132 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY 
nature of his pursuits. Neither wealth, nor titles, 
nor honours, have ever had the power to lure him 
from his peaceful studies; and he is, therefore, ex- 
empt from the committal of those mean artifices and 
unworthy acts, by which such distinctions are too 
often gained. We can imagine such a man looking 
back on the quiet path he has trodden, with some- 
thing of the same feeling with which we contem- 
plate, from a mossy seat, the vista of a green 
embowered lane, nigh to which is the public road, 
sultry and dusty, thronged with crossing vehicles 
and jostling crowds. Although no longer fit for 
active exertion, we can still fancy him contemplating 
his collections—the acquisitions of his youth, and the 
study of his manhood—with that complacency which 
we feel towards an old companion. Every object 
in his little museum has its own story ; the scenes 
and incidents of youth are brought back to his re- 
collection in all their freshness ; and the memory, 
dwelling on these green spots in the desert of life, 
will oftentimes be prevented from recalling others 
of a less cheering nature. He looks abroad in the 
spring of the year, and sees the face of nature re- 
newed, with the same beauty and freshness, as when 
he contemplated her in the spring of youth. That 
season of his life has long passed away: but he 
_knows that he, too, will be renewed—that Ais winter 
will be changed to an eternal spring; and with firm 
but humble confidence in the promises of his God, 
he resigns the contemplation of His sublunary works, 
in the sure and certain hope of seeing those which 
are heavenly. 
