11 



CHAPTER III. 



" When the sun smiles on thee, why, thou art glad; 

 But when on earth he smileth, she bursts forth 

 In beauty, like a bride, and gives him back, 

 In sweet repayment for his warm, bright love, 

 A world of flowers." 



"The poetry of earth is ceasing never," says one of our sweetest 

 poets ; and day by day, as we wander fonth amidst nature's haunts, 

 to enjoy the freshness and beauty of the "leafy spring," do we find 

 something new to make us cling more fondly than ever to those 

 pursuits which tend so much to contentment and happiness, and, 

 more than this, to health also. How many there are who neglect 

 to take that proper exercise which is so necessary for the health 

 both of body and mind, solely because they have no object in view; 

 and, even " if they do force themselves to take, daily, what is 

 called a constitutional walk, too frequently they derive little benefit 

 from it, in consequence of the mind not participating with the 

 body in the imposed task, but still recurring to the occupations at 

 home."* What food is to the body, change of scene and amuse- 

 ment are to the mind ; and nothing can have so soothing an influ- 

 ence as the wandering in the woods and fields, amongst the flowers, 

 and birds, and insects, with their endless variety of form, of habit, 

 of colour. " Mere communion with nature," says Humboldt, in 

 his great work, the " Cosmos," (Int. p. 3., Bonn's ed.,) " mere con- 

 tact with the free air, calm the stream of passion, and soften the 

 heart, when shaken by sorrow to its inmost depths. Everywhere — 

 in every region of the globe — in every stage of intellectual culture — 

 the same sources of enjoyment are alike vouchsafed to man. The 

 earnest and solemn thoughts awakened by a communion with 

 nature, intuitively arise from a presentiment of the order and 

 harmony pervading the whole universe, and from the contrast we 



* Observations on Natural History, by the Rev. Leonard Jenyns. 



