I. TO HAMPSTEAD. fl 



not less magnificent than those we now be- 

 hold. I every clay wandered in a sequestered 

 valley not far froni the banks of the Thames, 

 which seemed well calculated to excite the 



most profound meditation. I delighted to 



. 



rove in solitude: yet I sometimes experi- 

 enced a certain void in my heart, for which 

 I could not account. I became sensible of 

 the necessity of acquiring a knowledge of 

 the productions of nature, in order fully to 

 admire them. I wy'fuUy to admire them ; 

 for admiration is not incompatible with ig- 

 norance. Children and peasants are often 

 more struck with the grandeur of the uni- 

 verse, than the philosopher, who calculates 

 the distance of the sun from the earth, and 

 who is able to arrange and classify all the 

 productions of nature. 



I remember, that, at the age of fifteen 



or sixteen, I was sometimes in the habit of 



"walking by moon-light, of seating myself 



on the ilowery turf, and writing on my knee 



with a pencil, by the light of the brilliant 



orb 



