170 



PARKS AND PLEASURE-GROUNDS. 



facilitated^ in a greater or less degree, the inspection, 

 and so have extended the knowledge, of the vegetable 

 system of our globe, the individual members of which 

 the wise and beneficent Creator has endowed with consti- 

 tutional peculiarities suited to every habitable region of 

 the earth, and has fitted, either directly or indirectly, to 

 house, clothe, and feed the infinite variety of animal life 

 to be found on its surface. 



To regard botanic gardens merely as receptacles for 

 objects which are the materials of botanical classifica- 

 tion, is to place them much below their proper sphere, 

 and to make them representatives of human systems 

 rather than of that vast order of vegetable being esta- 

 blished by the great Creator.' How far many of these 

 institutions have risen above their lower, and ascended 

 towards their higher and more legitimate position, must 

 be left to be ascertained by actual inspection. Doubt- 

 less, botanic gardens have considerable dif&culties to 

 contend with, and, from a variety of circumstances, are 

 occasionally liable to stagnate. They require abundant 

 HberaHty on the part of the patrons, wisdom and science 

 on that of the directors, and great diligence, some versa- 

 tility and activity of mind, and entire consecration of 

 time and attention in the curators. Perhaps it is not 

 often that aU these requisites are fomid in combination, 

 and the want of one or other of them may partly account 

 for the inferiority in those gardens which occasionally 

 exists. It is not our design, however, to speak disparag- 

 ingly of the botanic gardens of the United Kingdom : 

 many of them are ably and admirably managed ; of these, 

 we do not name any, because we cannot enumerate all, and 

 a particular specification of some might seem invidious 

 to the others. We cannot help directing the attention 



