071 the Ikw. 157 



the day, but sits on them during the night. At the cape of Good 

 Hope, where the heat is less, the ostrich hke other birds, sits 

 upon her eggs both day and night. In countries infested with 

 monkies, many birds, which in other cUmates build in bushes and 

 clefts of trees, suspend their nests upon slender twigs, and thus 

 elude the utmost art of their enemies. In all cases we may ob- 

 serve, Avithout entering into particulars, that the architecture of the 

 nest's of each species, seems to be adapted to the number of eggs, 

 the temperature of the climate, or the respective dimensions of 

 the little animaPs body. Small birds, whose eggs are generally 

 numerous, make their nests warm, that the animal heat may be 

 equally diffused, but the larger species are less solicitous in this 

 respect. The smaller tribes also, that hve upon fruit and corn, 

 and are often regai'ded as miwelcome intruders upon the labors of 

 man, use every caution to conceal their nests from the eye, while 

 the only solicitude of the great bird is to render their refuge inac- 

 cessible to wild beasts and vermin. 



ON THE DEW. 



There is not a phenomenon of nature more common, nor more 

 beautiful than that of dew. The poets of course have seized it 

 with avidity, to decorate their favorite themes, and particularly 

 their descriptions and personifications of the morning. Milton 

 introduces it into his descriptions with a peculiar felicity: 



' Now morn her rosy steps in th' eastern clime 

 Advancing, sow'd the earth with orient pearl.' 



The same divine bard, in speaking of the prodigious host of 

 satan, has introduced dew into a most beautiful simile: 



' An host 

 Innnmerable as the stars of night, 

 Or stars of morning, dew drops, which the sun 

 Impearls on every leaf and every flower,' 



In Samson Agonistes, when Delilah comes to visit her eyeless 

 iiusband, she is afraid to approach; and Milton has made her si- 

 lence most beautifully expressive: the chorus tells Samson: 



* Yet on she moves, now stands, and eyes thee fix'd. 

 About t' have spoke, but now, with head declined, 

 Like a fair flower surcharged with dew, she weeps, 

 And words address'd seem into tears dissolved, 

 Wetting the borders of her silken veil, ' 



