ANTICIPATIONS OF MAN IN NATURE. 331 



CHAPTER XXX. 



ANTICIPATIONS OF MAN IN NATURE. 



TAKING advantage of a midsummer holiday, suppose 

 we visit the country seat of a friend possessed of am- 

 ple wealth and cultivated tastes. Arriving at the prem* 

 ises, we find the owner called unexpectedly to the city, but 

 the porter, in obedience to the instructions of the proprie- 

 tor, proffers us a greeting, and bids us in to the enjoyment 

 of the spacious park. We find the grounds laid out and 

 adorned under the guidance of an educated and generous 

 taste. The graveled carriage-road winds under the leafy- 

 umbrage of the ancient oaks, or creeps along beneath the 

 dark shadows of a frowning cliff; and ever and anon a 

 sunny opening in the overhanging foliage lets in the gold- 

 en light upon the quiet-loving Rhododendron and Azalea. 

 Here a modest footpath saunters down a mimic vale, and 

 leads us, worn and weary, to a rustic summer-house all 

 overarched with honey - breathing Loniceras intertwined 

 with the scandent Cobea and woodland-loving Bignonia. 

 Here are seats provided for the languid visitor ; and from 

 the roots of the thirsty beech, whose overreaching branches 

 rib the leafy arch, bursts forth a laughing fountain, while a 

 goblet standing by seems to say, " Here the visitor will be 

 thirsty and warm, and will eagerly refresh himself at the 

 cooling spring." The proprietor of the grounds, though 

 not here in his visible presence, has left here the evidences 

 of his thoughtfulness and^expectation of a wearied visitor. 

 Then for the first time we spy what is equally welcome 

 ' with the cool fountain — a basket of ripe and luscious fruit, 



