ture; and which, teaching us magnanimity, rescues the soul from obscurity.' Thus, too, thought Necker; for even amid the factions of Paris he could recur to Nature's sublimities, and in age he still retained the imagination and sensibility of youth.

No writer, ancient or modern, has shown a greater relish for natural beauties than HORACE. "With a fountain of clear water," says he, "and a shady wood, I am happier than a prince of Africa. Ah! how delighted am I when wandering among steep rocks and woods, since the shades of forests and the murmuring of waters inspire my fancy, and will render me famous in all future ages. Sing, oh ye virgins! the beauties of Thessalian Tempe, and of the wandering isle of Delos! celebrate, oh ye youths! the charms of that goddess who delights in flowing rivers and the shades of trees; who lives on the mountain of Algidus, among the impenetrable woods of Erymanthus, and on the green and fertile Cragus."

TIBULLUS was equally sincere in his love for the country. Descended from an honourable branch of the Albian family, he fought for the cause of the people by the side of Messala; and though animated with all the fervency of a grateful friendship towards that celebrated statesman, he disdained to follow his example in paying court to the conqueror at Philippi. Weary of a hopeless contest, and disgusted with the corruptions of the times, he retired to Pedum, there to indulge in the innocent occupations of a country life; to recruit his finances, and, in the alternate amusements of agriculture and poetry, to sooth the disappointments of his heart; and, above all, to retain unimpaired those high and generous ideas of liberty, which he had imbibed in early youth from the lessons of his preceptors and the splendid examples of former ages.

"If life were not too short," says Sir William Jones, "for the complete discharge of all our respective duties, public and private, and for the ac

quisition of necessary knowledge in any degree of perfection, with how much pleasure and improvement might a great part of it be spent in admiring the beauties of this wonderful orb!" This observation is in the true spirit of Plato, and therefore worthy of a man who, in addition to an ardent love of philosophical truth, possessed a genius capable of enlivening jurisprudence, and even of rendering poetical geometry and physics.

CATULLUS, Martial, and Statius were ardent admirers of Nature; and equally so were Atticus, Tacitus, and Epictetus. CICERO, who valued himself more upon his taste for the cultivation of philosophy than upon his talents for oratory, seems not to have felt the truth of an adage now so common, that "the master of many mansions has no home;" for he had no less than eighteen different residences in various parts of Italy. And though it is probable he had not all of them at the same time, but bought and sold them, as is the custom of the present day, yet it is certain that he had seven at one time. He generally speaks of them in terms of attachment; and they were all erected in such beautiful situations, that he called them "the eyes of Italy." The retreat of Tusculum was, however, his favourite residence. This spot was occupied, previous to the late tumults in Italy, by a Basilian convent of Greek monks called Grotta Ferrata; and it was the favourite amusement of the brothers to exhibit to enlightened travellers the remains of Cicero's buildings, and the small aqueducts that watered his garden. This retreat the orator embellished with every specimen of art that his friend Atticus could purchase for him at Athens. It was the most elegant mansion of that elegant age; and the beauty of the landscapes around it, adding lustre to the building, refined the taste of its accomplished possessor. Cicero,

"From whose lips sweet eloquence distill'd, As honey from the bee,"

draws a delightful picture of the almost infantine amusements of Scipio and Lælius at Caieta and Laurentum; when, fatigued with business, and happy in being allowed the indulgence of a quiet conscience in a retired spot, they grew boys again in their amusements, and derived a sensible pleasure from gathering shells upon the seashore.

The amusements of Cicero himself were equally indicative of an excellent heart. Balanced in his opinions by an accurate knowledge of things, he had most of the distinguishing qualities of genius without any of its eccentricities. Simplicity and dignity were united to the utmost gentleness and goodnature; and, equal to the society of soldiers, statesmen, and philosophers, he danced with youth, and ran, laughed, and gambolled with infancy. He recommends an attention to the natural beauties of the country in which we live. "It is a proper study," says he, "for the serene period of age."

