societies as have formerly had habits of intimacy together; and in these friendly groups they range the forest; returning home at night, in different parties, some carlier and some later, as they have been more or less fortunate in the pursuits of the day.

It sounds oddly to affirm the life of a hog to be enviable; and yet there is something uncommonly pleasing in the lives of these emigrants-something at least more desirable than is to be found in the life of a hog, Epicuri de grege. They seem themselves also to enjoy their mode of life. You see them perfectly happy, going about at their ease, and conversing with each other in short, pithy, interrupted sentences, which are no doubt expressive of their own enjoyments and of their social feelings.

Besides the hogs thus led out in the mast season to fatten, there are others, the property of forest keepers, which spend the whole year in such societies. After the mast season is over, the indigenous forest hog depends chiefly for his livelihood on the roots of fern; and he would find this food very nourishing, if he could have it in abundance. But he is obliged to procure it by so laborious an operation, that his meals are rarely accompanied with satiety. He continues however, by great industry, to obtain a tolerable subsistence through the winter, except in frosty weather, when the ground resists his delving snout; then he must perish if he do not, in some degree, experience his master's care. As spring advances, fresh grasses, and salads of different kinds, add a variety to his bill of fare; and as summer comes on he finds juicy berries, and grateful seeds, on which he lives plentifully, till autumn returns and brings with it the extreme of abundance.

Besides these stationary hogs, there are others in some of the more desolate parts of the forest which are bred wild, and left to themselves without any settled habitation; and as their owners are at no expense, either in feeding or attending them, they are content with the precarious profit of such as they are able to retain.

Charles the First, I have heard, was at the expense of procuring the wild boar and his mate from the forests of Germany, which once certainly inhabited the forests of England. I have heard, too, that they propagated greatly in New Forest. Certain it is, there is found in it at this day a breed of hogs commonly called forest pigs, which are very different from the usual Hampshire breed, and have about them several of the characteristic marks of the wild boar. The forest hog has broad shoulders, a high crest, and thick bristly mane, which he erects on any alarm. His hinder parts are light and thin. His ears are short and erect; and his colour either black or darkly brindled. He is much fiercer than the common breed ; and will turn against an ordinary dog. All these are marks of the wild boar, from whom probably in part he derives his pedigree, though his blood may be contaminated with vulgar mixtures. But, though he is much more picturesque than the common hog he is in much less repute among farmers. The lightness of bis hind quarters, and the thinness of his flanks, appear to great disadvantage in the ham and the flitch.

167.-GARDENS.

JESSE.

[MR. EDWARD JESSE, 'Surveyor of her Majesty's Parks, Palaces,' &c., is the author of several volumes which have had a deserved popularity, as the faithful observations of an intelligent and reflective mind upon the common appearances of Nature, the more interesting from their familiarity. Mr. Jesse appears to have taken for his model White of Selborne. The volume from which we extract the following passage, entitled 'Scenes and Tales of Country Life,' was published in 1844.]

The love of gardens and of gardening appears to be almost exclusively confined to the English, and is partaken of by the poor as well as by the rich. Nothing can

be prettier than the gardens attached to the thatched cottages in Devonshire. They are frequently to be seen on the side and oftener at the bottom of a hill, down which a narrow road leads to a rude single-arched stone bridge. Here a shallow stream may be seen flowing rapidly, and which now and then stickles, to use a Devonshire phrase, over a pavement of either pebbles or rag-stone. A little rill descends by the side of the lane, and close to the hedge of the cottage, which is approached by a broad stepping stone over the rill, and beyond it is a gate made of rough sticks, which leads to the cottage. At a short distance, an excavation has been cut out of the bank, and paved round with rough stones, into which the water finds and then again makes its way, clear and sparkling. This is the cottager's well. His garden is gay with flowers. His bees are placed on each side of a window surrounded with honeysuckles, jessamine, or a flourishing vine, and the rustic porch is covered with these or other creepers. Here, also, the gorgeous hollyhock may be seen in perfection, for it delights in the rich red soil of Devonshire. Giant-stocks, carnations, and china-asters, flourish from the same cause, and make the garden appear as though it belonged to Flora herself.

