38 TILLAGE. 



of human art and labour, as in any of those 

 natural wonders, in the formation of which the 

 busy brain and finger of our race have had 

 nothing at all to do. 



Things are so ordered, excepting in a very 

 few spots of the globe, that nature performs 

 but little for man, unless man, in his turn, per- 

 form something for nature. She gives an 

 abundance of materials and inducements, and 

 then says, "Work! Work!" If, instead of 

 obeying this reasonable injunction, we merely 

 reach forth an indolent hand to receive her 

 bounties, she usually bestows them in diminish- 

 ing and inferiour portions, until, at length, our 

 very necessities are unsupplied. In few coun- 

 tries, unless, indeed, within the tropical climates, 

 the inhabitants scarcely exist a year on the 

 mere donations of the soil and of the skies. It is 

 as true, that the great mass of the people 



