MARCH. 59 



mercy of climate, that nature has made them insus- 

 ceptible of injury from the severest cold ; and many 

 species, though inclosed in masses of solid ice, may be 

 revived by gradual heat, and fly abroad as gayly as if 

 they had only been refreshed by sleep. But the period 

 of life assigned to insects is very short, and before the 

 arrival of winter, the brief and joyous life of nearly all 

 species is terminated, and their offspring in an embryo 

 state lie torpid until a new spring calls them into a 

 wakeful existence. 



Our climate being a discordant rnixture of the weather 

 of two opposite latitudes, pouring in alternately upon 

 us, is the most variable and deceitful in the world. Al- 

 ternating with each other, and crowding out the proper 

 weather of this temperate latitude, and struggling, as it 

 were, for the mastery, are two winds, one that sweeps 

 across the Canadas, and brings hither the cold of the 

 polar regions ; the other that comes from the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and brings hither the summer breezes of the 

 tropics. No natural barrier is interposed to check their 

 progress whenever any climatal influence urges them 

 onward. The prevalence of a moderate temperature 

 in this part of the country, during a calm, at all times, 

 either in spring or autumn, proves this to be the true 

 weather of our latitude. The north and south winds 

 are intruders, that spoil the comfort we should otherwise 

 enjoy in the open air, at all seasons, except the three 

 months of winter. Our climate may, therefore, not un- 

 aptly be compared to a village that is peopled by a set 

 of quiet and peaceable inhabitants, but is visited by 

 troublesome people from the adjoining villages, who, 

 by their quarrels with each other, keep it in a constant 

 uproar, leaving the villagers only an occasional respite 

 during their absence, when all again is quiet. 



