HKB
Ti. I am now convinced that Plants are not mute with you.
Eu. You are in the Right; others have magnificent Houses, but mine is made for Conversation, so that I can never be alone in it, and so you'll say, when you have seen it all. As the several Plants are as it were form'd into several Troops, so every Troop has its Standard to itself, with a peculiar Motto, as this Marjoram's is, Abstine, sus, non tibi spiro: Keep off, Sow, I don't breathe my Perfume for thee; for though it be of a very fragrant Scent, yet Sows have a natural Aversion to it: And so every Sort has its Title, denoting the peculiar Virtue of the Plant.
Ti. I have seen nothing yet more delightful than this little Fountain, which being in the midst of them, does as it were smile upon all the Plants, and promises them Refreshment against the scorching Heat of the Sun. But this little Channel which shews the Water to the Eye so advantageously, and divides the Garden every where at such equal Distances, that it shews all the Flowers over on both Sides again, as in a Looking-glass, is it made of Marble?
Eu. Marble, quoth thee, how should Marble come hither? It is a counterfeit Marble, made of a sort of Loam, and a whitish Colour given it in the Glasing.
Ti. But where does this delicious Rivulet discharge itself at last?
Eu. Just as it is with human Obligations, when we have served our own Turns: After this has pleasured our Eyes, it washes our Kitchen, and passes through the Sink into the common Shore.
Ti. That's very hard-hearted, as I am a Christian.
Eu. It had been hard-hearted, if the divine Bounty of Providence had not appointed it for this Use. We are then hard-hearted, when we pollute the Fountain of divine Truth, that is much more pleasant than this, and was given us for the refreshing and purging our Minds from our Lusts and vicious Appetites, abusing the unspeakable Bounty of God: For we make no bad Use of the Water, if we put it to the several Uses for which he appointed it, who supplies every Thing abundantly for human Use.
Ti. You say right: But how comes it about, that all your artificial Hedges are green too?
Eu. Because I would have every Thing green here. Some are for a Mixture of Red, because that sets off Green: But I like this best, as every Man has his Fancy, though it be but in a Garden.
Ti. The Garden is very fine of itself; but methinks these three Walks take off very much from the Lightsomeness and Pleasantness of it.
Eu. Here I either study or walk alone, or talk with a Friend, or eat, as the Humour takes me.
Ti. Those speckled, wonderful, pretty party-coloured Pillars, that at equal Distances support that Edifice, are they Marble?
Eu. Of the same Marble that this Channel is made of.
Ti. In Truth, a pretty Cheat, I should have sworn they had been Marble.
Eu. For this Reason then, take Care that you neither believe, nor swear any Thing rashly: You see how a Man may be mistaken. What I want in Wealth, I supply by Invention.
Ti. Could you not be content with so neat, and well furnished a Garden in Substance, without other Gardens in Picture besides?
Eu. In the first Place, one Garden will not hold all Sorts of Plants; and in the second, 'tis a double Pleasure, to see a painted Flower vie with the Life; and in one we contemplate the Artifice of Nature, in the other the Skill of the Painter; and in both, the Goodness of God, who gives all Things for our Use, in every Thing equally admirable and amiable: And in the last Place, a Garden is not always green; nor the Flowers always fresh; but this Garden is fresh and green all the Winter.
Ti. But it is not fragrant.
Eu. But then on the other Hand it wants no dressing.