Dinbur Castle, its Gardens and Gardeners. 495 



Art. II. Dinbur Castle, its Gardens and its Gardeners. By Peter 



Mackenzie. 



{Continued from p. 447.) 



Shortly after the conversation the gardener of Dinbur had 

 with Sandy MacAlpine, the foreman of the garden, a night was 

 fixed on when he would meet the young men in the bothy, 

 and, according to appointment, endeavour to impart some use- 

 ful instruction. When the night arrived, the men did not sit 

 long over their evening meal, but got themselves washed and 

 made tidy, the bothy floor swept, the ashes taken out, and the 

 forms and stools arranged as neatly as possible, and waited the 

 arrival of their master. When he came he was received with a 

 hearty welcome, and after some general conversation he pro- 

 ceeded to the business of the evening. 



He began by giving a short outline of the time when he was 

 an apprentice and journeyman gardener. 



" When I first went to work in the garden, my stock of know- 

 ledge was very scanty. I could read and write, and had some 

 knowledge of arithmetic: but I soon found out that I had much 

 to learn ; and, to dispel the ignorance by which I was surrounded, 

 I found it necessary to use the means Providence had put within 

 my reach for extending my information. There are many who can 

 sit down contented, wrapped in garments of ignorance, and think 

 themselves worthy of imitation by others, never once imagin- 

 ing that their influence upon society is like that of the stagnant 

 pool, spreading disease and death : while the ardent enquirer 

 after knowledge may be compared to the flowing stream, whose 

 waters fertilise the country, and on whose banks the hand of in- 

 dustry is busy ; in its progress to the ocean, it diffuses benefits 

 on the right hand and on the left, and, like a light maiden, sings 

 merrily as it flows. There are boundaries in the pursuit of 

 knowledge which finite minds will never surmount; but who 

 can mark out these barriers? for what may seem insurmount- 

 able to some is easily scaled by others. He who brought the 

 universe into existence, who created the world, and filled it 

 with the various tribes of organised beings which exist in it, and 

 gave them laws for their well-being, that Almighty Being who 

 planted the mind of man within him, is alone able to know the 

 extent of the growth of that mind which is called upon to study 

 the works of its Creator in such a variety of aspects. If we look 

 upon this earth as a temple reared up for the worship of our 

 Maker, and gardeners as ministers in the sanctum sanctorum, then 

 how unbecoming must it be for those who hold such a high 

 situation to remain ignorant of the mysteries which belong to 

 their office ! There is little time for sloth or indolence in the 



