S72 THE IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 



and inquiry. A person under the influence of this principle 

 can converse with a picture, and find an agreeable com- 

 panion in a statue. He meets with a secret refreshment in 

 a description ; and often feels a greater satisfaction in the 

 prospect of fields and meadows, than another does in the 

 possession. It gives him indeed a kind of property in every 

 thing he sees ; and makes the most rude uncultivated parts 

 of nature administer to his pleasures ; so that he looks upon 

 the world, as it were, in another light, and discovers in it a 

 multitude of charms, that conceal themselves from the gene- 

 rality of mankind. A river is traced to its fountain ; a 

 flower to its seed ; and an oak to its acorn. If a marine 

 fossil lies on the side of a mountain, the mind is employed 

 in the endeavour to ascertain the cause of its position. If a 

 tree is buried in the depths of a morass, the history of the 

 world is traced to the deluge ; and he who grafts, inoculates, 

 and prunes, as well as he who plants and transplants, will 

 derive an innocent pleasure in noting the habits of trees and 

 their modes of culture ; the soils in which they delight ; the 

 shapes into which they mould themselves ; and will enjoy as 

 great a satisfaction from the symmetry of an oak, as from the 

 symmetry of an animal. Every tree that bends, and every 

 flower that blushes, even a leafless copse, a barren plain, 

 the cloudy firmament, and the rocky mountain, are objects 

 for his attentive meditation. For, 



To him who in the love of Nature holds 



Communion with her visible forms, she speaks 



A various language ; for his gayer hours 



She has a voice of gladness, and a smile 



And eloquence of beauty, and she glides 



Into his darker musings, with a mild 



And gentle sympathy, that steals away 



Their sharpness, ere he is aware. Bryant. 



LESSON 125. 



The Importance of Natural Philosophy. 



With thee, serene Philosophy, with thee. 

 And thy bright garland, let me crown my song : 



