254 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



which makes us raife our eyes to Heaven, in the 

 agony of form w, there to folicit relief! The ani- 

 mal on the point of clofing his career, abandons 

 himfelf to his natural inftinfts. The flag at bay 

 feeks refuge in the moft fequeftered fpot of the 

 forefls, content to yield up the roving fpirit which 

 animates him, under their hofpitable Ihades. The 

 dying bee forfakes the flowers, returns to expire 

 at the door of her hive, and to bequeath her focial 

 inftind to her beloved Republic. And Man, fol- 

 lowing the bent of his reafoning powers, can he 

 no where find, in the widely extended univerfe, 

 any thing v^'orihy of receiving his departing fighs; 

 not even inconftant friends, nor felfilh kindred, 

 nor an ungiateful Country, nor a foil ftubborn to 

 all his labours, nor a Heaven indifferent to crimes 

 and to virtue ? 



Ah ! it is not thus that Nature has apportioned 

 her gifts. We bewilder ourfelves with our vain 

 Sciences. By driving the refearches of our under- • 

 ftanding up to the very principles of Nature, nay, 

 of Deity, we have fhi fled, in the heart, all feel- 

 ing of both the one and the other. The fame 

 thing has befallen us which once befel a peafant 

 who was living happily in a little valley in the 

 heart of the Alps. A brook, which defcended 

 from ihofe mountains, fertilized his garden. For 

 a long time he adored, in tranquillity, the benefi- 

 cent 



