LETTER IX. 



" By thsetlte various vegetable tribes, 

 Wrapt in afilpvy web, and clad with leaves, 

 Draw the live ;vt;u r, and imbibe thede\v ; 

 By thee dispo.'d info congenial soils, 

 Stands each atractive plant, and sucks, and swells 

 The juicy tide ; n twining mass of lubes, 

 At thy command, the vernal sun awakes; 

 The torpid sap, detruded to die root 

 By wintry winds, that iu;w in fluent dance, 

 And lively fermentation, mounting, spreads 

 All this inuumefous coloured scene of things. " 



THOMSON. 

 BEAR SIR, 



HAVING viewed the magnificent structure of the 

 heavens, and remarked the motion and magnitudes of 

 *hose celestial orbs, that make their ceaseless revolu- 

 tions in the immeasurable regions of aether, we have 

 afterwards descended to the earth, this habitation of 

 human and animal beings, and the only part of innu- 

 merable systems, with which we are properly ac- 

 quainted, and to which our physical knowledge can 

 with certainty be extended. We have observed the 

 surface of this terraqueous globe; its division into 

 land and sea ; its mountains and volcanoes ; its con- 

 cussions by earthquakes ; its irrigation by rivers and 

 spring-, by rains arid dews ; and the exhalation and 

 .descent of those vapours which fertilize the soil, co- 

 ver the fields with plenty, and crown the labours of 

 the husbandman. 



Before we begin to take a range among the various 

 orders of beings which inhabit this globe,, it will not, 

 my dear .Sir, be amiss to cast a glance on vegetation, 

 by which aH animal life is sustained. It would, in- 

 deed, be a pleasing occupation to view it in all 

 its endless variety, and to delineate all its 

 diversified scenery ^ to investigate the vegetative: 

 principle ; to discriminate its productions in different 

 oils ancj climates ; to exhibit the fascinating beauties 

 of trees and plants, of flowers and fruits ; to des- 

 cribe their texture, examine their properties, and es 



