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hepatica ; hellebore ; the heart ' s-ease , as beautiful in its name as it is in its velvet blossom of gold and royal blue ; the cheerful and long-lasting daisy ; the daffodil that seems to laugh at the cold , and dance with every wind that blows ; and cyclaymen , I believe the last . Then , among the shrubs , we have that elegant tree , the almond , which was a favourite of one of the sweetest poets that ever lived , SPENSER ; our
cheerful and steady friend , the laurustinus , that begins to flower when the gay colours of summer leave us , and never ceases till they return to us again ; the Glastonbury thorn , about whose blowing the artful and deceiving monks of old time told a foolish story , of its having formerly been the walking-stick of a disciple of Jesus Christ , who , planting it in the earth near the abbey of Glastonbury , it flowered at Christmas , in
honour of his master , Jesus , who was born at that time . Then follow the cornelian cherry , and cherry plum , together with the mezereon , which is a beautiful little plant ; and the phillyrea , spurge laurel , and pyrancantha , with its clusters of bright red berries . Here is a famous catalogue of beauties for this season of the year ! Who would think there was such a variety , when but a few weeks since the snow covered
the ground , and the tender shoots of the flowers were bound in by the frost ? When we get home , you may , if you wish , gather a few of all , and take them to mamma , to adorn the parlour . If this month has been very stormy and wet , remember what I told you about rain . The inconveniences we meet in life are not to be compared with the delights ; and when we think of the great good that rainy days will hereafter bring us , we must not be discontented with the month of February . " They now arrived at home , and Adam went immediately to gather the flowers for his mamma . '—pp . 32 , 33 .
In this pleasant way the book goes on , month after month , till one wishes there were six-ancl-thirty months in the year , all of them bringing fresh work for Adam Stock as gardener , and for Charles Cowden Clarke as chronicler . But it is not needful for us now to track the sun through all the signs of the zodiac ,
or those terrestrial signs , the beautiful constellations of earth , which also mark his progress . So chase him yourself , reader , through Aries , Taurus , Gemini , Cancer , and the rest in their order ; and through Primrose , Daffodil , Violet , Harebell , and the rest in their order . We will only further request your company in a rapid turning over of the leaves of the pther chapters .
The author evidently appreciates , feels , and therefore often writes , poetry . In his Tales from Chaucer , which we recently noticed , it was natural to suppose that his style had derived its character from the great master , between whom and our youth he stood as interpreter . But his style here is Chaucerian too . Its
flavour is that of waters from ' the well of English undefiled . He has that picturesque precision which distinguishes the observer of things from the mere combiner of words . We have alread y praised his descriptions . We will give some specimens as they arise . This is from March : i , indeed , it is pleasant to have the gleams of sunshine after the
Untitled Article
Adam the Gardener . 145
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1834, page 145, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2630/page/61/
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