nor poor on the earth; but when all men shall partake of its fruits, and enjoy equally the bounties of Providence; but thou shalt not be forgotten in their hymns, O good goddess of Poverty!

15. They will remember that thou wert their fruitful mother and their robust nurse. They will pour balm into thy wounds; and, of the fragrant and rejuvenated earth, they will make for thee a couch, where thou canst at length repose, O good goddess of Poverty!

16. Until that day of the Lord, torrents and woods, mountains and valleys, wastes swarming with little flowers and little birds, paths sanded with gold, without a master,- let pass the goddess, the good goddess of Poverty!

SAND.

CCXI. ON THE PLEASURES OF SCIENCE.

1. Ir is easy to show that there is a positive gratification resulting from the study of the sciences. If it be a pleasure to gratify curiosity, to know what we were ignorant of, to have our feelings of wonder called forth, how pure a delight of this very kind does natural science hold out to its students! Recollect some of the extraordinary discoveries of mechanical philosophy. Is there anything in all the idle books of tales and horrors, with which youthful readers are so much delighted, more truly astonishing than the fact, that a few pounds of water may, without any machinery, by merely being placed in a particular way, produce an irresistible force? What can be more strange, than that an ounce weight should balance hundreds of pounds, by the intervention of a few bars of thin iron? Observe the extraordinary truths which optical science discloses! Can anything surprise us more than to find that the color of white is a mixture of all others; that red, and blue, and green, and all the rest, merely by being blended in certain proportions, form what we had fancied rather to be no color at all than all colors together?

2. Chemistry is not behind in its wonders. That the diamond should be made of the same material with coal; that water should be chiefly composed of an inflammable substance; that acids should be almost all formed of different kinds of air; and that one of those acids, whose strength can dissolve almost any of the metals, should be made of the self-same ingredients with the common air we breathe; - these, surely, are things to excite the wonder of any reflecting mind; nay, of any one but little accustomed to reflect. And yet these are trifling when compared to the prodigies which astronomy opens to our view; the enormous

masses of the heavenly bodies; their immense distances; their countless numbers, and their motions, whose swiftness mocks the uttermost efforts of the imagination.

3 Akin to this pleasure of contemplating new and extraordi nary truths, is the gratification of a more learned curiosity, by tracing resemblances and relations between things which, to common apprehension, seem widely different. It is surely a satisfac tion, for instance, to know that the same thing which causes the sensation of heat causes also fluidity; that electricity, the light which is seen on the back of a cat when slightly rubbed on a frosty evening, is the very same matter with the lightning of the clouds; that plants breathe like ourselves, but differently, by day and by night; that the air which burns in our lamps enables a balloon to mount.

4. Nothing can at first sight appear less like, or less likely to be caused by the same thing, than the processes of burning and of breathing; the rust of metals and burning; the influence of a plant on the air it grows in by night, and of an animal on the same air at any time; nay, and of a body burning in that air; and yet all these operations, so unlike to common eyes, when examined by the light of science are the same. Nothing can be less like than the working of a vast steam-engine and the crawling of a fly upon the window; yet we find that these two operations are performed by the same means, the weight of the atmosphere, and that a seahorse climbs the ice-hills by no other power. Can anything be more strange to contemplate? Is there, in all the fairy-tales that ever were fancied, anything more calculated to arrest the attention, and to occupy and to gratify the mind, than this most unexpected resemblance between things so unlike to the eyes of ordinary beholders?

5. Then, if we raise our views to the structure of the heavens, we are again gratified with tracing accurate but most unexpected resemblances. Is it not in the highest degree interesting to find that the power which keeps the earth in its shape and in its path, wheeling round the sun, extends over all the other worlds that compose the universe, and gives to each its proper place and motion; that the same power keeps the moon in her path round the earth; that the same power causes the tides upon our earth, and the peculiar form of the earth itself; and that, after all, it is the same power which makes a stone fall to the ground? To learn these things, and to reflect upon them, fills the mind, and produces certain as well as pure gratification.

6. The highest of all our gratifications in the study of science remains. We are raised by science to an understanding of the infinite wisdom and goodness which the Creator has displayed in

all his works. Not a step can we take in any direction without perceiving the most extraordinary traces of design; and the skill everywhere conspicuous is calculated, in so vast a proportion of instances, to promote the happiness of living creatures, and espe cially of ourselves, that we can feel no hesitation in concluding that, if we knew the whole scheme of Providence, every part would appear to be in harmony with a plan of absolute benevolence. Independently, however, of this most consoling inference, the delight is inexpressible of being able to follow, as it were, with our eyes, the marvellous works of the great Architect of Nature, and to trace the unbounded power and exquisite skill which are exhibited in the most minute as well as in the mightiest parts of his system.

BROUGHAM.

CCXII. FROM THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON.

1. DOTH not wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her voice? She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths; she crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors; unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom; and ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.

2. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things. For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them. They are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge.

3. Receive my instruction and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding; I have strength.

4. By me kings reign and princes decree justice. By me. princes rule and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honor are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment; that I may cause

those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.

5. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled; before the hills was I brought forth while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.

6. When he prepared the heavens, I was there; when he set a compass upon the face of the depth; when he established the clouds above; when he strengthened the fountains of the deep; when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment; when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.

7. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul; all they that hate me love death.

END OF PART SECOND.

PART III.

AN EXPLANATORY INDEX

OF

WORDS MARKED FOR REFERENCE WITH THE INITIALS EI IN PART II.;
ALSO OF SUBJECTS, NAMES OF AUTHORS, &c.

All the words in Part II., having the mark of reference E at the end, will be
found explained in this Index, which also offers the usual facilities of reference
to the subjects treated, names of authors, places, &c.

Figures attached to words in Part II. refer to the corresponding numbers of
paragraphs in Part I. See notice on page 55.

ABBREVIATIONS USED.

Adj., for adjective; A. D., in the year of our Lord; B. C., before Christ; b., born; d.
died; Fr., French; Gr., Greek; L or Lat., Latin; p., page; pp., pages.