( O 



the fplendid tints of the infeft, however beauti- 

 ful, muft yield to the elegance, and proportion 

 of animals, which range in a higher clafs. 



With animal life, I fhould not fet the tree 

 in competition. The fhape, the different- 

 coloured fur, the varied, and fpirited attitudes, 

 the character, and motion, which ftrike us 

 in the animal creation, are certainly beyond 

 ftill-life in its moft pleafmg appearance. I 

 fhould only obferve with regard to trees, that 

 nature has been kinder to them in point of 

 variety r , than even t^ its living forms. Though 

 every animal is diftinguifhed from its fellow, 

 by fome little variation of colour, character, 

 or fhape ; yet in all the larger parts, in the 

 body and limbs, the refemblance is generally 

 exact. In trees it is juft the reverfe : the 

 fmaller parts, the fpray, the leaves, the blof- 

 fom, and the feed, are the fame in all trees of 

 the fame kind : while the larger parts are whol- 

 ly different : you never fee two oaks with an 

 equal number of limbs, the fame kind of head, 

 and twitted in the fame form : and it is from 

 thefe larger parts, that the moft beautiful varieties 



refult. However, as variety is not alone fuffi- 



cient to give fuperiority to the tree ; we give 

 the preference on the whole, to animal life. 



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