350 LETTERS ON NATUKAL MAGIC. 



while before he was as habitually grave, and even 

 to a degree gloomy." 



Such is a brief and general account of the 

 principal phenomena of Nature, and the most 

 remarkable deductions of science, to which the 

 name of Natural Magic has been applied. If 

 those who have not hitherto sought for instruction 

 and amusement in the study of the material world, 

 shall have found a portion of either in the pre- 

 ceding pages, they will not fail to extend their 

 inquiries to other popular departments of science, 

 even if they are less marked with the attributes 

 of the marvellous. In every region of space, 

 from the infinitely distant recesses of the heavens 

 to the " dark unfathomed caves of ocean," the 

 Almighty has erected monuments of miraculous 

 grandeur, which proclaim the power, the wisdom, 

 and the beneficence of their Author. The in- 

 scriptions which they bear the hand- writing 

 which shines upon their walls appeal to the 

 understanding and to the affections, and demand 

 the admiration and the gratitude of every rational 

 being. To remain willingly ignorant of these 

 revelations of the Divine Power is a crime next 

 to that of rejecting the revelation of the Divine 

 Will. Knowledge, indeed, is at once the hand- 

 maid and the companion of true religion. They 

 mutually adorn and support each other; and 

 beyond the immediate circle of our secular duties, 

 they are the only objects of rational ambition. 

 While the calm deductions of reason regulate the 

 ardour of Christian zeal, the warmth of a holy 

 enthusiasm gives a fixed brightness to the glim- 

 mering lights of knowledge. 



