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DECEMBER THIRD.-Yes, I agree with Parkinson, whether flowers are double or single it matters not as long as they are natural. Though I own to loving white lilac at Christmas time, I always feel sorry for over-forced flowers. They always look tired. Parkinson writes: "For nature still bendeth and tendeth to perfection, that is, after flow'ring to give fruit or seede. . . . All double flowers were so found wilde, being the worke of nature alone, and not the art of any man, by planting or transplanting, at or before the newe or full Moone, or any other observation of time, that hath caused the flower to grow double, that naturally was single: Secondly, that the rules and directions, to cause flowers to be of contrary or different colours and sents, from what they were or would be naturally, are mere fancies of men, without any ground of reason or truth. And thirdly, there is no power or art in man to cause flowers to shew their beauty divers moneths before their naturall time, nor to abide in their beauty longer than the appointed naturall time for every one of them. Although I do confesse and acknowledge, that I thinke some constellations, and peradventure changes of the Moone were appointed by the God of nature, as conducing and helping to the making of those flowers double, that nature hath so produced; yet doe I deny, that any man hath or shall ever be able to prove, that it was done by the art of

man.'

DECEMBER FOURTH.-Here is a delightful passage I have just found.

"Let us but take a turn or two in a well-contriv'd and plant'd Garden; and see what a surprizing Scene presents it self in the Vernal Bloom, diffusing its fragrand and Odoriferous Wafts, with their ravishing sweets: The tender Blossoms, curiously enamell'd; the variously-figur'd Shapes of the verdant Foliage, dancing about, and Immanť'ling the laden Branches of the choicest Fruit; some hiding their blushing Cheeks; others displaying their Beauties, and even Courting the Eye to Admire; others the Hand to Gather, and all of them to taste their delicious Pulps. Can any thing be more delightful, than to behold an ample Square (in a benign Aspect) tapestred and adorn'd with such a glorious Embroidery of Festoons, and Frutages, depending from the yielding Boughs, pregnant with their Offspring, and pouring forth their Plenty and Store, as out of so many Amalthean Horns? Some tinctur'd with the loveliest White and Red; others, an Azurine-Purple; others strip'd with Incarnadine, as over a Tissue of Vegetable Gold, Colours of an Oriency, that mock the pencil of the most exquisite Artist; and with which their native Beauty, Perfume, Fragrancy, and Taste, Gratifie and Entertain more Senses. at once, than does any Sublunary Object, in all un-vitiated Nature besides."-1649.

DECEMBER FIFTH.—I sit me down in my Garden Room to muse. Will Swallow-day ever come? Sunshine seems a long way off, and yet-yet- Idly I turn the leaves of an old old book lying near at hand, and I turn the pages. Here is a passage on Swallows :

Multi

"Swallows seem to have a different Procedure. tudes of them, as it is pretended, cross the Sea. But the accounts from England and Sweden make it evident, that several, or at least those of the most Northern Countries, continue in Europe, and conceal themselves in the Caverns of the Earth riveted to one another with their Claws and Bills. They flock to places unfrequented by Man, or even bury themselves in the Water. The Precaution they take to lubricate their feathers with their own Oil, and to roll themselves up like a Ball, their Head within, and their Back without, preserves them in the Water, and even under the Ice. They are there benumb'd, and pass the whole Winter without Motion. The Heart however has a constant Palpitation, and the Warmth unchils them at the Return of Spring. They then revisit their former Habitations, and each Individual finds out his own Country, and his particular Village, City, and Nest.”

This is from the third edition of Nature Display'd, being "Discourses on such Particulars of Natural History as were thought most proper to Excite the Curiosity and form the Minds of the Young." A descriptive title forsooth!

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