MATRIMONIAL GARDEN. 143 



good humour, which, of all the flowers of nature, is the 

 most delicious and delicate ; do not drop it or lose it, as 

 many do soon after they enter the garden — it is a treasure 

 that nothing can supply the loss of. When you get to the 

 end of. the first walk, which contains about thirty steps, 

 commonly called "the Honey Moon Path," you will find 

 the garden open into a vast variety of views, and it is 

 necessary to caution you to avoid many productions in them 

 which are noxious, nauseous, and even fatal in their nature 

 and tendency, especially to the ignorant and unwary. 

 There is a low, small plant, which may be seen in almost 

 every path, called indifference. — This, though not per- 

 ceived in the entrance, you will always know where it 

 grows, by a certain coldness in the air which surrounds it. 

 Contrary to the nature of plants in general, this grows by 

 cold and dies by warmth ; whenever you perceive this 

 change in the air, avoid the place as soon as you can. In 

 the same path is often found that baneful flower called 

 jealousy, which I advise you never to look at, for it has the 

 strange quality of smiting the eye that beholds it with a 

 pain that is seldom or never got rid of. Jealousy is a 

 deadly flower ; it is the aconite of the garden, and has 

 marred the happiness of thousands. 



As you proceed, you will meet with many little crooked 

 paths. I advise you as a friend, never to go into them ; 

 for although at the entrance of each, it is written in large 

 letters, i am right, if you do enter, and get to the end of 

 them, you will find the true name to be perverseness. 

 These crooked paths oocasion endless disputes, and as it is 

 difficult to make the crooked straight, it is better to avoid 

 them altogether, lest, as it sometimes happens, a total sepa- 

 ration be the consequence, and you take different paths the 

 rest of your lives. Near this spot, you will meet with a 

 rough, sturdy plant, called obstinacy, which bears a hard 

 knotty fruit that never digests, and of course must injure 

 the constitution; it even becomes fatal, when taken in large 



