served was covered with roses to the depth of a cubit. Suetonius tells us that Nero lavished four millions of sesterces, about £30,000, on the roses for one entertainment. We have all heard of the tulip mania which raged throughout Europe for a time, so that these extravagances need not surprise us. Flowers have been made the vehicles for sentiment all over the world. The Persians communicate with their mistresses by means of bouquets. The poet has made the fond girl depend on the decision of a flower to ascertain whether her affection was returned.

It is the custom in Switzerland, on the birth of a child, to despatch a maid to all the friends and relatives in the family with the good news, dressed in her very best, and carrying a large nosegay of the choicest flowers. That custom, once so prevalent in merry England, of ushering in the month of May with garlands and crowns of flowers, appeared to us most natural. During the dark ages the art of gardening would have been utterly lost but for the monks, who still practised it, and even introduced it into tracts in Italy and Spain hitherto utterly neglected. The art of gardening was revived and encouraged by the Medici family, in Italy, in the beginning of the 16th century. The most famous gardens were those of Lorenzo de Medici and the opulent Bernard Rucellai; they were laid out according to the geometrical plan of Pliny's Tusculum villa, a fashion adopted throughout Europe soon after. Forsyth tells us that in the villas about Rome, they persisted in "the formal symmetrical plan, architectural groves, devices cut in box, and tunes performed by the hydraulic organ. In the description of the gardens of the Villa Panfilé, we are told of laurel and ilex porticoes, of "parterres, green scutcheons, and clipt coronets, vegetating over half an acre." Though Belvidere, the villa of Prince Borghese, at Frascati, is mentioned as being a most noble object, and commanding magnificent views; yet here, too, the love of forcing nature out of her own sweet course is seen. Behind the villa a stream is turned, to dash precipitately over a succession of terraces, and is tormented below into a variety of tricks: at the turning of a cock, you are assailed by water on every side. We are told by Loudon, to whom we are indebted for much information, that "water is squirted in your face from invisible holes: it darts up in a constellation of jets d'eau, and, descending in misty showers, presents against the sun a beautiful iris! Water is made to blow the trumpets of Centaurs and the pipes of a Cyclops; water plays the organ, makes the birds warble and the Muses tune their reeds, sets Pegasus neighing, and all Parnassus on music."

The taste for introducing statues and urns into gardens was revived by Cardinal d'Este, about the same time. Anxious to design a residence and gardens for himself, he took the ground where the Emperor Adrian's villa had stood; here he happened to find a number

of antiquities, which he distributed through his gardens, and thus the plan that he had accidently adopted became the fashion throughout Europe. The approved style of gardening in Italy may be gathered from a poem published in the beginning of the 17th century, under the title of "L'Adama" Its author was a Florentine. It is illustrated by "prints representing Paradise, with clipt hedges, square parterres, trees formally lopped, straight walks, marble fountains, and water-works."

Wilson speaks in great rapture of the gardens belonging to many of the villas on the Lake of Como; it however appears, from what he says, that they did not altogether escape the prevailing fashion; he tells us that "it is delightful to behold the lofty crags, frowning from the highly cultivated gardens, with hot-houses of exotic plants and ornamental summer-houses subduing the natural wildness of the scene."

The

The fantastic devices that so long prevailed in the art of gardening could not have been executed without considerable labour and expense, and the obstacles and difficulties which have been overcome in the pursuit of the art is sufficient proof of the zeal with which it was followed. The hanging-gardens of Babylon, ranked as one of the wonders of the world, were a striking example of laborious effort and skill; flights of steps led to terrace above terrace, till the height was equal to the walls of the city. The mould which had been conveyed to these terraces rested on a foundation of lead, supported on vast arches raised above other arches. earth was so deep that the largest trees grew there, and every variety of plant that could beautify a garden embellished the terraces; water was ingeniously drawn up by an engine, so as to water the whole garden. How grateful must she have been, for whose sake the fairyscene had been contrived, when she found herself in the midst of the trees and flowers of her native home! what fond recollections must have been wakened! but still dearer to her must have been the proof of that affection which had such tender regard for her early associations.

The artificial gardens of Isola Bella, in the Lago Maggiore, had a foundation like that of the hanging-gardens of Babylon. The barren rock, which in 1640 had not an inch of earth on its surface, and produced no vegetation but lichens and moss, became, under the direction of Vitaliano Boremeo, an object of surpassing beauty. Earth was brought from the banks of the lake, in such quantity as to cover ten terraces, raised on arches one above the other to the top of the island where the palace standsthe rarest and most beautiful plants thus form a pyramid that excites admiration and surprise. Orange and lemon trees are in great luxuriance; the grove of laurels is scarcely equalled in Europe, and two of them are said to be "the largest in existence." A romantic interest, too, like that connected with the gardens of Babylon, is said to attach to those of Isola Bella, for they also owed their existence to affection.

