THE EARTH. 11 



dispersed over the face of the heavens, that lie too remote for e-\ami- 

 aation : these have no motion, such as the planets are found to possess, 

 and are therefore called fixed stars; and from their extreme bril- 

 liancy, and their immense distance, philosophers have been induced 

 to suppose them to be suns, resembling that which enlivens our system. 

 As the imagination also, once excited, is seldom content to stop, it has 

 furnished each with an attendant system of planets belonging to itself, 

 and has even induced some to deplore the fate of those systems, whose 

 imagined suns, which sometimes happens, have become no longer 

 visible. 



But conjectures of this kind, which no reasoning can ascertain, nor 

 experiment reach, are rather amusing than useful. Though we see 

 the greatness and wisdom of the Deity in all the seeming worlds that 

 surround us, it is our chief concern to trace Him in that which we in- 

 habit. The examination of the earth, the wonders of its contrivance, 

 the history of its advantages, or of the seeming defects in its forma- 

 tion, are the proper business of the natural historian. A description 

 of this earth, its animals, vegetables, and minerals, is the most delight- 

 ful entertainment the mind can be furnished with, as it is the most in- 

 teresting and useful. I would beg leave, therefore, to conclude these 

 common-place speculations, with an observation, which, I hope, is not 

 entirely so. 



A use, hitherto not much insisted upon, that may result from the 

 contemplation of celestial magnificence is, that it will teach us to 

 make an allowance for the apparent irregularities we find below. 

 Whenever we examine the works of the Deity at a proper point of dis- 

 tance, so as to take in the whole of his design, we see nothing but uni- 

 formity, beauty, and precision. The heavens present us with a plan, 

 which, though inexpressibly magnificent, is yet regular beyond the 

 power of invention. Whenever, therefore, we find any apparent de- 

 fects in the Earth, which we are about to consider, instead of attempt- 

 ing to reason ourselves into an opinion that they are beautiful, it will 

 be wiser to say, that we do not behold them at the proper point of dis- 

 tance, and that our eye is laid too close to the objects to take in the 

 regularity of their connexion. In short, we may conclude, that God, 

 who is regular in his GREAT productions, acts with equal uniformity in 

 the LITTLE. 



CHAPTER II. 



A SHORT SURVEY OP THE GLOBE, FROM THE LIGHT OF ASTRONOMY AND 

 GEOGRAPHY. 



ALL the sciences are in some measure linked with each other, and 

 before the one is ended, the other begins. In a natural history, there- 

 fore, of the earth, we must begin with a short account of its situation 

 and form, as given by astronomers and -geographers : it will be suffi- 

 cient, however, upon this occasion, just to hint to the imagination, 

 what they, by the most abstract reasonings, have forced upon the un- 

 derstanding. The earth which we inhabit is, as has been said before. 



