WALTER SAVAGE LAND OR 



243 



such other herbs as grow willingly in dry places, I left a few of 

 these for seats, a few for tables and for couches. 



Leontion. Delectable couches ! 



Epicurus. Laugh as you may, they will become so when they 

 are covered with moss and ivy, and those other two sweet plants, 

 whose names I do not remember to have found in any ancient 

 treatise, but which I fancy I have heard Theophrastus call 

 ' Leontion' and 'Ternissa.' . . . 



Leontion. Why have you torn up by the root all these little 

 mountain ash-trees ? This is the season of their beauty : come, 

 Ternissa, let us make ourselves necklaces and armlets, such as 

 may captivate old Sylvanus and Pan : you shall have your choice. 

 But why have you torn them up ? 



Epicurus. On the contrary, they were brought hither this 

 morning. Sosimenes is spending large sums of money on an 

 olive-ground, and has uprooted some hundreds of them, of all 

 ages and sizes. I shall cover the rougher part of the hill with 

 them, setting the clematis and vine and honey-suckle against 

 them, to unite them. 



Ternissa. O what a pleasant thing it is to walk in the green light 

 of the vine-leaves, and to breathe the sweet odour of their invisible 

 flowers ! 



Epicurus. The scent of them is so delicate that it requires a 

 sigh to inhale it ; and, this, being accompanied and followed by 

 enjoyment, renders the fragrance so exquisite. Ternissa, it is 

 this, my sweet friend, that made you remember the green light of 

 the foliage, and think of the invisible flowers as you would of 

 some blessing from heaven. Imaginary Conversations. (Epicurus, 

 Leontion, and Ternissa.'} 



Fillipo. It is delightful to see their (the Moors') gardens, when 

 one has not the weeding and irrigation of them. What fruit! 

 what foliage ! what trellises ! what alcoves ! what a contest of 

 rose and jessamine for supremacy in odor ! of lute and nightingale 

 for victory in song ! And how the little bright ripples of the 

 docile brooks, the fresher for their races, leap up against one 



