ON THE STUDY OF NATURE.

“ And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of [fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes."-1 Kings iv. 33.

THE historian of the Jewish kings, in his life of Solomon, after describing him potent abroad, peaceful at home, and magnificent in the palace, concludes with an eulogium upon his wisdom; adding, as proof, his skill in the various topics of natural history. The ambitious tree, the grovelling shrub; the lion; the mole; the volant, the creeping, and the swimming tribes had all been subject to his researches. The Buffon and the St. PIERRE of Israel, he could narrate the striking beauties of organized matter, with the eloquence of the one, and feel with the sentiment of the other. Though the cares of state administration were many, yet he would find or create opportunities to exchange the council

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board for the country; and prefer to the study of politics, the study of plants. In the wood, and in the field, the picturesque of nature would charm more than the tapestry of his palace; and as he roamed with the fair Egyptian of Pharaoh's race, he might note, both as a philosopher and lover, the coo of the dove, the buds of the pomegranate, the frolicsome kids, and the ruby rose.

In several parts of these fugitive papers, I have already and warmly insisted on the advantages of a taste for natural beauty. This is a Venus de Medicis universally to be found. Italian connoisseurs may saunter through the galleries of Florence, admiring animated canvass, or symmetrical marble. I do not wish to vilify their pursuit. If it be lounging, it is of a liberal sort. I would not only love the poet and the painter, but the candid critic of their works. But landscape, described in a poem, or mimicked on the walls, cannot compare with the real glories of nature. Her trees, her animals, her wood and water, her broken and cultivated ground, her fish that swiftly glide, or her insects, which tardily creep, were the ob

jects that once interested a great prince, and ought now to interest those who, like him, would be observing, moral, and wise.

Get up early then to the vineyard, and see if the vine flourish and the tender grape appear. Mark the progress of vegetation; observe the characters and habitudes of animals; trace the forest. It has more curious scenery than a theatre. Let the eye of admiration be now raised to the top of the cedar, and now depressed to the hillock of the ant. The nest of the bird, and the haunt of the trout, trifling, as to the inconsiderate they may appear, will reward a philosophic scrutinizer of nature's operations with abundant and perennial pleasure. Swammerdam, a patient naturalist, has been derided by the levity of sciolists, for speculating long and intently upon the lowest subjects of the animal kingdom. The censure was sudden and weak. He was always innocently; often usefully, and honourably employed.

The love of nature is a sweet and exhilarating passion. He, who botanizes on the mountain, or explores the latent root in the forest is a healthy and a happy man. To the fiercer gales

of life, the soldier, the mariner, and the cit are exposed. But if the secure quiet of Virgil be the lot of mortals, it certainly is his, whose ambition soars not above the cedar, and whose avarice digs not below the hyssop.

ON FRETFULNESS.

"Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?"-Jonah

iv. 9.

OR to fret, at any of the petty accidents of life? Thou discontented mortal, undoubted descendant from Jonah, and his peevish tribe, why doest thou suffer a cloud to gather on thy brow, because there is a little one, no bigger than a man's hand, rising in the sky? Be serene thyself, and it will import little whether it rains or blows.

Of all vile habits, that of fretfulness is the least tolerable. Many offensive things, which vulgar people do, are sometimes laid aside, and their neighbours are occasionally freed from annoy. But fretfulness is a kind of perpetual motion, excited no less by a creaking door, than fit of the gout. It is a voracious monster, and feeds upon minute as well as vast vexation. Let us strive, therefore, to pluck off this blister from the heart; and, even in the hottest and most oppressive days of life, care