BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. Ill 



ken feelings similar to those experienced by the au- 

 thor of the following sublime sketch, taken in the 

 midst of the Atlantic ocean, these wonderful produc- 

 tions of the varying power of nature may be said 

 not to have been created in vain. 



te One evening,'' observes this writer, (" it was a 

 profound calm,) we were in the delicious seas which 

 bathe the shores of Virginia; every sail was furled; 

 I was engaged upon the deck, when I heard the bell 

 that summoned the crew to prayers; I hastened to 

 mingle my supplications with those of the compa- 

 nions of my voyage. The officers, with the passen- 

 gers, were on the quarter ; the chaplain, with a book 

 in his hand, stood at a little distance before them; the 

 seamen were scattered at random over the poop ; we 

 were all standing, our faces towards the prow of the 

 ship, which was turned to the west. The globe of the 

 sun, whose lustre even then our eyes could scarcely 

 endure, ready to plunge beneath the waves, was dis- 

 covered through the rigging in the midst of a bound- 

 less space. From the motion of the stern, it appeared 

 as if the radiant orb every moment changed its ho- 

 rizon. A few clouds wandered confusedly in the 

 east, where the moon was slowly rising; the rest of 

 the sky was serene; and towards the north a Wa- 

 ter-spout, forming a glorious triangle with the lumi- 

 naries of day and night, glistening with all the co- 

 lours of the prism, rose out of the sea like a column 

 of crystal, supporting the vaults of heaven. 



" He who had not recognised in this spectacle the 

 beauty of the Deity, had been greatly to be pitied. 



