VI PREFACE. 



use of the softer sex. I shall not content myself by merely 

 offering an apology for the digression, but will promise 

 to bear them in mind throughout my studies, not doubt- 

 ing but my humble endeavours to amuse and instruct them 

 will be duly appreciated ; which, to an author, is a source 

 of inexpressible satisfaction. 



"Mean is the man who never will bestow 

 A leaf of laurel on a female brow; 

 From the chaste fountain of whose fertile mind, 

 Spring forth the graces which adorn mankind," 



Having thus introduced myself to my fair readers, I shall 

 proceed to treat of the cultivation of the various and most 

 admired kinds of flowering plants ; and I flatter myself 

 that if I should, by implanting a taste for rural subjects j 

 succeed in making them good cultivators, in the fullest 

 sense of the word, that they will be immeasurably happy in 

 'The Matrimonial Garden,'* should they ever enter therein, 

 and in like proportion, as they advance in the work of cultiva- 

 tion, will they excel in virtue ; which a wise man once 

 declared was to a woman of immense value, " far above 

 rubies," yea, even equal to a glittering " crown." 



"A virtuous conduct leaves behind 

 A lasting pleasure in the mind, 

 Which by remembrance, will assuage 

 Grief, sickness, poverty, and age ; 

 And oft impart a cheering ray, 

 To lumine life's declining day," 



I would fain confess here, to my fair readers, that I 

 have in the course of my studies occasionally wandered from 



* This refers to an article entitled " r fhe Matrimonial Garden," which 

 will be found towards the end of the book. 