Nor must the little orchard be forgotten. The apple-trees slope with the hill, and in the spring are covered with a profusion of the most beautiful blossom, and in the autumn are generally weighed down with their load of red fruit. Under them may be seen a crop of potatoes, and in another part of the garden those fine Paington cabbages, one of the best vegetables of the county. In a sheltered nook is the thatched pig-sty, partly concealed by the round yellowfaced sunflower, which serves both as a screen and as an ornament. The mud or cob walls of the cottage add to its picturesque appearance, when partly covered with creepers and surrounded with flowers.

Such is an accurate description of one of the many cottages I have seen in the beautiful and hospitable county of Devon, so celebrated for its illustrious men and the beauty of its women. Those who, like myself, have wandered amongst its delightful lanes, will not think my picture overcharged.

But I must introduce my readers to the inside of a Devonshire cottage. On entering it, he will see the polished dresser glittering with bright pewter plates; the flitch of bacon on the rack, with paper bags stored with dried pot-herbs, for winter use, deposited near it; the bright dog-bars, instead of a grate, with the cottrel over them, to hang the pot on, and every thing bespeaking comfort and cleanliness. The cottager's wife will ask him to sit down, in that hearty Devonshire phrase, which has often been addressed to me, and which I always delighted in-“Do y' Sir, pitch yourself," bringing forward a chair at the same time, and wiping it down with her apron. A cup of cider will be offered, or bread and cheese, or whatever the cottage affords.

I have known one of the children stealthily sent to a neigbouring farmer's for a little clotted cream, which has been set before me with a loaf of brown bread, and with the most hearty good-will. They are so delicious a banquet, that Pope might have thought of it when he said—

"Beneath the humble cottage let us haste,

And there, unenvied, rural dainties taste."

1 have dwelt longer than I intended on the cottage scenery of Devonshire, because I think it stands pre-eminent in this country for beauty, and because I regard its peasantry as affording the best examples I have met with of unaffected kindness, civility, industry, and good conduct.

I have, on more than one occasion, expressed my admiration of the agricultural population of England; and I trust that the time is not far distant, when each individual amongst them will have an allotment of land, at a fair rent, for the better

maintenance of themselves and their families, not in common fields, but attached to their houses.

The taste for gardens, however, is not confined to the rural districts. Round the town of Birmingham, for instance, there are some hundreds of small gardens, which are diligently cultivated by the working classes. Each garden has a little covered seat, where the owner has his glass of ale, and smokes his pipe, at the close of the evening; and here the finest auriculas, polyanthuses, carnations, &c., are to be met with. They are cultivated with the utmost skill and care, and may vie with any produced in this country. I have also been informed that our Spitalfields weavers have the same fondness for flowers, and are also amongst our best collectors of insects. In some other districts tulips are successfully cultivated, and in others the ranunculus and anemone. One man is celebrated for his fine stocks, another for his pansies, while a third will produce unrivalled gooseberries for size, or wallflowers of the darkest hue. I am assured that, great and deplorable as the distress now is at Birmingham, a man would sell his clothes, his furniture, indeed, all that he possessed, sooner than part with his beloved garden.

Flowers are cultivated to a considerable extent, and with great success, in the neighbourhood of London, and especially in some parts of Surrey, in which county there are many exhibitions of flowers every year. Here the rich and poor may be seen assembled together, each either admiring or criticising particular blooms, and the poor man appearing perfectly competent to appreciate their peculiar merits. It always affords me pleasure to witness these meetings, and to watch the gleam of satisfaction in the countenance of some cottager, when

"his garden's gem,

The heart's-ease,"

has been praised, or his well-cultivated show of potatoes or apples has obtained for him some trifling prize.

