220 THE COUNTRY CLERGYMAN. 



' The rain soon washed the salt into the earth, and 

 ' thus drove the worms to the surface, where thou- 

 * sands of them were found dead.' In continuation 

 he pointed out to his guests the utility of nettles, 

 thistles, briars, and other plants which have been 

 considered worthless. Even mole-hills, he informed 

 them, were of great use in extensive sheep pastures, 

 as they were generally covered with a species of 

 wild thyme which was of great benefit to the sheep. 

 He entered into those speculations on Nature which 

 are to be made only in the country, and produced 

 arguments for a superintending Providence drawn 

 from the Natural History of animals. 



Dr. Hastings' friends seemed gratified with 

 those new inlets of intellectual pleasure which his 

 conversation had supplied. They appeared to 

 view the extension of the knowledge which they 

 had imbibed with delight, as affording a glimpse 

 of the wonders of the works of Creation, of which 

 they had previously been in ignorance. Dr. 

 Hastings promised, in the course of their visit, to 

 produce to them innumerable evidences of the 

 Divine Power and Wisdom, as exemplified in the 

 uses and benefits to which created Nature is made 

 subservient for the good of his creatures. How- 

 ever warped their minds might have been by a 

 life passed in the Metropolis, they had too much 

 intellectual feeling not to experience the delight of 



