274 KNOWLEDGE SLOW OF ATTAINMENT. 



THEIIE are very many subjects and employments 

 of mankind, which, if we would obtain a competent 

 knowledge of them, will require an almost undi- 

 vided attention ; yet, after all our " rising early 

 and late taking rest," we shall know too little to be 

 weighed in competition with what is beyond our 

 attainment or comprehension. As in ascending 

 mountainous regions we may reach the summit of 

 one hill with comparative ease, that of a higher 

 with more laborious efforts, and a still higher is 

 attained by a gifted few, beyond which our breath 

 fails us, our natural powers become inadequate ; 

 so a small number may ascend the Alps of science, 

 but pant, unable to attain the Himmalya ranges of 

 their wishes. If proficiency be the object, all the 

 branches of natural history require undivided at- 

 tention ; but amusement, admiration, and intelli- 

 gence, may be obtained by even superficial obser- 

 vation; and of all these departments, perhaps 

 entomology, or the investigation of the insect world, 

 from the variety it embraces, the season, the sub- 

 jects, and the vigilance necessary to catch every 

 momentary action, requires from its followers a 

 homage more absolute, an attention more devoted, 

 than most others. Amid those few branches of 

 science on which I have sought for blossoms, that 

 of entomology I have least investigated : yet, per- 

 haps, it may be said, that such slight notices as the 

 foregoing need not have usurped the time that the 

 study of this department required, To this truth 