Persons of influence, residing in the country, should do their utmost to encourage the cultivation, not only of flowers, but of vegetables and bees, amongst their poorer neighbours. It not only tends to keep them out of ale and beer-houses, those curses of the labouring man in this country, but improves their minds, their habits, and health. An amiable florist has observed, that the love of flowers is one of the earliest impressions which the dawning of reason implants in the human mind, and that happy are the parents of children in whose imaginations this desirable predilection is early evinced. It inculcates a salutary habit of reasoning and thinking on subjects worthy of exercising the thoughts, and is calculated to improve them. It gradually trains the mind to the study and observance of that most instructive volume, the Book of Nature. The passion for flowers is, indeed, one of the most enduring and permanent of all enjoyments. At the coming of each revolving spring, we anxiously return to our loved and favourite pursuit; with joy and delight we perceive that

Ethereal mildness is come,

and that the glory of reviving nature is returned.

168.-SAINT PAUL.

[FROM 'LIVES OF THE APOSTLES.']

CAVE.

THOUGH We have drawn St. Paul at large, in the account we have given of his life, yet may it be of use to represent him in little, in a brief account of his person, parts, and those graces and virtues for which he was more peculiarly eminent and reinarkable. For his person, we find it thus described. He was low, and of little

stature, somewhat stooping, his complexion fair, his countenance grave, his head small, his eyes carrying a kind of beauty and sweetness in them, his eyebrows a little hanging over, his nose long, but gracefully bending, his beard thick, and like the hair of his head, mixed with gray hairs. Somewhat of this description may be learnt from Lucian, when in the person of Trypho, one of St. Paul's disciples, he calls him by way of derision, high-nosed bald-pated Galilean, that was caught up through the air unto the "third heaven," where he learnt great and excellent things. That he was very low, himself plainly intimates, when he tells us they were wont to say of him, that "his bodily presence was weak, and his speech con temptible;" in which respect he was styled by Chrysostom, a man three cubits (or a little more than four feet) high, and yet tall enough to reach heaven. He seems to have enjoyed no very firm and athletic constitution, being often subject to distempers. St. Jerome particularly reports, that he was frequently afflicted with the headach, and that this was thought by many to have been "the thorn in the ir flesh, the messenger of Satan sent to buffet him," and that probably he intended some such thing by "the temptation in his flesh," which he elsewhere speaks of: which, however it may in general signify those afflictions that came upon him, yet does it primarily denote those diseases and infirmities that he was obnoxious to.

But, how mean soever the cabinet was, there was a treasure within more precious and valuable, as will appear if we survey the accomplishments of his mind. For, as to his natural abilities and endowments, he seems to have had a clear and solid judgment, quick invention, a prompt and ready memory; all of which were abundantly improved by art, and the advantages of a more liberal education. The schools of Tarsus had sharpened his discursive faculty by logic and the arts of reasoning, instructed him in the institutions of philosophy, and enriched him with the furniture of all kinds of human learning. This gave him great advantage above others, and even raised him to a mighty reputation for parts and learning; insomuch that St. Chrysostom tells us of a dispute between a Christian and a heathen, wherein the Christian endeavoured to prove against the Gentile, that St. Paul was more learned and eloquent than Plato himself. How well he was versed-not only in the law of Moses and the writings of the prophets, but even in classic and foreign writers, he has left us sure ground to conclude, from those excellent sayings which here and there he quotes out of heathen authors. Which, as at once it shows that it is not unlawful to bring the spoils of Egypt in the service of the sanctuary, and to make use of the advantages of foreign studies and human literature to divine and excellent purposes, so does it argue his being greatly conversant in the paths of human learning, which upon every occasion he could so readily command. Indeed, Ohe seemed to have been furnished out on purpose to be the doctor of the Gentiles; Ito contend with and confute the grave and the wise, the acute and the subtile, the sage and the learned of the heathen world, and to wound them (as Julian's word was) with arrows drawn out of their own quiver; though we do not find that in his disputes with the Gentiles he made much use of learning and philosophy, it being more agreeable to the designs of the Gospel to confound the wisdom and learning of the world by the plain doctrine of the cross.

