Bacons Essay on Gardens. 29 



(such as are in wild heaths) to be set, 

 some with wild thyme, some with pinks, 

 some with germander, that gives a good 

 flower to the eye. ..." Some were to be 

 creepers, some standards, among the latter 

 of which he names roses; and altogether 

 this division was to be a kind of artificial 

 wilderness, where a man might roam (for 

 there were to be six acres of it), and forget 

 the cares of life and statesmanship. 



While I am upon Bacon's remarks in 

 reference to gardens, it may be worth while 

 to note that in 1658 Ralph Austen pleaded 

 his practical experience against Bacon as a 

 speculative writer for publishing observations 

 on some parts of the Natural History, where 

 the other treats of flowers, fruit-trees, and 

 fruit ; and the criticisms of Austen are, it 

 must be owned, both sound and interest- 

 ing. I perceive that, among other matters, 

 he animadverts on Bacon's observations 

 respecting strawberries and their preference 

 for the shade, and points out that such, in 

 his judgment, was not the case. But Bacon 

 probably intended the wild berry, which 



