attributes of the mind of Liunæus were his religious sentiments, and his profound adoration of the Deity. Whenever he had an opportunity of expatiating on the greatness, the providence, and omnipotence of God, which frequently happened in his lectures and botanical excursions, his heart glowed with a celestial fire, and his mouth poured forth torrents of admirable eloquence. Over the door of the hall in which he delivered his lectures, was the following inscription: "Innocui vivite! Numen adest!" less! God observes you!

Live guilt

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This world abounds with wonders, and those who pass by them with lect or indifference, deserve to enjoy none of the pleasures and advantages which they afford. Have the flowers no beauty, no fragrance? the birds no elegance, no music? Are not all our senses supplied through them with the highest gratifications? We are under frequent obligations even to insects for our clothing and its colors. Silk and cochineal, independent of their mercantile value, are articles of importance to some among us. The Tyrian dye was obtained from a muscle, and is said by some writers to have been discovered by a dog eating one of those fish on the seashore, by which his mouth was so stained as to attract the notice of his master.

Birds, even singing birds, might be made useful to us in the construction of a Natural Calendar. The times of the arrival and departure of migratory birds, if they were accurately observed, would instruct us to do many things in the fields and gardens at the most proper time. Peter the great, of Muscovy, did not think it beneath his attention to endeavour to enliven his new seat of empire by sending for colonies of birds from other parts, as they were scarce where he resided. Though Mr. Daines Barrington, in his essay on the singing of birds, has expressed some doubt of the truth of this statement, yet it is generally believed, and is very probable.

Birds were held in great respect by the Ancients. The appearance of the kite in Greece was looked upon as the sign of spring. When the Cuckoo appeared in Egypt and Phoenicia it is said to have pointed out to the inhabitants the proper time for wheat and barley harvest. In the Comedy of the Birds, by Aristophanes, one of them says, "the greatest blessings that can happen to you mortals are derived from us. We shew you the seasons. The crane points out the time for sowing, when she flies with her warning

notes into Egypt; she bids the sailor hang up his rudder and take his rest, and every prudent man provide himself with winter garments. Next the kite appearing, proclaims that it is time to shear your sheep. Then the swallow informs you that it is proper to put on summer clothes. Birds gained a wonderful authority among mankind, till at last no affair of consequence, either public or private, was undertaken without consulting them. They were looked upon as the interpreters of the Gods, and when men considered the wonderful migration of birds, how they disappeared, and appeared again at stated times, and could give no guess where they went, it was almost natural to suppose, that they retired somewhere out of the sphere of this earth, and perhaps approached the etherial regions, where they might hear the converse of the Gods, and thence be enabled to predict events. The use of a Natural calendar, if accurately made, would doubtless be great, for those predictions which have some natural cause have a necessary effect. It is astonishing to observe the conformity between vegetation and the arrival of certain birds of passage. Linnæus says, that the wood anemone blows from the arrival of the swallow. In Mr. Stillingfleet's diary for the year 1755, it is stated, that the swallow appeared on the 6th of April, and the wood anemone was in blow the 10th. Linnæus says, that the marsh marygold blows when the cuckoo sings, and such is the case always in this country. In the Greek language the same word signifies a cuckoo and a young fig, and the reason given for this, is, that in Greece both appeared at the same time. In this country the arrival of the cuckoo is the signal for many flowers coming into blow. Hesiod says, that if it should happen to rain for three days together when the cuckoo sings, then late sowing will be as good as early sowing: that, when snails begin to creep out of their holes, and to climb up plants, you must leave off digging about vines, and take to pruning. In Norfolk, some husbandmen have remarked that when oak catkins begin to shed their seed it is a proper time to sow barley. The prudent gardener, says Mr. Stillingfleet, never ventures to put his house plants out, till the mulberry leaf is of a certain growth. In the description of the wheatear, in the foregoing pages, a useful proverb, current among the Swedish peasantry, is given. In the Isle of Man the fishermen depend upon the herring gull, larus fuscus, to point out the shoals of herrings as soon as they arrive, which they

always do; and there is consequently in that Island a penalty upon shooting gulls. Numerous similar observations might be added, were it proper to extend this valedictory address. Many of the foregoing facts and remarks are extracted from Stillingfleet's Miscellaneous Tracts on Natural History, and are introduced here in the hope of awakening a disposition to observe the appearances of natural objects, and thereby to furnish an amusing, instructing, and purifying exercise for the mind. One more extract, which has already been made use of by Mr. Pennant, but which can scarcely be too often repeated, shall close these Volumes.

"From a partial consideration of things, we are very apt to criticise what we ought to admire; to look upon as useless what perhaps we should own to be of infinite advantage to us, did we see a little farther; to be peevish where we ought to give thanks, and at the same time to ridicule those who employ their time and thoughts in examining what we were, what, indeed, some of us assuredly were; created and appointed to study. In short, we are too apt to treat the Almighty worse than a rational man would treat a good mechanic; whose works he would either thoroughly examine, or be ashamed to find any fault with them. This is the effect of a partial consideration of nature; but he who has candour of mind and leisure to look farther will be inclined to cry out:

"How wond'rous is this scene! where all is form'd
With number, weight, and measure! all designed
For some great end! where not alone the plant
Of stately growth; the herb of glorious hue,
Or food-full substance; not the lab'ring steed,
The herd, and flock that feed us; not the mine
That yields us stores for elegance and use;
The sea that loads our table, and conveys

The wanderer, man, from clime to clime; with all
Those rolling spheres, that from on high shed down
Their kindly influence; not these alone,
Which strike ev'n eyes incurious, but each moss,
Each shell, each crawling insect, holds a rank
Important in the plan of Him who framed

This scale of beings; holds a rank, which lost,

Would break the chain, and leave behind a gap
Which Nature's self would rue. Almighty Being!
Cause and support of all things! Can I view

These objects of my wonder; can I feel
These fine sensations, and not think of Thee?

Thou who dost through the lengthen'd round of time;
Dost through th' immensity of space exist
Alone; shalt Thou alone excluded be
From this thy universe? Shall feeble man
Think it beneath his proud philosophy
To call for Thy assistance, and pretend
To frame a world, who cannot frame a clod!
Not to know Thee, is not to know ourselves-
Is to know nothing-nothing worth the care
Of man's exalted spirit,-all becomes,
Without Thy ray divine, one dreary gloom;
Where lurk the monsters of phantastic brains;
Order bereft of thought, uncaus'd effects,
Fate freely acting, and unerring chance!
Where meanless matter to a chaos sinks,
Or something lower still, for without Thee
It crumbles into atoms void of force,
Void of resistance-it eludes our thought.
Where laws eternal to the varying code

Of self-love dwindle. Interest, passion, whim,
Take place of right and wrong; the golden chain

Of beings melts away, and the mind's eye
Sees nothing but the present. All beyond
Is visionary guess-is dream—is death!"

FINIS.