34 2 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



from the bottom ; the goofe and the duck feed on 

 the fluviatic plants ; the hen picks up every grain 

 that was fcattered about, and in danger of being 

 loft in the field ; the four-winged bee collects a 

 tribute from the fmall duft of the flowers ; and the 

 rapid pigeon haftens to fave from lofs the grains 

 which the winds had conveyed to inacceflible rocks. 

 All thefe animals, after having occupied through 

 the day the various fîtes of vegetation, return in 

 the evening to the habitation of Man, with bleat - 

 ings, with murmurings, with cries of joy, bringing 

 back to him the delicious produce of the vegetable 

 creation, transformed, by a procefs altogether in- 

 conceivable, into honey, into milk, into butter, 

 into eggs, and into cream. 



I take delight in reprefenting to myfelf thofe 

 early ages of the World, when men travelled over 

 the face of the Earth, attended by their flocks and 

 herds, laying the whole vegetable kingdom under 

 contribution. The Sun, going before them, in the 

 Spring, invited them to advance to the fartheft ex- 

 tremities of the North, and to return with Autumn 

 bringing up his train. His annual courfe in the 

 Heavens feems to be regulated by the progrefs of 

 Man over the Earth. While the Orb of Day is 

 advancing from the Tropic of Capricorn to that 

 of Cancer, a traveller departing on foot from the 

 Torrid Zone, may arrive on the fhores of the 



Frozen 



