STUDY OP NATURAL HISTORY. 51 



tigation and survey of the workings and ways of Pro- 

 vidence in this created world of wonders, filled with 

 his never absent power: it occupies and elevates 

 the mind, is inexhaustible in supply, and, while it 

 furnishes meditation for the closet of the studious, 

 gives to the reflections of the moralizing rambler 

 admiration and delight, and is an engaging compa- 

 nion, that will communicate an interest to every 

 rural walk. We need not live with the humble 

 denizens of the air, the tenants of the woods and 

 hedges, or the grasses of the field ; but to pass 

 them by in utter disregard, is to neglect a large 

 portion of rational pleasure open to our view, which 

 may edify and employ many a passing hour, and 

 by easy gradations will often become the source 

 whence flow contemplations of the highest orders. 

 Young minds cannot, I should conceive, be too 

 strongly impressed with the simple wonders of 

 creation by which they are surrounded : in the race 

 of life they may be passed by, the occupation of 

 existence may not admit attention to them, or the 

 unceasing cares of the world may smother early at- 

 tainmentsbut they can never be injurious will 

 give a bias to a reasoning mind, and tend, in some 

 after thoughtful, sobered hour, to comfort and to 

 soothe. The little insights that we have obtained 

 into nature's works are many of them the offspring 

 of scientific research ; and partial and uncertain as 

 our labours are, yet a brief gleam will occasionally 



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