This collection of writing of the natural world, with its tri-partite appeal (""intellectually rewarding... spiritually edifying... aesthetically gratifying"") has been drawn from the 19th century (actually 1770-1780) when it reached its apogee. It proves that nature is not at variance with art, nor art with science (a rebuttal to C.P. Snow) since in the ""twin' worlds of fact and poetry... the poetry is in the fact."" The writings are often from the more spontaneous genres, letters, notebooks, diaries, Journals; the editor has contributed prefaces along with his fine introduction; and all serve to commemorate them English landscape, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Thomas Gray, John Clare, Charles Kingsley, etc. 53 black and white reproductions by contemporaries, all full size, contribute materially to a very handsome book.