14 THE STUDY OF NATURE PROPOSED. 



to keep alive the taste for both ; and, consequently, 

 if future years should bring with them a larger 

 portion of leisure, I hope and trust they wUl be 

 unaccompanied with that tcedium vitce, which too 

 often destroys the anticipated happiness of the man 

 of business. The object of my attention, in those 

 hours which are stolen from the bustle of the world, 

 has of late been natural history ; and I can safely 

 affirm that it has afforded a tranquillising, contented, 

 and invigorating spirit, when both mind and body 

 have been fatigued with the unremitting exertions 

 which business occasionally demands. To you, who 

 want occupation, the study would produce a different, 

 but equally beneficial result. It would stimulate to 

 activity faculties which now lie dormant, and rouse 

 to pleasurable exertion, powers which languish for 

 want of a proper stimulus. The particular branch 

 of natural history to which I have lately given my 

 attention, has been that which treats of the various 

 tribes of insects ; or, to use a more concise and more 

 scientific expression. Entomology. My progress 

 has not been so considerable as to give me that 

 knowledge of specific distinctions, which one who 

 lays claim to the title of an entomologist should 

 possess ; but it has been sufficient to teach me the 

 principal divisions of the science, and to make me 

 acquainted with the most obvious peculiarities in 



