THINGS ANIMATE AND INANIMATE. 197 



All animal which stood net in need of rest, would alwayp 

 live in daylight. An animal which, though made for ac- 

 tion and delighting in action, must have its strength repair- 

 ed by sleep, meets, by its constitution, the returns of day and 

 night. In the human species, for instance, were t]:e bustle, 

 the labor, the motion of life upheld by the constan. presence 

 of light, sleep could not be enjoyed without being disturbed 

 by noise, and without expense of that time which the eager- 

 ness of private interest would not contentedly resign. It is 

 happVj therefore, for this part of the creation — I r.san that 

 it is conformable to the frame and wants of their constitu- 

 tion, that nature, by the very disposition of her elements, 

 has commanded, as it were, and imposed upon them, at 

 moderate intervals, a general intermission of their toils, their 

 occupations, and pursuits. 



But it is not for man, either solely or principally, that 

 night is made. Inferior but less perverted natures taste its 

 solace, and expect its return with greater exactness and ad- 

 vantage than he does. I have often observed, and never 

 observed but to admire, the satisfaction, no less than the 

 regularity, with which the greatest part of the irrational 

 world yield to this soft necessity, this grateful vicissitude: 

 how comfortably the birds of the air, for example, address 

 themselves to the repose of the evening ; with what alertness 

 they resume the activity of the day. 



Nor does it disturb our argument to confess that certain 

 species of animals are in motion during the night, and at 

 rest in the day. With respect even to them, it is still true 

 that there is a change of condition in the animal, and an 

 external change corresponding with it. There is still the 

 relation, though inverted. The fact is, that the repose oi 

 itiur animals sets these at liberty, and invites them to theii 

 food or their sport. 



If the relation of sleep to ?iight, and in some instances, 

 its converse, be real, Ave cannot reflect without amazement 

 upjn the extent to which it carries us. Day and night are 



