The Botanic Garden, a Poem in Two Parts. Part 1 (Unabridged‪)‬

Charles Darwin’s grandfather Erasmus was also a famous naturalist in his own day, in addition to being a celebrated poet. This is the first part of his popular science poem in heroic couplets intended to introduce botany to the English public. It serves as a general defense of scientific progress as a practical and artistic endeavor, laying the groundwork for its sequel poem on Linnaeus’ system of sexual selection in plants, Loves of the Plants.