Perhaps the most curious specimens of cultivation to be met with, are the floating gardens of Mexico. When the Mexicans were subdued by the Calhuan and Tepanican nations, and confined to the wretched little islands on the lake, they were without land to cultivate; but necessity (so aptly called the mother of invention) suggested the idea for the formation of floating fields and gardens. They laid the foundation with wicker-work, water plants, and mud. The boat containing one of these gardens is usually eight poles long by three broad. They first grew maize, and other useful plants; but afterwards there were gardens among them, where all kinds of flowers and herbs were successfully raised. A tree may sometimes be seen, and a hut to afford shelter to the cultivator has been observed. Should he wish, for any reason, to change his situation, he gets into his little vessel, and tows on his garden, if small, by himself; if large, with the help of others, and places it in the direction which is preferred.

Cashmere, too, has its floating-gardens. Inundations take place at the city, from the accumulation of weeds and mud, by which the depth of the lakes is diminished and their surface enlarged. Water-lilies, reeds, and a variety of aquatic plants, spring from the bottom of the lakes; and as the boats take the most direct lines through the waters to their place of destination, the waters are divided in some places by beds of sedges and reeds. The farmers, to turn these beds to profitable account, cut off the roots of the plant, about two feet under water; so that they are separated from the bottom, though retaining their situation. They are then pressed together and formed into long borders about two yards wide; the heads of the plants are then cut off, and laid upon the surface; it is then covered with a thin layer of mud, which sinks by degrees into the mass of tangled stalks. The floating bed is kept in its place by a willow stake, which is driven through it at each end, which admits of its accommodating itself to the rise and fall of the water. A quantity of plants are disturbed from the bottom by means of a long pole thrust in among them, and turned round and round repeatedly; these are conveyed in the boat, and laid on the surface of the bed, when they are twisted into cones about two feet diameter at their base, and about the same height. The top terminates in a hollow, which is filled with fresh mud, and at times with wood ashes, into which a number of cucumber and melon plants are transplanted from under the mats where they were reared,

No gardens could have cost such an amount of labour as the elaborate pleasure-grounds of the Chinese. The great object in their arrangement is to represent Nature in a variety of aspects. Some travellers describe these gardens as "exhibiting a general confusion of the productions of verdant Nature;" they are of vast extent, and represent a succession of scenesthe pleasing, the horrible, the enchanted. In the Scene of Horror, impending rocks, dark

caverns, and impetuous cataracts are introduced, and the appearance of some great convulsion of Nature is imitated. Trees are bent from their natural form, and made to look as if scathed by lightning, or blasted by the tempest. Some are seen torn and shivered; others are lying across the torrents, as if rent from their places by the rush of the waters; the ruins of castles and villages, as if destroyed by lightning and the storm, are interspersed throughout the scene; while wretched homes here and there intimate the misery to which the inhabitants of this region of desolation are reduced. You emerge suddenly from this gloom and devastation into the Scene of Delight, which is diversified by wood and water, and embellished with a profusion of flowering shrubs and flowers of every hue. Vistas of cascades are seen through the openings in the woods; with sheets of water, where vessels are gliding along: bridges and buildings lie scattered in the distance. To surprise seems the great aim of this style of gardening. Sometimes, gradually led on from this delightful landscape to a wild rugged path, the explorer is involved in dark caverns; and again he finds himself in the midst of luxuriance and beauty. All appears like enchantment. The scene derives its great interest from an air of supernatural mystery: strange sounds are heard to issue from the ground (contrived by making streams pass beneath it); openings are left in the rocks and buildings, through which the wind rushes like an awful dirge; grotesque-looking trees and plants are introduced into this scene, where a number of strange animals are let loose. The imperial gardens, which are of vast extent, are laid out after this fashion, embellished with artificial hills, valleys, lakes, and canals; palaces, towns, and villages of wood, painted and varnished (for such are always introduced into pleasure-grounds), bridges, colonnades, restingplaces: a farm and fields fill up the design, where the Emperor presides once a year for the encouragement of industry. In Espinall's letters it is said, "Plates and tea-saucers have made us better acquainted with the Chinese than we are with any other distant people." This passage may have suggested the very amusing article on "the willow pattern," which appeared in " Bentley's Miscellany" some years since. However, the plates and saucers may be considered a condensed sketch of the scenes in which the Chinese delight.

