ks of him:--"Il etoit ami du celebre Arnauld et meritoit de l'etre
par _la justesse de son esprit_ et la purete de ses moeurs, par la bonte
de son caractere et par la droiture de son coeur."

The following wise experiment occurs in an ancient book on husbandry;
but if the two parties there mentioned had lived with Leonard Meager,
one must not do him the injustice of supposing he would have been a
convert to their opinion:--"_Archibius_ is said to have written (or sent
word most likely) to _Antiochus_, king of _Syria_, that if you bury a
speckled toad inclosed in an earthen pot, in the middle of your garden,
the same will be defended from all hurtful weather and tempests."
Meager, however, is kept in countenance by Mr. Worlidge, who, in his
chapter of Prognostics, at the end of his interesting Systemae
Agriculturae, actually states that

If dog's guts rumble and make a noise, it presageth rain or snow.

The cat, by washing her face, and putting her foot over her ear,
foreshews rain.

The squeaking and skipping up and down of mice and rats, portend rain.

Leonard Meager thus notices a nurseryman of his day:--"Here follows a
catalogue of divers sorts of fruits, which I had of my very loving
friend, Captain Garrle, dwelling at the great nursery between
Spittlefields and Whitechapel; a very eminent and ingenious nurseryman."
Perhaps this is the same nurseryman that Rea, in his _Pomona_, mentions.
He says (after naming some excellent pear-trees) "they may be had out of
the nurseries about London, especially those of Mr. Daniel Stepping, and
Mr. Leonard _Girle_, who will faithfully furnish such as desire these,
or any other kinds of rare fruit-trees, of whose fidelity in the
delivery of right kinds, I have had long experience in divers
particulars, a virtue not common to men of that profession." At this
period, the space between Spittlefields and Whitechapel, must have
consisted of gardens, and perhaps superb country houses. The Earl of
Devonshire had a fine house and garden near Petticoat-lane. Sir W.
Raleigh had one near Mile-end. Some one (I forget the author) says, "On
both sides of this lane (Petticoat-lane) were anciently hedges and rows
of elm trees, and the pleasantness of the neighbouring fields induced
several gentlemen to build their houses here; among whom was the Spanish
Ambassador, whom Strype supposes was Gondamour." Gondamour was the
person to please whom (or rather that James might the more easily marry
h