Nature is a frugal mother, and never gives without measure.
—Emerson, "Essays."
But who can paint
Like Nature! Can imagination boast
Amid its gay creations hues like hers?
—Thompson, "Seasons."
Transcriber's Note:
- Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
- Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
- Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
- Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved between paragraphs and some illustrations have been moved closer to the text that references them.
- The Contents table was added by the transcriber.