The fantastic style of gardening which at one time prevailed throughout Europe did not originate there, but has been traced by those who have carefully examined the paintings and the bas-reliefs which represent the Egyptian gardens, where the flowers and fruits so essential for the Egyptian banquets were cultivated. They were laid out in the manner which went, in England, by the name of "the Dutch style": square flower-beds; raised terraces, in straight lines; arbours of trellis-work at regular distances, covered with vine and other creeping plants; ponds for water-fowl and for fish, form the representations of this ancient people. The value

set upon the lotus-plant is perceived at once-it is seen everywhere. The Egyptian ladies almost invariably held the blossom of the lotus in their hand, and it was the decoration for their hair; the necklaces, too, which they wore at their banquets, were formed of its petals. The plants in which the gardens of Egypt abounded are particularly alluded to in the "Song of Solomon."

The gardens of Switzerland appear to have been laid out without any attempt at imitation; they exhibited none of the fantastic ornaments which were so profusely introduced into the gardens of other countries. Hirschfield tells that "they are theatres of true beauty, without vain ornaments or artificial decoration." There is an unspeakable charm in simplicity, which makes it a component part in all that is sublime and lovely. The natural advantages of these gardens would indeed render embellishment, beyond the culture of plants, quite out of place. Their romantic and picturesque situations, the undulations of the ground, the rocks, the

verdure for which some are remarkable, the noble views which they command, render them most delightful pleasure-gardens and they are, besides, cultivated with the greatest care and most scrupulous neatness. The first botanic garden was founded at Zurich, by Gesner, before the middle of the sixteenth century. Though his means obliged him to limit its extent and the number of hands he employed, yet his energy was such that he had a vast collection of plants which he had preserved in his extensive travels and procured from his friends. Most of the cantons can now boast of a botanic garden. Pisa is distinguished for having opened the first in Europe. The botanic garden of Ghent was established by Napoleon I., in 1797; it is the richest and best garden of the Netherlands. Here, too, the festivals of Flora are held twice in the year by the agricultural society. These festivals last for three days at Midsummer, and again at Midwinter: an honorary medal is the prize awarded to the finest plants exhibited. (To be continued.)

Matthew Forrest loves to tell a story. Dining with him lately, he told me his own, as we sat on his ample lawn, and enjoyed the lovely garden which Mrs. Forrest loves so well.

It was already a week ago since the factorybell-the signal of labour to my excellent father during a long and useful life-had sounded to call together our six hundred "hands" on the occasion of his funeral. Loved in life, in death honoured, he was followed to the grave by those who well knew his worth, and regretted his loss. I, his son, and during six years past his partner, was left, in my thirty-first year, owner of Barton Mills, and sole representative of the once-numerous family of my parents,

My dear mother, formerly a factory-girl hersel-bless her!-sat pale and quiet in her accustomed arm-chair: she and I were left alone, of the numerous household once flourishing at Barton. John, my pet brother-the scapegrace of the family-had died of fever in a foreign land, bequeathing to us a boy, wild, and handsome, and winning as himself. Gerald was now sixteen: we had removed him from school, and taken him into business a year back; but his high spirits and indomitable love of mischief rather interfered with his serious avocations. Edmund was also one of my household -a quiet, studious youth, the child of my sweet sister Katherine, a lady born in a poor man's

house, whose gentle graces had won the heart of Edmund Trevor, our hard-working curate. Edmund was preparing to follow his father's profession. The family was completed by Grace and Mary, twin children of my second brother, George. My mother and I could reckon a long list of our dead, for she had been privileged to have, and fated to lose, a large band of children. My poor mother! how often, when her grey eyes grew wistful, and she sat, gently twisting her wedding-ring on her finger-a common trick of hers-I knew that memory was busy repeopling her nursery, and that voices long since silent rang once more upon her ear-my good, gentle mother!

I was rather anxiously situated just then, and my sorrow for my father was keen; but when my little flock came trooping in to breakfast with their kindly greetings and merry looksfor young creatures like them soon get back to merry looks, and indeed it is a good thingwhen the bright band entered, my heart felt very glad and grateful. Gerald, with his accustomed awkwardness, fell over a footstool: nearsighted, Edmund peered curiously at his grandmother's arm-chair, and finding her there, took his own seat as usual by her side. Grace and Mary, their arms around each other, sat down by me.

The sunshine streamed in on the snowy breakfast-cloth and polished silver on the table,

and the dewdrops sparkled like diamonds on the petals of the bouquet in the centre, gathered and placed there, according to custom, by my two nieces: the habit had been begun to please my father, years ago. I opened the Bible and read our morning chapter; then we prayed together, and, soothed by the devotion, gathered cheerfully round the breakfast-table.

