THE HOLLY. 



lawns and pleasure grounds may not figure on the 

 pages of so humble a title as 'The Manse Garden; ' 

 yet neither must the Author's spirit sink because 

 his scope is confined. The first paradise was a gar- 

 den, and though grandeur may require amplitude, 

 beauty is contented with smaller dimensions. The 

 most touching scenes of nature are often found, not 

 in the wide range of hill and dale, but in the very 

 nook of a glen; and genius may appear in a cabinet 

 picture as well as in one of the largest canvass. 

 Why, then, may not the manse garden be fair, 

 though the field be small? and why should not art 

 be employed to make it a very delight to its owner, 

 and an object of pleasure to the traveller that passes 

 by? for a law, originating in the perception of 

 comfort, and self-imposed, which should make the 

 planting of a few trees an operation as certain as 

 the building of a house ! Men would live longer 

 and better for the happiness thus given to their 

 homes; and the sickening sameness of bare hillsides 

 and of cold blue walls would be changed into a suc- 

 cession of the most pleasing objects. But how often 

 do we find even the manse, or villa of similar rank, 

 devoid of that peculiar charm which arises from 

 partial concealment, and standing almost naked in 

 the blast, though some shelter has been sought by 

 a strip or clump of trees. 



When partial concealment is the object, the holly 

 fulfils the intention of the planter : it casts a deep 

 shade on the stonework, and, like the dash of the 

 pencil in a good picture, the effect remains un- 



