Is it for this fair virtue oft must strive With disappointment, penury, and pain? No. Heaven's immortal spring shall yet arrive, And Man's majestic beauty bloom again Bright through the eternal year of love's triumphant reign!" The writer takes this opportunity of acknowledging her obligations to the various authors whose works she has laid under contribution, and particularly to Sir J. E. Smith and Mr. Drummond, to whom she is mainly indebted for the botanical information contained in the introductions to the several pieces. The engravings accompanying them, as well as the drawings from which they were taken, (and which have been all made from nature expressly for the work,) are the production of Mr. William Clark, formerly draughtsman and engraver to the London Horticultural Society; a sufficient guarantee, it is presumed, for the excellence of their execution. |