8 SYLVA BRITANNICA. 



lately a single ant could easily have borne to his 

 little cavern, should now become capable of resist- 

 ing the fury, and braving the rage of the most im- 

 petuous storms, magni mehercle artificis, dausisse 

 totum in tarn exiguo, et horror est consideranti. 



" For their preservation Nature has invested the 

 whole tribe and nation, as we may say, of vege- 

 tables, with garments suitable to their naked, and 

 exposed bodies, temper, and climate. Thus some are 

 clad with a coarser skin, and resist all extremes of 

 weather ; others with more tender and delicate skins 

 and scarfs, as it were, and thinner raiment. Quid 

 foliorum describam diversitates ? What shall we say 

 of the mysterious forms, variety, and variegation of 

 the leaves and flowers, contrived with such art, yet 

 without art ; some round, others long, oval, multan- 

 gular, indented, crisped, rough, smooth and polished, 

 soft and flexible ; quivering at every tremulous blast, 

 as if it would drop in a moment, and yet so obsti- 

 nately adhering, as to be able to contest against the 

 fiercest winds that prostrate mighty structures ! 

 There it abides till God bids it fall : for so the wise 

 Disposer of things has placed it, not only for orna- 

 ment, but use and protection both of body and fruit, 

 from the excessive heat of summer, and colds of the 

 sharpest winters, and their immediate impressions ; 

 as we find it in all such places and trees, as, like 

 the blessed and good man, have always fruit upon 

 them ripe, or preparing to mature. 



