FOURTH PRINCIPLE. THE STUDY OF NATURE, AND THE PRACTICE OF HORTICULTURE, CONSTITUTE THE SUREST FOUNDATIONS OF A MAN'S HAPPINESS. If in my last two essays I have succeeded, as I flatter myself, to prove, that man, to be happy, must become a useful member of human society, and must therefore labour, either with his mind or body, if not with both: that relaxation of both our mind and body, is equally an indispensable condition to our happiness; and that in consequence, industry, relieved by recreations at once intellectual, elegant, innocent, inexpensive and useful, constitutes the best and the most lasting source of a happy life; it will be very easy for me, I hope, likewise to prove, that the study of nature and the practice of so enchanting an art as modern gardening or horticulture, constitute the surest basis on which a man can found his happiness. For of all the numerous evils to which human life is subject, may not the very greatest be traced to disappointed expectations? What is more excruciating to a man of sensibility, what more corroding to his soul, than the remembrance of disappointed hope from misplaced confidence? What is more trying, not only to the temper of our mind, but also to the pulses of our heart, than to set it upon what appeared to us a kindred nature, and to be disappointed? But on what object can a man place his affections without fear of being disappointed, except on the vegetable productions of nature, such as flowers, shrubs and trees? The whole animal kingdom is always liable to conflicting passions, and every thing human may prove false, but the nature of plants never. She alone is not liable to change or suspicion; nor is there any hypocrisy or mental reservation in her favours, ruled as she is by the Creator of the world,-not according to momentary favour or caprice, but according to fixed or immutable laws, which under all circumstances may be depended upon. For who ever met with capricious roses and vindictive laburnums, or with a catalpa in flowers that refused to smile on an aristocrat as well as on a democrat? Our intercourse with the vegetable productions of nature is therefore like an intercourse with persons of principle and consistency of conduct, which gives to the mind a sort of tranquillity, peculiarly favourable to happiness and to virtue. First follow nature, and your judgment frame At once the source, and end and test of art.—Pope. The cares judiciously bestowed on the cultivation of a garden, or the decoration of a pleasure-ground, will therefore meet, almost in all instances, with a just reward; and the contemplation of the tranquil beauty of a tastefully laid out pleasure-ground, and a well-cultivated garden, imparts to our mind a calmness, an elevation, and a purity of sentiment, which are of the greatest benefit to both our soul and body. On the contrary, if we exclude from our pleasures nature's fresh vital breath, and the cheering light of heaven, or if we reverse the seasons, both our mind and body are sure to droop, and we forfeit as well our health as our cheerfulness; for no art can imitate that vivifying freshness which nature affords. Nature likewise gives coolness to our feelings and sweetness to our taste; sympathises with the low in spirit, and tempers the arrogance of the proud. She dispels gloom and languor; pro |