53 



^ finite intelligence is capable of comprehending, he will see^ ia 



prospect, millions of systems, rising before him, but thej 

 only conceal from him the thousands of millions that lie be- 

 yond; and when innumerable suns, not one of whose r£i.ys 

 is permitted ever to enlighten the corporeal e3'e of man, 

 ' blaze out upon him, his keen conception will be dazzled by 



an excess of lustre, and he will sink into that delirium of 

 joy, that, if ever there be a moment of poetical inspiration, 

 is best calculated to produce it. When he compares this 

 sublime assemblage, with that scene (however splendid it 

 may be) that presents itself to the natural eye, he will cry: 

 out witii Akenside — 



" Who, that from Alpine heights, his labouring eye 



Shoots round the wide horizon, to survey 



The Nile, or Ganges, rolling his bright wave 



Through mountains, plains, through empires black with shade. 



And continents of sand, will turn his gaze. 



And mark the wand'rings of a scanty rill 



That murmurs at his feet V 



Thus have I feebly endeavoured to point out the advan- 

 tages that may be derived both to the reason and the imagi- 

 nation, from scientific pursuits ; it must, however, be re- 

 marked, that for the former all the branches of science are 

 not equally useful; and for the latter, no science whatsoever, 

 except, perhaps, moral philosophy, should be cultivated to 

 its fullest extent, and pursued through all its varieties of 

 minuteness. ]n the abstract mathematics, the. mind, for the 



