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their best and if each plant taken singly as a member of the group will not stand the test for what may be deemed the beautiful by the fastidious eye, still its association with its fellow-members of the group possessing superior beauty to its own, creates the effect of a charming contrast similar to the dark and frowning clouds in a bright and brilliant picture, or, like a dark spot on the sun, tends to show the superior brilliancy of that glorious luminary of day.

What a sight for the painter, the poet, the philosopher, the divine, the traveller-ay, and the peasant, too-and, above all, to the inhabitant of a town whose life has been immerged for a considerable time beneath the smoke of a dull and busy city, and to the reflective mind of every class, suddenly to be transported to this beautiful, gay, lively, and brilliant ocean of grass, where the Great Omnipotent has written his name with an ink tinted with all the colours of the beautiful and variegated rainbow! And not the less beautiful individually are many of the flowers and shrubs which are found even in the dismal swamp, tenanted by poisonous snakes and noxious reptiles, that terrify the traveller, and destroy him if he come within the reach of their grasp, although they are scattered and dispersed, and only to be met with occasionally.

Every traveller, deserving that appellation, has been on the ocean: the minority have only visited the prairie and the desert. To those, however, who have not the time to travel-by being occupied too much with all the busy and useful concerns of life to Australia, Africa, or America, where the prairie and the desert are to be found-and to the industrious and working class who do not possess purses sufficiently long to undertake such long voyages to this class I can offer a little advice,

which may be relied upon as deserving of their consideration. In the county of Lincoln is to be found a district of country known by the name of the Marsh, which is best seen in the neighbourhood of Wainfleet and Skegness, the latter a scattered village and bathing-place of some little note; or at Mablethorpe, near Alford, in the same county. In this extraordinary locality, the excursionist will traverse a flat country bounded on one side by the German Ocean, and on the other by the wolds, hills that rise to a considerable height so as to form a striking feature in the landscape. In this part of the county of Lincoln, the land lies as flat as a pancake, without hedges and woods; not a solitary tree, shrub, or bush, anywhere to be seen, except in the immediate neighbourhood of a house or a cottage, to interrupt the singularly monotonous view of its dark green, rich, grassy surface. The fields are separated by ditches of considerable depth and width. In this district will be found the richest pasturage in the world spread out to the eye of the beholder, broad as an American lake, green as the ocean, where a white cow may be visible at a distance of several miles, or a flock of sheep, or a single one, may be seen nearly at the same distance, without any greater elevation than that of the eye of the pedestrian looking out of his own head, supported upon his own shoulders, at the enormous altitude of five feet eight. On the seacoast may be observed the sand-hills, formed by the wind having driven the sand of the seashore to that part, and afterwards fastened it there by the action of the roots of different kinds of grasses, and a scrub, peculiar to the place and very widely diffused, and a great variety of maritime and other plants.

These sand-hills in some instances rise to a height of from fifty to one hundred feet above the

level of the sea. At low water the ocean recedes sufficiently far as to leave a considerable surface of beautiful white flat sand of very considerable extent; in certain parts of which, quite near to the edge of the water, may be seen the remains of a submarine forest, which possibly at some anterior epoch occupied not only the seabeach, but which might have extended even into the grassy plains, where its seminal germs were first sown, matured, and afterwards annihilated by some geological catastrophe, which must have been in operation for a considerable period, and with considerable force. When the traveller stands upon one of these sand-hills-which formation resembles a range of mountains on a small scale, dividing the Marsh from the seacoast-he will then see the ocean, a considerable extent of seacoast composed entirely of sand, and a wide expanse of green grass; or, in other words, the sea, the desert, and the prairie, all in juxta position, seen from one locality in his native land, without incurring the risk, expense, and hardship of a voyage to Africa or America.

This description of a portion of the Lincolnshire coast may appear to the reader as a digression. Be that as it may, I must now inform him that he is reading a book which has for its title-page, "A Chat upon Various Subjects," and that the author does not confine himself to one subject, or to any particular class of subjects, but feels himself entitled to be occasionally brief as the occasion may require; sometimes, perhaps, prosy, at others gay, frequently serious, not often facetious, and at all times his most ardent wish will be, not to be put down among that catalogue of writers who infuse into the minds of their readers an intolerable amount of ennui.

Let us now return to our botanical subject.

Should the reader charge me with having digressed, I reply by telling him that the botanist cannot go to a more interesting locality for plants than the district previously described, and as it comprehends besides, what may be denominated the great English prairie, a scene for peculiarity of feature I have never seen equalled in any latitude of the globe. Surely then it may be deemed a fair subject for discussion, when chatting upon botany; especially when there is pictured to the imagination such a sweeping view of the vegetable world as an extensive meadow.

Here we must not forget to take a view of an American forest. The woody districts of North America seem to extend over as broad an area as their prairies. It would be an interesting fact to ascertain which of the two occupies the most acres. However, to give some idea of them, I can truly say that I have travelled hundreds and even thousands of miles in North America, and seen forests, ay, interminable forests. To those who are subject to solemn thoughts, which have their foundation laid deep down in the innermost recesses of the soul, and which form the great base and root of every other superstructure laid upon it, all the great mental branches which grow from it, and even the terminal twigs will be more or less imbued with the grave character of the solemn sap that pervades it. The character will be deeply influenced by it, the actions will be governed by it, and even the countenance, disguised as it may be from a great variety of motives springing from other sources, even it, although occasionally visited by the painful picture of hypocrisy, will bear the stamp of this solemnity of character.

What vast resources of interest, true pleasure, and profit too, must a mind so constituted possess and enjoy when sailing on the ocean, traversing the desert, wandering through the prairie, or

immerged in the solemn and umbrageous recesses of the vast primeval forests of North America. In many districts the forest occupies so much of the earth's surface that its area would be quite sufficient, if covered with water, to come under the appellation of an extensive sea. Beautiful as many parts of England undoubtedly are, from possessing woods, plantations, and detached trees almost everywhere, still all these give but a very faint idea of an American forest. The same remark may be applied to Europe with slight exceptions. In Norway, something approaching to the reality of an American forest may be seen; but, taking it altogether, it will be found very deficient in grandeur, and, above all, in many peculiarities and sublimities which alone can be duly appreciated except by a trip across the Atlantic.

In highly-civilized countries, where the soil is rich, as it is in England and in many parts of Europe, the hand of man has so modified and changed great Nature, that if she were personified and occasionally paid a visit to her domain, she would have a difficulty in recognising her own property, from the many and great transformations which have taken place by the useful application of the axe and the plough. We may therefore, I think, conclude that the proverb is not wholly true which asserts that "God made the country, man the town." That the Great Omnipotent created everything originally, is as true as that Gospel which is an emanation of Himself; that man has considerably changed the face of the country cannot be doubted for a moment, and even the town is not made without going to the country for the brick and mortar; so that if the proverb were thus expressed, it would be nearer the truth: "God has created all things, man has changed many things in town and country."

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