STUDY I. 



9Ï 



waves of the Tea breaking on the fhore. The early 

 inhabitants of the Globe, ftruck with thefe myfte- 

 rious founds, imagined that they heard oracles 

 pronounced from the trunk of the oak, and that 

 Nymphs and Dryads, inclofed in the rugged bark, 

 inhabited the mountains of Dodona. 



The fphere of animals extends flill farther thefe 

 wonderful harmonies. From the motionlefs fhelly 

 race, which pave and ftrengthen the capacious bed 

 of the Sea, to the fly who wings his way by night, 

 over the plains of the torrid Zone, glittering with 

 rays of light like a ftar, you will fmd in them the 

 configurations of rocks, of vegetables, of ftars. A 

 thoufand ineffable paflions, a thoufand inftinds 

 animate them, which they exprefs in fongs, in 

 cries, in hummings, nay, even in the articulate 

 founds of the human voice. 



Some of them compofe noify republics, others 

 live in a profound folitude. The whole life of 

 fome is employed in waging war, that of others in 

 making love. In their combats they ufe every 

 imaginable fpecies of armour, and every pofTible 

 method of availing themfelves of the weapons 

 with which Nature has furniflied them, from the 

 porcupine, who darts his pointed arrows at the 

 foe, to the torpedo, who invfibly fmites his af- 

 failant, as with a ftroke of eledlricity. 



Their 



