in case he obtained pupils, which the high reputation he and his wife had established fully ensured. Roger said he would put the garden in complete order, but Terence must keep it nice; for a little exercise, and the exhalations from fresh earth, would benefit his health. Lizzy's husband, though by trade a locksmith, understood enough of carpenter work and house-painting, to make repairs for Terence, who felt himself as completely satisfied with his new abode, as if a palace and a princely revenue had come into his possession. He and his family removed there the same day that Lewis left Roger's house to become Dick's guest. To be continued.

The Book of Nature laid
(Continued from page 66.)

open.

Your contemplation farther yet pursue;
The wondrous world of VEGETABLES View!
See varied TREES their various fruits produce,
Some for delightful taste, and some for use.

See SPROUTING PLANTS enrich the plain and wood,
For Physic some, and some design'd for food.

See FRAGRANT FLOWERS, with different colours dy`d,
On smiling meads unfold their gaudy pride!

VEGETABLES.

FROM the verdant colour of creation the transition is natural to a consideration of the objects by which it is occasioned. These are the numerous vegetable tribes which cover and adorn the surface of our globe in all that variety of TREES, and SHRUBS, and HERBS, which we behold.

Here, Trees like stately turrets raise their lofty heads; there, the more pliant and humble thick-set Shrubs unite their foliage; while the herbaceous tribe in mingled profusion cling more closely to the earth, and cover the fields with their verdure.

THE

THE STRUCTURE OF VEGETABLES In all their varied forms is truly wonderful-How excellently adapted are the roots for taking hold of their parent earth, as well as for drawing nourishment for the support of the plant and imbibing moisture from the neighbouring soil? How commodiously are the various tubes and fibres which compose the trunk or stalk arranged, for the motion of the sap upwards to all the extremities of the leaves and branches? How nicely are the leaves formed for the important services they are made to yield in the economy of vegetation? See how they serve to concoct and prepare the Sap-how they prevent by their shade the moisture at the root from being too speedily evaporated→→ how they embrace and defend the flower in the bud, and carefully conceal the fruit before it arrives at maturity; and by catching the undulations of the gentle breeze, how they convey that motion to the trunk and branches, which, (for ought we know,) may be as essentially necessary to the vegetable life as exercise is to animal health. What an excellent clothing does the bark afford, not only for protecting the stem and branches from external injury, but from the hurtful extremes of heat and cold? What evident marks of wisdom and design do the Flowers evince in their beautiful and delicate construction -how nicely are they formed for the protection and nourishment of the first and tender rudiments of the fruit; and when it has attained more firmness and solidity, how readily do they relinquish their charge, and drop off in decay when no longer necessary? How wonderfully does the fruit, in some classes, envelope and protect the seed till it has arrived at maturity;-and lastly, what a passing strange piece of organized mechanism is the sced itself,*

* It has been discovered by the microscope that the smallest seeds contain the rudiments of the future plant in embryo, but in some

and being necessary for the reproduction of its species, what a remarkable provision is made for its preservation and succession! What but the wisdom of a Deity could have devised that those seeds which are most exposed to the ravages of the inhabitants of the forest, should not only be doubly, but some of them trebly enclosed!* that those most in request as articles of food, should be so hardy and abundantly prolific ;† and, that seeds in general which are the sport of so many casualties, and exposed to injury from such a variety of accidents, are possessed of a principle of lasting vitality, which makes it indeed no easy matter to deprive them of their fructifying power.‡ Plants are also multiplied and propagated by a variety of ways, which strengthen the provision made for their succession.

Nor is the finger of providence less visible in the means of diffusing or spreading abroad vegetables, than in the provision made for keeping up their succession. The earth may be said to be full of the goodness of the Lord; but how comes it to pass that, in parts untrode by man, and on the tops of ruinous buildings, so many varied specimens of the vegetable creation are to be found?-Is it not from the manner in which Nature's great husbandman scatters his seeds about? While the seeds of some plants are made sufficiently heavy to fall down and take up their abode nigh the place of their nativity; and others, after having been swallowed by quadrupeds, are deposited in the neighbouring

this is discoverable by the naked eye, as in the Kidney Bean, where the very ribs of the leaves of next year's plant are visible.

As in the Walnut, we have first a thick pulpy covering, then a hard shell, within is the seed enclosed in a double membrane.

Wheat is not only a most prolific plant, but comes to maturity in hot and cold, as well as in temperate climates

Hence it is, that if by reason of excessive cold, drought, or other accident, seed should not germinate the first year, it will continue its fecundity till it spring up under more favorable circumstances, perhaps at the end of, not only two or three, but twenty or thirty years!

bouring soil; some are carried by the owls of the air to places more remote, or being furnished with a soft plumage, are borne on the winds of heaven to the situations allotted for them. To prevent some from pitching too near, they are wrapt up in elastic cases, which bursting when fully ripe, the prisoners fly abroad in all directions * : to prevent others from straying too far, they are furnished with a kind of grappling-hooks that arrest them in their flight, and attach them to the spot most congenial to their growth t.These are some of the doings of the Lord, and are wondrous in our eyes!

In the construction of plants we observe a considerable difference in the consistence of the three classes. Compared with the Shrubby race, how hard, firm, and tenacious is the trunk of the majestic Oak; and compared with the herbaceous tribe, how woody, tough, and elastic is the bawthorn Twig;-but for this, how could the mighty monarch of the wood have been able to withstand the fury of the tempest; and, while the more humble and lowly shrubs ⚫stand not in need, of such firmness of texture, their pliability and elastic toughness, together with the prickly coat of mail by which they are enveloped, render them less susceptible of injury in their exposed situation..

Softness, united with a still greater degree of flexibility, are the distinguishing characteristics of the herbaceous order; and how wisely has this been ordered for the various purposes for which they were created; with the firmness of trees, to what a prickly stubble must Nature's soft and downy carpet have given way? with the tenacity of Shrubs, how would it have answered as food for our cattle?

There are besides a number of other properties and peculiarities

K 3

*As the Wood Sorrel.

As Agrimony and Goose-grass..

peculiarities in the vegetable kingdom, in which the wonderful working of Divinity shines pre eminent.How strange, for instance, that if a seed is sown in a reversed position, the young root turns of itself downwards, while the stem refuses to sink deeper in the soil, and bends itself round to shoot up through the surface of the earth.— How surprising, that when the roots of a tree or plant meet with a stone or other interruption in their progress underground they change their direction, and avoid it. How amazing, that the numerous shoots which branch out from the root in quest of moisture, pursue as it were by instinct the tract that leads to it ;-will turn from a barren to a more fertile soil; and, that plants shut up in a darksome room, bend er creep to any aperture through which the rays of light may be admitted.

In these respects the vegetable tribes may be said to possess something analogous to animal life; but here the resemblance does not drop-low surprising the phenomenon of what is called the sleep of plants*, and the sexual system of Linnæus, founded on the discovery that there exists in the vegetable, as well as in the animal kingdom, a distinction of sexest!

What amazing variety of size, of shape, and of hue, do we discover among this multitudinous order of things!What different properties do some possess from others!and, what a near approach do a few make to that superior order immediately above them, in the scale of existence !The Sensitive plant, when slightly touched, evinces something

* The modes of folding in the leaves, or of sleeping during the night are extremely various; but it is worthy of remark, that they all dispose themselves so as to give the best protection to the young stems, buds, flowers, or fruits.

Sexes in plants!-Surprising as this may sound in the ears of some of our readers, it is no less true than strange; for although this doctrine was very imperfectly known to the ancients, it is now pretty well understood, as every student of modern Botany must know.