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PLINY the Younger, who was accustomed to say, if a man would perpetuate his fame, he must do things worth recording, or write things worth reading, was never happier than when he was indulging himself at his country seats, where he found leisure to write to his friends, and to celebrate the views which his villas afforded. "Tusculum" says he, “ is situated in a fine natural amphitheatre, formed by the richest part of the Apennines.' Here," he observes in another letter, "I enjoy the most profound retirement. All is calm and composed; circumstances which contribute no less than its unclouded sky to that health of body and cheerfulness of mind which in this place I so particularly enjoy." "To a man of literary turn," says he in his twentyfourth epistle, "a small spot is amply sufficient to relieve his mind and delight his eye. Sauntering in his domain, he traverses his little walk with reiterated pleasure, grows familiar with his two or three vines, and beholds his small plantations with satisfaction."

Pliny had several country seats on the Larian Lake, two of which he was particularly partial to. The manner in which he spent his time at those villas he has described con amore in a letter to Fuscus. In regard to epistolary writing, I am tempted, with the scholiasts, to give Cicero the preference when the subjects are of public interest; but when they relate to private sentiments and occurrences, I think Pliny has but few competitors. Indeed, he has none. There is an urbanity and elegance, a devotedness of affection, and an undisguisedness of heart, irresistibly winning and agreeable, which none of the moderns have equalled, and which none of the ancients (if we except Cornelia*) ever surpassed.

DIOCLETIAN, when he selected a spot for his retirement, solicitously observed that his palace should command every beauty which the country would admit. In this retirement he first began to live; to see the beauty of the sun, and to enjoy true happiness, as Vopiscus relates, in the society of those he had known in his youth. The example of Diocletian was long after remembered by Charles V. of Spain, who, in imitating his Roman prototype, acquired but little fame, and deserved less. It was the extreme beauty of the situation of the Monastery of St. Justus, situated in the Vale of Placentia, and belonging to the order of St. Jerome, which first inspired that restless despot with an idea of quitting a world he had governed so long and so malignantly. As he passed near that monastery, many years before his retirement, he remarked to his attendants that it was a spot "to which Diocletian might have retired with pleasure." The remembrance of this place never deserted him; and at length, weary of the world, since he was unable to give effect to his projects, he

This Cornelia was the daughter of Scipio Africanus, and the mother of the Gracchi. Her letters, which were published and in general circulation at Rome, are said to have been per fect models of epistolary writing.

withdrew to the melancholy of a cloister, where in silence and solitude he entombed his ambition, resigned his plans, and, in the hope of conciliating posterity, realized some small consolation for having so long agitated Europe by his projects, devastations, and public murders.

DANTON, the ferocious Danton, the Moloch of the French Revolution-even Danton, of all his associates the most energetically depraved, when imprisoned preparatory to his execution, amid all the oaths and ribaldries for which he was so disgustingly remarkable, was often heard to expatiate with all the fervour of a strong mind on the charms of a rural life. This reminds me of COUNT STRUENSEE, who assured Dr. Münter that "the contemplation of the works of Nature had oftentimes afforded him great satisfaction, and that it had been the only means of keeping him from atheism, into which he otherwise certainly should have fallen.”

A curious exemplification of the affection of the human heart for natural beauty is afforded in the instance of Michael Howe, the last and most execrable of all the bush-rangers of Van Diemen's Land. This man, having been transported from England, was assigned to a colonist of that island as a servant. After remaining some time in this situation, he fled, and joined a party of bush-rangers; but, after a multitude of murders, robberies, and escapes, he was at length secured by stratagem. His dogs, arms, knapsack, and ammunition were taken from him, and in one of his pockets was found a small memorandum-book, in which he had recorded his dreams, and a design of settling permanently in the woods. In order to make this the more practicable and agreeable, he had drawn out a list of plants, the seeds of which it was his intention to procure. After enumerating various fruits and vegetables, he finished with a list of the flowers he hoped to obtain. That a man so execrable should retain a taste for

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