BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 193 



hemisphere to visit other climes ; and what a tran- 

 scendanlly magnificent spectacle does a moonlight 

 scene present, independent of the incalculable bles- 

 sings it is made to produce. How welcome are the 

 harbingers of this bright luminary to the toiling tra- 

 veller, when almost fainting under his unremitting, 

 but fruitless exertions, to gain the goal of his journey 

 before the close of the day. How comfortable to 

 the bewildered mariner as he ploughs the deep on 

 an unknown coast; and how cheerful to the lonely 

 shepherd, as he tends his fleecy charge in the other- 

 wise deep gloom of some sequestered valley, or 

 tunes his midnight pipe among the solitary tops of 

 his native mountains Even on the mighty ocean 

 the moon extends her influence; the waves of the 

 sea are swollen and lifted up by the energy of her 

 power; and it is far from being improbable, that 

 what has su<5h an effect upon this great fluid mass, 

 may not also make some very important and sensi- 

 ble impressions on that atmosphere, in whose agita- 

 tions and changes we are so much interested. 



CHAP. XVIII. 



THE SUN. 



Great source of day ! best image here below 

 Of thy Creator, ever pouring wide, 

 From world to world, the vital ocean round ; 

 On nature write with every beam His praise." 



FROM the earth and its companion, the moon, we 

 will now direct our attention to yonder radiant orb, 



