1Z4 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



ful proteélor, that I belonged to no corps ; and 

 by Thee I have been proteded amidfl a thoufand 

 dangers, in which they could have afforded me no 

 afliftance. It grieved me to think of living foli- 

 tary, unnoticed, unregarded ; and Thou haft 

 vouchfafed to teach me, that Solitude is far pre- 

 ferable to the buftle of a Court, and Liberty to 

 Grandeur. It filled me with many a painful ré- 

 flexion, that I had not the felicity of being di- 

 redled to fome fair fpoufe, to be the companion of 

 my life, and the objed of my affedion ; and thy 

 wifdom invited me to walk to her habitation, and 

 difcovered to me, in each of her produftions, an 

 immortal Venus. 



I never ceafed to be happy, but when I ceafed 

 to truft in Thee. O my God ! give to thefe la- 

 bours of a man, I do not fay the duration, or the 

 fpirit of life, but the freflinefs of the leaft of thy 

 Works ! Let their divine graces be transfufed into 

 my writings, and bring back a corrupted Age to 

 Thee, as by them I myfelf have been brought 

 back ! Oppofed to Thee, all power is weaknefs ; 

 fupported by Thee, weaknefs becomes irrefiflible 

 ftrength. When the rude northern blafts have 

 ravaged the Earth, thou calleft for the feebleft of 

 winds ; at the found of thy voice, the zephyr 

 breathes, the verdure revives, the gentle primrofe, 

 and the humble violet cover the bofom of the bleak 

 rock with a mantle of gold and purple. 



STUDY 



