209 



writing (such as the Lord's prayer in the compass of 

 a silver penny) seems as shapeless and uneoath as if 

 wrote in Runic characters. But the specks of moths, 

 beetles, flies, and other insects, are most accurately cir- 

 cular, and all the lines and marks above them are 

 drawn to the utmost possibility of exactness. 



Our finest miniature paintings appear before a 

 microscope as mere daublngs, plaistered on with a 

 trowel. Our smoothest polishings are shewn to be 

 mere roughness, full of gaps and flaws. Thus do the 

 works of art sink, upon an accurate examination. On 

 the contrary, the nearer we examine the works of 

 nature, even in the least and meanest of her produc- 

 tions, (he more we are convinced nothing is to be 

 found there, but beauty and perfection. View the* 

 numberless species of insects, what exactness and 

 symmetry shall we find in all their organs ! What a 

 profusion of colouring, azure, green, vermillkm ; 

 what fringe and embroidery on every part ! IIow 

 high the finishing, how inimitable the polish we every 

 where behold ! Yea, view the animalcula, invisible to 

 the naked eye, those breathing atoms so small, they 

 are almost all workmanship ; in them too we disco- 

 . yer the same multiplicity of parts, diversity of figures 

 and variety of motions, as in the largest animals. 

 How amazingly curious must the internal structure 

 of these creatures be I How minute the bones, joists, 

 muscles, and tendons I How exquisitely delicate th 

 veins, arteries, nerves ! what multitudes of vessels 

 and circulations must be contained in this narrow 

 compass ! And yet all have sufficient room for truir 

 several offices, without interfering with each other. 



The same regularity and beauty is found in vege- 

 tables. Every staik, bud, flower, and seed, displays 

 a figure, a proportion, a harmony, beyond tlu reach, 

 of art. There is not a weed whose every leaf does 

 not shew a multiplicity of pores and vessels curi- 

 ously disposed for the conveyance of juices, to sup. 

 port and nourish it, and which is not adorned with 

 innumerable graces to embellish it. 



