Miscellaneous. 77 



Than e'er was won by arms ; 

 The second must have taught thy heart 

 Somewhat of wisdom's better part, 



Through nature's hidden charms. 



For well I ween a heart like thine 

 Contemplating the hand divine 



Thy favourite science shows, 

 Taught by each proof of power and love. 

 To Him who dwells and reigns above 



With grateful feeling glows. 

 And such a feeling to extend, 

 I'o show how skill and goodness blend 



Throughout Creation's plan. 

 Must rank amongst those wise pursuits 

 Whose genuine and whose grateful fruits 



Are bless'd of God and man. 

 Yes, every science, love, or art 

 Which tends to foster in the heart 



Knowledge of nature's laws, 

 Must, sanctified by grace divine, 

 " Precept on precept, line on line," 



Exalt their First Great Cause ! 

 Pursue, then, my ingenious friend, 

 Thy search ; and mayst thou in the end 



Partake a prouder change 

 Than e'er thy insect tribes can know, 

 Whate'er of beauty these may show 



In transformations strange ! 

 For these, though plumed with splendid wings, 

 Are still but fair and fragile things, 



Which seem but born to die ; 

 Whilst thou, thy web of knowledge spun, 

 Shalt soar above yon glorious sun 



To immortality ! 

 Woodbridge, July 1829. Bernard Barton. 



LETTERS FROM RAY TO SIR HANS SLOANE. 



On the appropriation of certain Birds to their proper Classes in 



Ornitholoyy . 



[MS. Sloan. Brit. Mus. 4().5G. fob 148. OWr/.] 



Sir, — I received yours of the 17th and am very glad that the Box 

 with the Papers is come safe to your hands, though I did not much 

 fear the losse of it. You need not be solicitous about the charge, 

 for there w^as nothing extraordinary, and yet if there had, I ought in 

 all reason to have born it. 



Two things there are I cannot yet fully agree with you in. 



1. The referring of the Old-men, or Rain-fowls, to the Cuckow. 

 For the Cuckow is so strange, anomalous, and singular a Bird, and 



