GLEANINGS ON GARDENS. 65 



ne repondant point assez a la haute estime qu'il avoit 

 de la beaute de son genie, et de ses expressions, il 

 1'appella Theophraste, c'est a dire un homme dont le 

 langage est divin. II avoit V esprit si vif, si per^ant, 

 si perietrant, qu'il comprenit d'abord, d'une chose, 

 tout ce qui en pouvoit etre connu.' 



' There is no place ' (says Evelyn in his Sylva) 

 ' more fit to bury our dead in than groves and gardens, 

 where our beds may be decked and carpeted with 

 verdant and fragrant flowers, trees, and perennial 

 plants, the most natural and instructive hieroglyphics 

 of our resurrection and immortality.' The above 

 remark of Evelyn forcibly reminds one of the 

 following reflections, from a charming little classic 

 book, entitled First Steps to Botany, by Dr. Drummond, 

 of Belfast : ' The changes of colour in the leaves of 

 plants, especially of trees, which take place in 

 autumn, are familiar to every one, but are more 

 particularly interesting to the eye of the painter, and 

 the contemplation of the moralist. The one finds in 

 them some of the best subjects for the warmth and 

 beauty of his pencil; the other contrasts these 

 changing leaves with the races of men, which having 

 flourished through the spring and summer of life, fall 

 at last, in the autumn of their existence, into decay, 

 and are swept by the first wintry breath of age into 

 the tomb, and are no more found. Trees have thus 



F 