These were great accomplishments, and yet but a shadow to that divine temper of mind that was in him, which discovered itself through the whole course and method of his life. He was humble to the lowest step of abasure and condescension, none ever thinking better of others, or more meanly of himself. And though, when he had to deal with envious and malicious adversaries, who, by vilifying his person, sought to obstruct his ministry, he knew how to magnify his office, and to let them know that he was "no whit inferior to the very chiefest apostles;" yet cut of this case he constantly declared to all the world, that he looked upon himself as an

abortive and an untimely birth, as "the least of the apostles, not meet to be cailed an apostle ;" and, as if this were not enough, he makes a word on purpose to er press his humility, styling himself λaxisóτepov, "less than the least of all saints" yea, "the very chief of sinners." How freely, and that at every turn, does he confess that he was before his conversion a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious betà to God and men? Though honoured with peculiar acts of the highest grace and favour, taken up to an immediate converse with God in heaven, yet did not this is spire him with a supercilious loftiness over the rest of his brethren: intrusted he was with great power and authority in the church, but never affected dominion over men's faith, nor any other place than to be a helper of their joy; nor ever made use of his power but to the edification, not destruction of any. How studiously d he decline all honours and commendations that were heaped upon him? When some in the church of Corinth cried him up beyond all measure, and under the patro nage of his name began to set up for a party, he severely rebuked them, told them that it was Christ, not he, that was crucified for them; that they had “not ben baptised into his name," which he was so far from, that he did not remember that be had baptised above three or four of them; and was heartily glad he had baptised no more, lest a foundation might have been laid for that suspicion; and that this Paul, indeed, whom they so much extolled, was no more than a minister of Christ, whom our Lord had appointed to plant and build up his church.

Great was his temperance and sobriety: so far from going beyond the bounds of regularity, that he abridged himself of the conveniences of lawful and necessary ac commodations; frequent were his hungerings and thirstings, not constrained only, but voluntary: it is probably thought that he very rarely drank any wine; and certain is it, that by abstinence and mortification he "kept under and subdued his body," reducing the extravagancy of the sensual appetites to a perfect subjection to the laws of reason. By this means he easily got above the world, and its charms and frowns, and made his mind continually conversant in heaven; his thoughts were fixed there; his desires always ascending thither; what he taught others he practised himself; his "conversation was in heaven," and his "desires were to de part, and to be with Christ;" this world did neither arrest his affections nor disturb his fears; he was not taken with its applause, nor frighted with its threatenings; he "studied not to please men," nor valued the censures and judgments which they passed upon him; he was not greedy of a great estate, or titles of honour, or rich presents from men, not "seeking theirs, but them; food and raiment was his bill of fare, and more than this he never cared for; accounting, that the less he was clogged with these things, the lighter he should march to heaven; especially travelling through a world overrun with troubles and persecutions. Upon this account it is probable he kept himself always within a single life, though there want not some of the ancients who expressly reckon him in the number of the married apostles, as Clemens Alexandrinus, Ignatius, and some others. It is true that passage is not to be found in the genuine epistle of Ignatius; but yet it is extant in all those that are owned and published by the church of Rome, though they have not been wanting to banish it out of the world, having expunged St. Paul's name out of some ancient manuscripts, as the learned Bishop Usher has, to their shame, sufficiently discovered to the world. But for the main of the question we can readily grant it; the Scripture seeming most to favour it, that though he asserted his power and liberty to marry as well as the rest, yet that he lived always a single life.

His kindness and charity was truly admirable; he had a compassionate tenderness for the poor, and a quick sense of the wants of others to what church soever he came, it was one of his first cares to make provision for the poor, and to