HISTORY or VVOKCESTERSHIUE. 101 



neglected. Of all unhappy states, that of idleness is the worst ; and 

 now that occupation is provided for every mind, idleness is not only 

 unhappy but shameful, not only painful to endure, but open to reproach. 

 Of all innocent pleasures, of all modes of ever-varied delight, none 

 is so great as that which arises from the study of some or all of the 

 branches of Natural History. The student of Natural History knows 

 nothing of ennui : he never finds the day too long, or life a burden ; solitude 

 is not solitude to him. The fields, the rivers, the mountain, and the 

 plain, are to him scenes of study j and every garden is to him as the 

 garden of Eden, full of pure delights. No tree that grows, no flower 

 that blooms, no animal that moves, but is to him a subject of examination ; 

 and begin when he will, he wishes he had begun sooner, that he might 

 have known more. The clouds that move above him, the earth on which 

 he treads, the high mountains, the depths of mines, and the waters of 

 the "multitudinous sea," supply him with objects of research. Among 

 the lonely hills, and in the workshops of crowded towns, the proper 

 objects of Natural History are presented to the eye, and exercise the 

 understanding. Nor is the pleasure arising from this study confined to 

 any age : the boy and girl may be made as happy in this way as those who 

 are older, and those who are the oldest may still derive pleasure from its 

 inexhaustible novelty. The traveller and the navigator carry this 

 pleasure with them through seas and deserts, and no latitude gives 

 interruption to their studies : whilst those who travel not, nor sail, but 

 live at home, may still pursue their labours within the smallest garden, 

 or with no garden at all. It is confined to no seasons. The spring 

 brings a thousand new subjects glittering on the wing, or blossoming on 

 the hedges ; the summer and the autumn ofi^er more varieties, and the 

 winter aflfords others. And in all these studies, in every age, and 

 place, and season of the year, and time of life, the student of Natural 

 History is increasing his knowledge by reading in a book which all can 

 understand, and of which the author is God himself. 



With these reflections have we received the interesting Illustrations of 

 the Natural History of Worcestershire, by Dr. Hastings, a physician not 

 less distinguished in his own profession than known to the public for the 

 patronage he affords to every scientific and liberal institution. The 

 Illustrations consist of an Introductory Lecture (with additions), de- 

 livered by this accomplished physician at the opening of a Natural 

 History Society in the city of Worcester, formed during the last year, 

 and of which the highly-respected Lord-Lieutenant, Lord Lyttelton, is 

 the patron ; and as the little work itself must be in the hands of most of 

 our readers, we shall merely point out, as we refer to the different subjects 

 of which it treats, something confirmatory of the foregoing observations ; 

 and we shall still chiefly keep in view the younger part of our readers. 



And first we must congratulate them on 'the prospect of possessing, 

 within this admired city, a library of Natural History. The libraries 

 of country towns seldom give a very favourable idea of the mental cul- 

 tivation of the inhabitants, consisting chiefly of novels and romances, 

 many of them of the most contemptible description. Few books of a 

 better sort find admittance, and works of reference are deplorably 

 wanting. Dr. Hastings tells us in his lecture that up to this time the 

 public libraries of Worcester are without the Transactions of the Linnaean 

 and Geological Societies. In such a state of things it is almost impossible 

 that any young persons, however desirous of knowledge, can go on 

 improving ; and thus it has happened that the tone of society in most of 

 our country towns has proverbially been to the last degree insipid. 

 Wherever a Natural History Society is formed, this evil will be avoided, 

 NO. n. p 



