98 



THE MATRIMONIAL GARDEN* 



plant, replete with baneful juices, will rankle in the 

 breast, and meditate mischief to its neighbour? While 

 unbridled LUSTS, like swarms of noisome insects* 

 taint each rising thought, and render cc every imagi- 

 nation of the heart only evil continually ?" Such are 

 the usual products of unrestrained nature ! Such the 

 furniture of the uncultivated mind ! 



* By all means, then, pay due attention to culture. 

 By suitable discipline clear the soil. By careful in- 

 struction implant the seeds of virtue. By skill and 

 vigilance prune the unprofitable and over-luxuriant 

 branches :— cc direct the young idea how to shoot,"— 

 the wayward passions how to move. The mature 

 man will then become the chief ornament of the gar- 

 den. Around him CHARITY will breathe her sweets, 

 and in his branches HOPE expand her blossoms. In 

 him the personal virtues will display their graces, and 

 the social ones their fruit — the sentiments become 

 generqus, the carriage endearing, the life useful, and 

 the end happy and peaceful. 



$|p In anticipation that inquirers after practical 

 knowledge of gardening, may regret my having de- 

 viated from the subject matter of the book, in con- 

 necting the two last articles, I would remind such, 

 that a work devoted wholly to practical subjects, is 

 too dull for the generality of readers ; my object has> 

 therefore, been to amuse, as well as to instruct. 



T. BRIDGEMAN. 



New-York t March 8, 1835. 



