serve their mummies for ten centuries. This preserves the works of the immortal part of men, so as to make the dead still useful to the living. To this we are beholden for the works of Demosthenes and Cicero, of Seneca and Plato: without it the Iliad of Homer and Æneid of Virgil had died with their authors; but by this art those excellent men still speak to us. I shall be glad if what I have said on this art, gives you any new hints for the more useful or agreeable application of it. I am, Sir, &c. 6 I shall conclude this paper with an extract from a poem in praise of the invention of writing, written by a lady.' I am glad of such a quotation, which is not only another instance how much the world is obliged to this art, but also a shining example of what I have heretofore asserted, that the fair sex are as capable as men of the liberal sciences; and indeed there is no very good argument against the frequent instruction of females of condition this way, but that they are but too powerful without that advantage. The verses of the charming author are as follow: Blest be the man! his memory at least, When for a wife the youthful patriarch sent, The ring and bracelets woo'd her hands and arms; To catch the soul, when drawn into the eye! No. 173. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1713. -Nec serò comantem Narcissum, aut flexi tacuissem vimen acanthi, VIRG. Georg. iv. 122. The late narcissus, and the winding trail DRYDEN. I LATELY took a particular friend of mine to my house in the country, not without some apprehension that it could afford little entertainment to a man of his polite taste, particularly in architecture and gardening, who had so long been conversant with all that is beautiful and great in either. But it was a pleasant surprise to me, to hear him often declare, he had found in my little retirement that beauty which he always thought wanting in the most cele brated seats, or, if you will, villas, of the nation This he described to me in those verses, with which Martial begins one of his epigrams: Baiana nostri villa, Basse, Faustini, Ep. lviii. 3. Our friend Faustinus' country seat I've seen : But simple nature's hand, with nobler grace, There is certainly something in the amiable simplicity of unadorned nature, that spreads over the mind a more noble sort of tranquillity, and a loftier sensation of pleasure, than can be raised from the nicer scenes of art. This was the taste of the ancients in their gardens, as we may discover from the descriptions extant of them. The two most celebrated wits of the world have each of them left us a particular picture of a garden; wherein those great masters, being wholly unconfined, and painting at pleasure, may be thought to have given a full idea of what they esteemed most excellent in this way. These (one may observe) consist entirely of the useful part of horticulture, fruit-trees, herbs, water, &c. The pieces I am speaking of are Virgil's account of the garden of the old Corycian, and Homer's of that of Alcinous. The first of these is already known to the English reader, by the excellent versions of Mr. Dryden and Mr. Addison. The other having never been attempted in our language with any elegance, and being the most beautiful plan of this sort that can be imagined, I shall here present the reader with a translation of it. THE GARDEN OF ALCINOUS. From Homer's Odyss. vii. Close to the gates a spacious garden lies, The same mild season gives the blooms to blow, Here order'd vines in equal ranks appear, Beds of all various herbs for ever green, Two plenteous fountains the whole prospect crown'd; This through the gardens leads its streams around, Sir William Temple has remarked, that this description contains all the justest rules and provisions which can go toward composing the best gardens. Its extent was four acres, which in those times of simplicity was looked upon as a large one, even for a prince; it was inclosed all round for defence; and for conveniency joined close to the gates of the palace. He mentions next the trees, which were standards, and suffered to grow to their full height. The fine description of the fruits that never failed, and the eternal zephyrs, is only a more noble and poetical way of expressing the continual succession of one fruit after another throughout the year. The vineyard seems to have been a plantation distinct from the garden; as also the beds of greens mentioned afterwards at the extremity of the inclosure, in the nature and usual place of our kitchen gardens. The two fountains are disposed very remarkably. They rose within the inclosure, and were brought by conduits, or ducts, one of them to water all parts of the gardens, and the other underneath the palace into the town for the service of the public. How contrary to this simplicity is the modern practice of gardening! We seem to make it our study to recede from Nature, not only in the various tonsure of greens into the most regular and formal shapes, but |