19G THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, June 30, 1857. 
wardens, to be by them placed out at interest, for the 
payment of 20s. annually for ever, for a sermon on 
Whit-Tuesday, in the afternoon, at the parish church. 
The bequest, in 174G, was increased to ^100, South Sea 
Stock, and vested in the President and Fellows of the 
Royal Society, and the interest is paid to the lecturer 
annually. 
Whitsuntide is usually one of the most brilliant 
holiday-tides of the whole year. It is almost always a 
time of sunshine and soft breezes, and being also the high 
festival time of our flowers, we may then realise, as 
nearly as is permitted to exiles from Paradise, that 
happy period when might be heard “ the voice of God, 
walking in the midst of the Garden.” Perhaps Thomas 
Fairchild felt this, and for that reason provided those 
funds which ever since his death have been devoted to 
secure the delivery, according to his directions, on each 
Whit-Tuesdav, of a Lecture “ On the wonderful works of 
God in the Creation; or, On the certainty of the Resur¬ 
rection of the dead, proved by the certain changes of 
the animal and vegetable parts ot the Creation. Bright 
themes are these, and around them the scienced and the 
eloquent have concentrated illustrations which demon¬ 
strate, beyond dispute, that an all-wise and all-powerful 
Being formed the world, and formed it, too, with an all- 
benevolent design. Nor is that design abortive; for, as 
Paley remarked, even in the pain and weakness of his 
dying hours, “ It is a happy world after all.” Happy, 
not only because enjoyment prevails here, but because j 
the same design assures us that the day, or rather, the ! 
eternity shall come when there shall be no more death ; j 
but as the seed dies to become fruitful, and as the per- j 
feet Golden-eyed Lacewing comes forth from the cere- j 
ments of the chrysalis, so we have the glorious hope that j 
we shall rise from the grave to rejoin, and be ever pre- j 
sent with, those loved ones who have passed before, to i 
abide with Him who lived and died also “ to prepare a ! 
place ” for them. 
Connections and thoughts such as these comforted 
and elevated the heart of Fairchild, for he not only 
founded thelecture on such themes as we have mentioned, 
but he tells us, “ When we are not yet arrived at the 
pleasures of a large garden, or cannot enjoy the benefit 
of a large piece of ground, we content ourselves with a 
nosegay rather than fail. There is, I confess, a very 
wide difference; but where a little is only to be had we 
should be content with little ; industry will always find 
out more; and if their riches do not too much engage 
their mind they may have content too, for whoever 
understands and loves a garden may have content if he 
will, because he has opportunity every day of contem¬ 
plating the works of the Creation, and admiring the ! 
power and wisdom of the Creator, which I think is the j 
greatest happiness.” 
Last year a very eloquent sermon was delivered by 
the Bishop of Oxford, and on the 2nd of the present 
month, being Whit-Tuesday, we listened to a similar 
address by the Rev. Mr. Walker. Handsome bouquets 
appropriately were on either side of the lecturer as he 
discoursed on part of the 20th verse of the 1st chapter 
of Romans: “ The invisible things of God, from the ( 
creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood 
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and 
godhead.” And, as the lecturer observed, if such were 
the case when St. Paul wrote, much more can those | 
invisible things be appreciated now that science has : 
bestowed on man a more perfect knowledge of the things j 
created. Science shows, and the strata of the earth 
reveal, that there is a progressive advance to a higher 
form, and all consonant with the assurance given by 
Revelation that there is still a higher form yet to be | 
unfolded. 
Of the Fairchild Lectures the following have been 
published:— 
By Dr. Denne (Matt. vi. 28—30), in 1730. (Gen. 
i. II—13), in 1733, on Vegetable Creation. And (Psalm j 
viii. 4—6), in 1745, on God’s regard to Man in his 
Works of Creation. By Dr. Wm. Stuheley (Gen. i. 11), 
in 1760—63, three sermons. And by the Rev. Wm. 
Jones, one on Botanical Philosophy, another on the 
Economy of Beasts and Cattle; and a third (Gen. 
i. 9, 10), on the Natural History of the Earth and its 
Minerals. 
Besides these, among the preachers we find the 
Rev. H. Wheatly, Rev. John Brigden, Rev. John Vade, 
Rev. Michael Marlow, Rev, Hr. Anselm Bayley, Rev. 
Henry Owen, and the Rev. Samuel Ayscough. 
That admirable weekly publication, “ Sunday at 
Home,” recently published some extracts from the Fair- 
child Lectures, and from them, in conclusion, we quote 
the following:— 
“Dr. Denne, in his learned discourse on Gen. i. 11— | 
13, delivered May 15th, 1733, says : ‘ What pleasure is j 
there in all the busy scenes of life unless we can now ! 
and then be relieved from the hurry and fatigue of them | 
by rural retirements and entertainments, where the 
vegetable world receives us with all the sweetness and ; 
freshness of air uncorrupted, which alone is often able | 
to revive us when past recovery by all the powers of 
physic? We are there treated with a gay and smiling 
countenance, but without hypocrisy and deceit. 
There are as many beauties and as great curiosities grow¬ 
ing wild in common fields as can be collected at a great 
expense in the best of gardens. The country, without 
much art, opens into an inexpressible variety of scenes, 
which diversify the face of the earth, and fill the mind 
with a perpetual succession of images, so that one can j 
hardly ever be weary of rambling from one labyrinth of 
delight to another; or if one is, we may sit down with 
delight under the shadow of vegetables. And that all 
these pleasures may not be quite lost to those whose 
business or fortunes immure them to this metropolis, the 
founder of this lecture thought it worth his while to 
contrive a city garden for them.’ The lecturer hero 
refers to a public garden which the founder of the lecture 
had opened. At the conclusion of the discourse a 
faithful warning is given to those who misimprove all 
the Christian privileges with which they are surrounded, 
whose ungrateful return for all the care they receive is like ; 
that vineyard described by the prophet Isaiah (chap, v.), 
