ON THE STUDY OP NATURE. 23 



at the same time that it captivates the understanding. 

 Every branch of it teems with delight and instruc- 

 tion. Even Botany, wliich has been ignorantly stig- 

 matized as a study merely of names, is, when enter- 

 ed upon witii spirit, a most instructive and enticing 

 pursuit : 



Not a tree, 

 A plant, a leaf, a blossom, but contains 

 A folio volume. We may read, and read. 

 And read again, and still find something new ; 

 Something to please, and something to instruct 

 E'en in the noisome weed. 



It would be no inconsiderable improvement to the 

 rising generation, if Natural History could m some 

 measure be introduced to their attention, in prefer- 

 ence to novels and the usual pernicious l)ooks of en- 

 tertainment. If they could have recourse to a rutio- 

 nal source of amusement, ratlier than corrupt their 

 hearts and bewilder their imaginations with tliese^ 

 the common trash of Circulating Libraries : — Early 

 impressions frequently afford such a stamp to the' 

 future character, as to render the proper introduc- 

 tion of them a matter o^ the utmost importance. — 

 That thoughtless cruelty which \\t now so treque.uly 

 observe toward the inferior orders of created beings, 

 would scarcely be known, could v>e but teach man- 

 kind that the same God " whio o-ivcs its Ins. re to an 



O 



insect's wing" ordains with it a riglit to life and hap- 

 piness as well as ourselves ; andth.it wantonly to de- 

 prive it of these is an offence against His works who 

 formed nothing in vain. — An attention to Nature 



C4 