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"Children," said my mother, "I have one thing to say (all listened): " you know that your uncle and I have judged it fit to engage a young lady to teach Grace and Mary. She arrived, as you are aware, last night. As she has just lost her father"-my dear mother's voice trembled-"we must all be very kind and considerate to her. Let us try to make her happy among us."

"Where is she?" asked Gerald, presently. "Not yet up," answered the girls, in one voice.

"A pretty beginning!" said Gerald. "I have a great mind to throw some gravel at her window! It is eight o'clock."

"You had better mind your breakfast," was Edmund's remark. "I think the young lady is coming."

"What quick ears yours are, old fellow, in catching that soft, feminine rustle of skirts and flounces! I believe it is music to you," continued Gerald, whose mad tongue was only checked by the entrance of Helen Blythewaite, the governess.

Poor proud girl! I can comprehend, now, that it was exquisite humiliation for her to greet us in such a character. She looked round coldly, and dropping one general, graceful curtsey, sat down in a chair which Edmund had drawn to the table for her, by his own side; at which piece of ordinary politeness Gerald looked mischievously merry. Miss Blythewaite's eyelids were swollen; her lips pale and compressed. I have no doubt she had been weeping half the night. Grace and Mary, sitting together at the head of the table, poured out her coffee, which she drank hurriedly and nervously, refusing to eat, in spite of my mother's persuasions and Edmund's active endeavours to tempt her.

My mother seemed very uneasy. She loved that all about her should be happy.

When we began to withdraw from the table, she said, kindly, "Miss Blythewaite, my dear, you must have to-day to make our acquaintance; to-morrow you may speak of lessons."

"Thank you, madam," returned the young lady, in a cold voice; "I shall be glad to have to-day to myself!" and retreating to her own room, we saw no more of her until our early dinner-time, when she seemed just as frigid, and no more hungry than before.

I had not a great deal of time to observe her, however, for I was very anxious and busy, My father-I think it was his only error-had a dislike to the introduction of machinery; and for a few years back, Barton Mills had scarcely kept up their old reputation. I had so many utterly dependent upon me that I felt bound to retrieve lost chances, and having scraped together

-not without a mortgage-money enough to pay my more pressing debts, I began immediately to put in my machinery and start afresh. The arrival of my millwright made me unpopular among our people, who dreaded any innovation, and altogether my position was not the pleasantest in the world; still I trusted in Providence to carry me through my strait, and used every effort to extricate myself from difficulties which I had seen coming for years, but had been unable to deal with during my father's life. Some of our best customers had left us, and I had not much money in reserve when my urgent debts were paid; but I and my children agreed with the grandmother to live very quietly, and save all we could. I sold the carriage and horses, and reduced the establishment to half its former size. These circumstances, I beg to say, little affected our comfort, and we were merry the very day our superfluous domestics left us.

It was Grace and Mary's birthday, and our tea was spread on a table under the great chestnut, now in full leaf. My mother had given a holiday; and according to custom on such occasions, Miss Blythewaite had shut herself in the school-room all day. I was sorry to see this proud unhappy girl throwing away little homely bits of happiness, which might have enlivened her existence; but as she gave her lessons scrupulously, and fulfilled all her duties (in the letter, at least), I scarcely knew how to deal with the case-or rather_to_advise_my mother how to deal with it. My dear mother, the general confidante of our circle, could make no way to Miss Blythewaite's heart.

Grace and Mary had been rendered happy by some lockets I had given them, and we were seated round our table under the tree, when our neat housemaid, who had been sent to summon Miss Blythewaite, returned to us, announcing that if Mrs. Forrest pleased, she would take her tea in-doors.

Grace and Mary were sadly disappointed, for they loved this strange girl, and wished her to share their pleasure; and my good mother looked unhappy.

"I will fetch her," cried Gerald, roughly; but Edmund interfered, and to prevent any serious disagreement between the lads, I went myself.

She was sitting in the pretty room appropriated as the girls' study; not at work-she never amused herself, as some young women do, with a needle; not reading, though several books lay open on the table; but leaning, in an idle listless way, over the table. I have seen a print of The Poor Teacher, which struck me to the heart; and I had no fancy to have any domestic tragedy of that kind enacted under my kindly roof, where honest work of every sort had been ever religiously respected.

She rose when I entered, with a gesture of exaggerated humility. Foolish girl! I might have spoken somewhat roughly had not those pretty lids shown a purple heaviness which told of tears.

"Are you ill, Miss Blythewaite?" I enquired,

in a voice just as little touched with sympathy as I thought occasion required.

