STRAWBERRY. 127 
STRAWBERRY. 
PERFECTION. 
One of the most eminent French authors 
conceived the plan of writing a general history 
of nature, after the model of the ancients and 
of several moderns. A strawberry plant, which 
by chance grew under his window, deterred him 
from his rash design. He investigated the Straw- 
berry, and in doing so, discovered so many 
wonders, that he felt convinced that the study 
of a single plant, and of its inhabitants, was suffi- 
cient to occupy a whole life. He therefore relin- 
quished his design, gave up the ambitious title 
which he meditated for his work, and contented 
himself with modestly calling it " Studies of 
Nature." 
From this book, worthy of Pliny and of Plato, 
may be derived a taste for observation and for the 
higher class of literature ; and it is there especially 
that the student will find a complete history of the 
Strawberry. This humble plant delights in the 
