XI. TO WALTHAM ABBEY. 



ard night, \vitliout the change of seasons, 

 how should we be able to measure the lapse 

 of time, and preserve the remembrance of 

 historical events? We enjoy innumerable 

 advantages from the division of time ; we 

 know that the week is composed of a certain 

 number of days, tlie month of a certain 

 number of weeks, the year of a certain 

 number of months, and the thread of chro- 

 nological science guides us with certainty 

 through the labyrinth of ages; but, oa the 

 one hand, what penetration must it have re- 

 quired for man to submit to such exact and 

 multiplied divisions; and, on the other, w hat 

 benevolence of the Author of Nature, who 

 seems to have arranged every thing in the 

 universe, in order to facilitate the most glo- 

 rious and useful discovery to mankind ! 



For example: in those beautiful summer 

 evenings, when the purity of the air and the 

 serenity of the heavens seem to invite us to 

 contemplation, have you not sometimes 

 raised your eyes towards the firmament, and 

 ttduiired those ipnumeiable and brilliant 



