I INTKODUCTION 37 



white lily, invest every stream and lonely 

 mere with grace." ^ 



For our greater power of perceiving, and 

 therefore of enjoying Nature, we are greatly 

 indebted to Science. Over and above what is 

 visible to the unaided eye, the two magic 

 tubes, the telescope and microscope, have re- 

 vealed to us, at least partially, the infinitely 

 great and the infinitely little. 



Science, our Fairy Godmother, will, unless 

 we perversely reject her help, and refuse her 

 gifts, so richly endow vs, that fewer hours 

 of labour will serve to supply us with the 

 material necessaries of life, leaving us more 

 time to ourselves, more leisure to enjoy all 

 that makes life best worth living. 



Even now we all have some leisure, and for 

 it we cannot be too grateful. 



"If any one," says Seneca, "gave you a 

 few acres, you would say that you had re- 

 ceived a benefit ; can you deny that the 

 boundless extent of the earth is a benefit ? If 

 a house were given you, bright with marble, 

 its roof beautifully painted with colours and 



1 Howitt's Book of the Seasons. 



