150 THE BOG. 



softened by the mild and peaceful influence of 

 Christianity. 



The time may come when art shall assist nature 

 in producing another and as great a change in the 

 appearance of these sterile regions, as unaided 

 nature has slowly and silently effected. Valuable 

 ricks of corn may sometimes be seen even in the 

 centre of a reclaimed bog, which in the memory 

 of man scarcely produced a blade of grass fit for 

 the food of cattle, and where no cattle would 

 venture in quest of it. Draining, turf-burning, 

 manuring, and ploughing, have effected a great 

 deal ; and rendered more efficacious, as these 

 operations yearly are, by science and experience, 

 it is not improbable that thousands of acres may, 

 in the course of a few years, be reconverted into 

 arable land or forests ; healthful farm-houses may 

 rise over the ruined villages of our pagan fore- 

 fathers ; and Christian churches, resting their foun- 

 dations on undiscovered cromlechs, may hold with- 

 in their walls many generations of devotees, wor- 

 shipping at an altar where the sacrifice of prayer 

 and praise will be offered with well-grounded faith, 

 and be freely accepted. " Then shall the wilder- 

 ness and the solitary place be glad for them, and 

 the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." 



Those districts in which coals are found, afford a 

 yet more prolific subject for speculation, even than 

 peat-bogs. Here we have not merely a single 

 stratum of altered vegetable substance, but nume- 

 rous seams (as they are called) overlying one 

 another, and alternating with layers of sandstone 

 or lime. That coal is of vegetable origin, there 

 can be no doubt. But, how it attained its present 

 position, is a matter involved in mystery. It was 



