ON NATURAL HISTORY. 345 



in Scotland, had a cock golden Pheasant sent him, 

 which he confined in a pen with a solitary chicken, 

 he happened to have. These birds formed a great 

 affection for each other, which they shewed in a 

 variety of ways. The pheasant, however, died, 

 and was immediately stuffed, and the chicken 

 turned loose. It appeared miserable, however, 

 after the death of its companion, and having been 

 shewn it, in its stuffed state, it drooped its wings, 

 after having attempted to get at it, kept its eyes 

 fixed on it, and in this attitude died. 



The plants which decorate our fields and gar- 

 dens, the animals which haunt our woods, the 

 various minerals of the earth, the innumerable 

 meteors of the sky, are all calculated to store our 

 minds with an inexhaustible variety of instruction, 

 and tend to the development of moral and religi- 

 ous truths. Nature, indeed, is always offering 

 some striking facts for contemplation and wonder. 



When the celebrated Edmund Burke had re- 

 tired from the turmoil of politics, his chief pleasure 

 was in the cultivation of his garden and small farm, 

 near Beaconsfield. Here he was occasionally vi- 

 sited by some of his former friends, who consulted 

 him on affairs relating to the state of the country. 

 One of these politicians found him in one of his 

 fields, apparently in deep thought, and looking at 

 something in his hand. He addressed Mr. Burke, 

 Q2 



