely in their wildness and spontaneous growth ; but, like the stars of 

 heaven, they affect the imagination more than the sight. Though fashion 

 may contemn their beauty, Nature cherishes and preserves them ; and, to 

 a poetic eye, they have charms which cannot be heightened by art. For 

 every thing that blossoms here, or greens the turf, or jewels the trees and 

 shrubbery with purple and scarlet fruit, or scatters incense in their path, 

 was present at the bridal of the earth and sky. The gales that have 

 always swept through these trees are familiar with their perfiime ; morning 

 and evening greet them, and are acquainted wdth their beauty ; the litlle 

 brooks know them ; sunshine and shadow have played and fondled with 

 them ; the wild bee has sipped of their honey, and the birds have nestled 

 in theii foliage. 



