THE MANSE GARDEN. 119 



lived much in a garden, where he caught, in the hue 

 of its flowers, the polish of the hardest virtues, or 

 drew out those softest threads of feeling which, like 

 the floating gossamer, were faintly seen as they shone 

 in purple light amidst the rays of his genius, or seen 

 too well when wet and weighed down with the dew 

 of tears that fell from a heart of deep and solitary 

 woe, and who yet felt no breaking of such slender 

 cords when, in love to the sinless beauties of crea- 

 tion, whether fruits or flowers, he put forth his hand 

 to save them, by killing the reptiles that made them 

 a prey.* 



But though the above method of dealing with the 

 caterpillar be sufficiently successful, it is much better 

 for your gooseberry plantation to prevent as far as 

 possible the breeding of that worm. And to this 

 end let the bushes be pruned as soon as the leaf is 

 down, and let all rubbish be raked clear off 1 the 



* " I would not enter on my list of friends 

 (Though graced with polished manners and fine sense, 

 Yet wanting sensibility) the man 

 Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. 

 An inadvertent step may crush the snail 

 That crawls at evening in the public path; 

 But he that has humanity, forewarn'd, 

 Will tread aside, and let the reptile live. 

 The creeping vermin, loathsome to the sight, 

 'And charged perhaps with venom, that intrudes, 

 A visitor unwelcome, into scenes 

 Sacred to neatness and repose, the alcove, 

 The chamber, or refectory, may die : 

 A necessary act incurs no blame. 

 Not so when, held within their proper bounds, 

 And guiltless of offence, they range the air, 

 Or take their pastime in the spacious field : 

 There they are privileged; and he that hunts 

 Or harms them there is guilty of a wrong, 

 Disturbs the economy of Nature's realm, 

 Who, when she form'd, design'd them an abod*. 



