of sober contemplation, or of lofty thinking, 

 which gives a firmer tone to his mind, and ele- 

 vates him above the sordid views and low vices 

 of the vulgar herd with whom he is surrounded. 

 The employments which the necessities of our 

 nature originate, when perverted by an undue 

 indulgence, and a corrupting intercourse with 

 our fellows, into incentives to cupidity, selfish- 

 ness and cunning, as well as the mean pleasures 

 to which such vicious propensities give rise, seem 

 uncongenial to the mind which seeks for gratifi- 

 cation in so grand and elevated a field. There 

 is assuredly something ennobling in the cultiva- 

 tion of those feelings which lead us to traverse 

 the undulating valley, or to linger in the sylvan 

 glade, when the plastic hand of Spring clothes 

 the fields and woods in the softest green, and 

 " the time of the singing of birds is come ;" and 

 when glowing Summer sheds her profusion of 

 flowers and perfumes ; and when Autumn waves 

 her golden harvest, and tinges the trees with her 

 russet fingers ; and when Winter spreads over 

 expiring vegetation his snowy winding-sheet, and 

 howls through the desolated forest ; or which 

 lead us to seek the grandeur of the lofty moun- 

 tain, the craggy steep, and the foaming cataract ; 

 or which induce us to indulge in the sublime 

 enjoyment arising from the war of elements, 

 when the tempest-tost ocean mingles with the 

 sky, and thunder rends the welkin, and lighten- 

 ings dart their livid fires from pole to pole. 

 Such a temperament has been sometimes sup- 



