Although no part of mighty nature be

More stor❜d with beauty, power, and mystery;
Yet to encourage human industry,

God has so order'd, that no other part

Such

space

and such dominion leaves for art.

X

We nowhere art do so triumphant see,
As when it grafts or buds the tree :
In other things we count it to excel,
If it a docile scholar can appear
To nature, and but imitate her well;
It overrules, and is her master here,
It imitates her Maker's power divine,

And changes her sometimes, and sometimes does refine :
It does, like grace, the fallen tree restore

To its blest state of Paradise before:

Who would not joy to see His conquering hand

O'er all the vegetable world command?

And the wild giants of the wood receive

What law He's pleased to give?

He bids th' ill-natured crab produce
The gentler apple's winy juice;

The golden fruit, that worthy is
Of Galatea's purple kiss ; 1

He does the savage hawthorn teach
To bear the medlar and the pear;
He bids the rustic plum to rear
A noble trunk, and be a peach.
Even Daphne's coyness he does mock,
And weds the cherry to her stock,
Though she refus'd Apollo's suit;

Even she, that chaste and virgin tree,

Now wonders at herself, to see

That she's a mother made, and blushes in her fruit.

XI

Methinks I see great Diocletian walk
In the Salonian garden's noble shade,
Which by his own imperial hands was made:
I see him smile (methinks) as he does talk
With the ambassadors, who come in vain,

Of Galatea's purple kiss] An idea, conceived, and expressed, in the best manner of Shakespeare.

If I, my friends (said he) should to you show
All the delights, which in these gardens grow;
'Tis likelier much, that you should with me stay,
Than 'tis, that you should carry me away:
And trust me not, my friends, if every day,
I walk not here with more delight,

Than ever, after the most happy fight,

In triumph to the capitol I trod,

To thank the gods, and to be thought, myself almost a god.

MISCELLANIES

1. UPON SEVERAL PLANTS MENTIONED

IN SCRIPTURE.

2. OF GARLANDS.

3. ON GRAFTING.

BY

SIR THOMAS BROWNE

(1605-1682)