STRAWBERRY. 
127 
STRAWBERRY. 
PEKFECTION. 
OifE 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 
