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work they are capable of performing , for hiS heart tells him that this is the way in which the Author of his being may re * deive ^ S praise * . * But what nambers are there among the students of natural history , in some of its branches , who scarce think of any thing more than orderly classification ! la botany , for instance , how many there are whose love for flowers extends not much beyond a certain pleasure in arranging them according to a system ! that system , too , being most frequently one
which , though the very best that could be devised i&r the help of the memory , has no tendency to imprint on the mind the most striking characteristic
linearaents of plants and trees . —To such , these beautiful creations are little more tban a cabinet of medals * As dry as their own Hoftus Siccus , they go on , adding plant to plant , without drawing from their studies one beaming aspiration , one devout reflection .
Almost as objectionable is the mere vague sentimentality that roams about the surface of nature , and pronounces it all very good , without deigning to wait and let its various melodies fall , one by one , upon the ear , and produce their full effect . It is objectionable , because it deceives ourselves , it deceives others , and
stops far short of what human nature wants . If it be true that this refreshing page was not spread before us merely that we may make it minister to our love of arrangement , that we may make catalogues of its productions , and put them into classes , it is at least equally true that we come short of a full enjoyment of its bounties if we receive them in a pampered , stimulated , fastidious spirit , or , indeed , in a pre-occupied spirit at all . It has often been our
observation v both upon ourselves aud others , that whensoever we resort to nature with a mind resolute upou using her stores for selfish purposes , —whether we go pre-determined to gratify a particular taste , to delight ourselves with a particular style of scenery , tp pursue some
particular branch of natural history , or even to hunt out a particular plant or flower , though we may succeed in attaining our object , we fall , far short of the enjoyment and the real improvement we derive when we visit her in a more simple spirit , with open eyes and hearts , ready to learn any leason she may hence give us—^
' * She has a world of ready wealth . Our hearts and minds to bless $ Spontaneous wisdom , breaih'd by healthy Truth breath'd by cheerfulness , * If we have any fault to find with Mr .
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Howitt ' s * very pleasing .- " Book Of the Season * , ' V it is , that' it is * writtetl too much in the spirit of selection . It is , as far as the writer goes , true to nature * bat nature coleur de rose . It is one of those elegant , those highly-refined
volumes which delight us by the display of a pure taste and a kind heart , and a virtuous , well-cultivated mind . Nevertheless , we could not give up Gilbert White and his plain , unvarnished ** Natural History of Selborne , ** for ** the Book of the Seasons . " There is rather too much
of study about Mr . Howitt , too much poetical quotation , too many prettinesses . But it is written with great animation , and presents us with a series of pictures such as none but a good observer , moat certainly , could have depicted . With the poetry we must take the liberty of finding a fault ( it is one in excuse for which its authors can find abundant precedents , but surely they will not avail themselves of such ) * Though the general strain is
good , particular lines often offend the ear by a violation of the rhythm with which the poem commenced . We may be old-fashioned people , but we do not like , when the measure and cadence of a piece are formally announced in the two . or three first stanzas , to have the natural * ' principle of expectation" continually baffled by the introduction of a syllable too much , or by the omission of one . After a line like this , for instance ,
" The dome-like heaven is bright and blue , " we are ill prepared for one like the following , occupying a similar place in the stanza : " Jollity bides not ' neath the trees . " Nor this , " Oh 1 poverty is disconsolate , " &c #
These are blemishes , and should be noticed , because they are becoming so common , and associated with so many clever things , that we are afraid they will hopelessly vitiate the public taste ; notwithstanding that Lord Byron ' s poetry presents us with a brilliant exception to all this careless disposition of syllables and quantities .
But it is time to give a specimen or two of Mr . Howitt ' s prose . A particularly pleasing passage is that on field-path : * , in the faistory of July : L u t love our real old-English foot * paths ; I love those fustic and picturesque sttles opening their pleasant escapes from frequented places anddusty highway iuto the solitudes bf natrire . It Is ¦ ¦ ' -&& MuhvttA to catch a glimpse of otic < m IKe
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1831, page 543, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2600/page/39/
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