98 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



half covered with these brisk'' and sprightly natures. 

 It" we look to what the waters produce, shoals of 

 the fry of fish frequent the margins of rivers, of 

 lakes, and of the sea itself. These are so happy, 

 that they know not what to do with themselves. 

 Their attitudes, their vivacity, their leaps out of 

 the water, their frolics in it, (which I have noticed 

 a thousand times with equal attention and amuse- 

 ment,) all conduce to show their excess of spirits, 

 and are simply the effects of that excess. Walk- 

 ing by the sea-side, in a calm evening, upon a 

 sandy shore, and with an ebbing tide, I have fre- 

 quently remarked the appearance of a dark cloud, 

 or, rather, very thick mist, hanging over the edge 

 of the water, to the height, perhaps, ofhalfayard, 

 and of the breadth of two or three yards, stretch- 

 ing along the coast as far as the eye could reach, 

 and always retiring with the water. When this 

 cloud came to be examined it proved to be nothing 

 else than so much space filled with young shrimps, 

 in the act of boundmg into the air from the shal- 

 low margin of the water, or from the wet sand. 

 If any motion of a mute animal could express de- 

 light, it was this: if they had meant to make signs 

 of their happiness, they could not have done it 

 more intelligibly. Suppose, then, what I have no 

 doubt of, each individual of this number to be in a 

 state of positive enpyment ; what a sum, collec- 

 tively, of gratification and pleasure have we here 

 before our view !-° 



'^ To these considerations it niu>;t he added, that the lives of 



