VI PREFACE. 



industry. Having the prospect of leaving home for a few 

 months, I wished to have it in the hands of the printer 

 before the end of March, and therefore during the winter, 

 while I was all day, and every day, occupied with my pro- 

 fessional duties, in the dark morning hours, and in the 

 darker hours of night, when even in summer the bee would 

 have been sound asleep, I was "aye write writing;" so 

 that by dint of perseverance in working double tides, ere 

 March was over my labours had come to a close. 



Though carried on both late and early, the labours were 

 far from being unpleasant. Admiring the beautiful crea- 

 tures and their exquisite workmanship, a person is almost 

 unavoidably led to think of HIM who works in them, by 

 them, for them, and to say, If he cares for these almost 

 invisible entities, which cannot, except by the happiness 

 they exhibit, acknowledge His kindness, how much more 

 will He care for us, if we seek to know Him, and put our 

 i rust in Him as our reconciled God ! 



1 \\ us cheered on also by the aid so readily given to me 

 by many kind-hearted friends, to whom I am under great 