"No, thank you, sir."

"Then why refuse to obey my mother's summons to tea? It hurts her to see you lonely; and you are aware that you ought to consult her feelings a little."

"Surely when my lessons are over-" She looked angry, and was clearly about to make some strong speech; but she checked herself, and said very quietly: "I prefer having my leisure to myself.'

Her coolness vexed me. Had she cried she would have conquered; for I never could face feminine tears, and should have left her to her own foolish devices. But the nonchalant air with which she waived off our request, roused the master in me-a portion which is always strong in the composition of a manufacturer.

"I am older than you, Miss Blythewaite, and have seen considerably more of the world. I may be permitted to tell you that your solitary leisure is the worst thing possible for you."

"Perhaps I may also be permitted to judge of that, sir," she answered, just as quickly as before.

"Just tell me," I said, "if you have met with any unkindness? Gerald is rough, or the girls may thoughtlessly have said what I am sure, if it were not kind, they did not mean. I want you to be happy."

"Me happy! I have lived long enough to smile at the word." And she did smile, an unpleasant smile for a girl.

"We have all our own aches and pains, both bodily and mental, I am well aware, Miss Blythewaite; but we should not nurse them up. If you cannot be happy, at least you can help

us to be so."

The perverse girl was still untamed; and she said in her low liquid voice: "In most families of any pretensions, I believe, the governess is not compelled to join the family circle."

"We are not a family of pretensions'; we are honest English traders. I have no wish to compel you to join us."

"Then I shall decide to remain here." "Very well, please yourself; but you are acting very unwisely."

"Thank you for your kind advice and counsel."

The little hypocrite! She said it calmly, though she was really angry with me. I left her to her solitary thoughts, and joined the merry party under the chestnut tree. Our young people were gay, and their light laughter banished some rather mournful thoughts which had been filling my brain before. I had lost a large contract, and a house largely in my debt had become bankrupt; but I forgot my perplexities for a while, as we sat in the summer sunshine-we who were left to each other, happy and well. I joined in their games after tea; but when they went indoors, I remained alone, pacing the Cedar Walk in the dusk of the starry summer night, and renewing my interview with the ghosts that tormented me.

I lighted a cigar, having great faith in its powers as an aid to tranquil reflection, and walked slowly to and fro; now and then stopping a moment to smell my favourite clove carnations, but never ceasing to remember the heavy bill due next Monday, or the averted looks of my workpeople, in whose ears the sounds of hammer and anvil were abominations. If I could outride this storm, and once get my machinery fully employed, I might yet hope ultimately to preserve an honest name from disgrace; if not-! loved Barton House as a tangible proof of her My poor mother, who good husband's affection for her and his children; Edmund just ready for college; Gerald fit for nothing but to laugh life away; and the dear little girls-what would become of them all? Such were the thoughts which accompanied me up and down the Cedar Walk.

I was standing a moment to watch a light cloud in the west, shining between the darkness of the cedar boughs, when Miss Blythewaite, wrapped in a shawl, entered the walk, and began to walk hastily up and down. Strange, solitary girl! She could not call this recreation, pacing so hurriedly, with her eyes on the ground, and noting nothing of all the flush and brilliance of a summer night. Before she reached me, I heard-did I hear?-a low whistle.

Yes, it must have been, for she too looked round; and having apparently satisfied herself that no one was near, opened the postern gate in the wall, and was immediately strained to the breast of one who stood there.

My first impulse was to thrust her from the house at once; my next, to leave the spot now, and to dismiss her quietly to-morrow. Charity suggested that perhaps the stranger might be a relative; but then, what motive for clandestine visits? for in our house she was perfectly free to receive her friends. I doubted whether this girl's coming among us might not bring me trouble; and as I pettishly flung away my cigar, and trampled out its tiny red light, she hastily embraced and dismissed her visitor.

Then I began to feel that another feeling was mingled with my anger.

This strange, proud, stubborn girl had a charm about her-a mystery, which, had I been rich and idle, it would perhaps have amused me to unravel at my leisure. Her rich curved red lips were full of beauty, and the glance of her rarelylifted eye was like a sunrise. Cool, crystalclear, dark bluish-grey eyes, with long lashes that gave her a sort of Spanish look; a broad, low, fair brow; sunny brown hair, which, though gathered into formal little curls, according to the fashion of the day, waved and crimpled up to the white parting, which went--

"One moonbeam from the forehead to the crown,"

came before my fancy, blotting out my harsh judgment, and making me long to do some violence to that miscreant.

Before I had completed my thought-sentence she looked round and saw me. One moment

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