The Roof Of thickest covert, was inwoven shade Of firm and fragrant Leaf: on either side Acanthus and each odorous bushy shrub Fenced up the verdant wall; each beauteous flower, Iris all hues, Roses, and Jessamine Reared high their flourished heads between, and wrought Mosaic: underfoot the Violet,* Crocus and Hyacinth with rich inlay Broidered the ground, more coloured than with stone PREFACE. As a fond mother sleeks the silken curls, arranges the handsome attire, and pats the soft cheek of her pretty boy, before she sends him forth to his daily walk to be stopped and caressed by all in whose path he chances to come,-just so do we, dear and enlightened Public!-invest our darling Parterre, on this its third appearance before you, with that finishing stroke to its structure-a Preface. If, however, a Preface be, in general, little better than a dull cuckoo note, it is no small gratification in this instance to find that the merits of the new Volume afford no scanty limits for panegyric, and open no few untrodden paths of promise. The "fresh fields and pastures new possess too many beauties in themselves, and proffer too many delights to him who approaches them, not to render the mere invitation a pleasant labour to him who stands porter at the gate. We venture to think it may without arrogance be asserted of The Parterre, that its volumes have now attained (what the genius, judgment, and liberality combined in its production so proudly evince to have been its aim) that throne, near which there is not only no Rival but no Equal. But perhaps the highest ground we can take in advancing the claims of The Parterre to a continuation of the notice it has already enjoyed, and an enlargement of the circulation which has already ushered its elegant pages to the dusky towers of old continental towns, and the forests and cities of transatlantic realms, is this-that while, in its illustrations, the most liberal disregard of expense has been manifested -all paltry jealousy on the one hand, and all sordid servility on the other, have been equally avoided in the arrangement of its literary garniture. While Original Papers have been courteously invited, and have |