26 
BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 
sun partakes more of a right line than a spiral. The same 
is the method of Nature in the frame of man. He seems 
at forty to be fully in his summer tropic: somewhat 
before and somewhat after, he finds in his soul but small 
increases or decays. Trom fifty to threescore the balance 
generally holds, even in our colder climates, for he loses 
not much infancy; and judgment, which is the effect of 
observation, still increases. His succeeding years afford 
him little more than the stubble of his own harvest; yet, 
if his constitution be healthful, his mind may still retain 
a decent vigour; and the gleanings of that Ephraim, in 
comparison with others, will surpass the vintage of 
Abiezer. I have called this somewhere by a bold meta¬ 
phor—a green old age; but Yirgil has given me his 
authority for the figure :— 
“Jam senior; sed cruda Deo,viridisque senectus.** 
It was upon the grassy prairies of the olden time the 
untamed races chased the deer and boar; within the 
umbrage of primeval woods they learnt the first lessons 
of a simple creed, and upon altars of green herbs offered 
their first sacrifice. Nature was still educating the Man, 
lifting up his heart to heaven by the splendours of noon 
arid sunset, and filling him with gratitude to the Author 
of all Good, by the promises of fertile fields, the exube¬ 
rance of fruitful jungles, and the enamelled poetry of 
wood and hill side. 
In after times, the grassy herbage was still dear to 
men, and upon the green floor of the wilderness they 
made their orisons to the morning star, and chanted their 
hosannahs to the rising sun, regarding the golden orb as 
