intimately with our equals; and had an opportunity of commanding our inferiors. Unless we have done these, the knowledge of man, in respect to man, is built upon sand. One, so qualified, will probably agree with me, that life derives most of its fascinations from a wide knowledge of Nature; from an agreeable, rather than a very enlarged, knowledge of MAN; from a partial oblivion of the past, and a total concealment of the future.

PUBLIC WALKS.

IF from individuals we ascend to communities of men, we shall find the natural love of mankind, for the pleasures of Nature, still operating. It may be traced in hamlets and in villages; in towns and in cities. There is scarcely a square in any of the larger cities of Europe, that is not embellished with plots of green, with beds of flowers; with shrubberies or with rows of chestnut and lime trees;-forming agreeable public walks, and shady promenades. Who is there, that has not witnessed, with a correspondent pleasure, the delight, with which the city pours forth "her populous hives," on a fine summer's day; or on those enviable days of rest, once known to our nobility by the hallowed name of sabbath? At those times, the gravity of the Spaniard, the phlegm of a Dutchman, the formality of a Chinese, the solemnity of a German, and the melancholy of a Briton, vanish before the influence of a cheerful sky.

The observance of this sacred day was expressly commanded from Mount Sinai a.

The Sabbath is one of the greatest of all earthly blessings; it is the most beautiful of all the institutions of society; and that the poor may never be deprived of this inestimable

a What a sublime intention! The poet Grahame begins his poem on the Sabbath, by observing, that he, who has lived three-score-years-and-ten, has lived ten years of Sabbaths!

indulgence is my earnest, and most fervent prayer. But, I think, I observe a disposition, in some country gentlemen, to debar them the comforts, arising from this sacred holyday.

Poor sons of toil! Oh, grudge them not the breeze,
That plays with sabbath flowers; the clouds, that play
With sabbath winds; the hum, of sabbath bees;
The sabbath walk; the sky-lark's sabbath lay:
The silent sunshine of the sabbath-day!

A MECHANIC.-The Ranter.

A sabbath should be a day of mental tranquillity to the old; and of innocent hilarity to the young, after the hour of thankfulness and devotion. The rich have their parties and their amusements; they even play at games, not sanctioned by the laws; and yet would they debar the poor from meeting on the green; and from indulging in healthful and innocent exercises-thus converting their cheerfulness into melancholy; their gaiety into hypocrisy; and their religion into fanaticism. This is the truth:-and it is curious to observe, that one of the best observances of a gloomy faith is a CHEERFUL SABBATH.- - In this let the Catholics of the Roman Church be religiously imitated.

The Romans had their holydays;--but how different!

Quippe etiam festis quædam exercere diebus
Fas et jura sinunt. Rivos deducere nulla
Religio vetuit: segeti prætendere sepem,
Insidias avibus moliri, incendere vepres,

Balantumque gregem fluvio mersare salubri.

In gratifying the love of Nature in the people consisted one of the numerous merits of the celebrated Kyrle. There was scarcely a footpath near the town of Ross, so finely situated, as it is, on a cliff above one of the noblest windings of the Wye, that was not, in some way or other, embellished by that benevolent character.

Cæsar, animated by a desire of pleasing the Roman people,

bequeathed to them his gardens; a favour for which, they ever after honoured his memory. In the present day, they resort in crowds to the green oaks of the Borghese villa. Antony, in his oration over the dead body of Cæsar, expatiates upon this instance of munificence: and, as a proof of his estimation of the gift, he does not inform the populace, that Cæsar had bequeathed to them his garden, till he has said, that he had left them a legacy in money:-as if he intended, that the former should operate as a climax to his eloquence.

Antony. Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,

His private arbours, and new planted orchards,

On that side Tiber; he hath left them you,

And to your heirs for ever;-common pleasures,

To walk abroad and recreate yourselves.

Upon hearing this, the people immediately resolve upon burning the houses of all the conspirators.

The Romans were accustomed to plant trees by the side of columns, and before their houses, even in the city, (which contained 48,000 houses), a considerable space of which was occupied by gardens; the names of some of which have reached the eye of modern research; such as those of Sallust, Lucullus, Agrippa, Titus, Seneca, and Domitian.

If we would know a people thoroughly, we must not only sojourn in cities, and visit mansions, but wander among hamlets and villages; eat cheese with farmers, and drink water with peasants. The peasants of Italy are more alive to sensations of taste than those of England. “ The old woman of ninety-four," says Lord Byron, "whom I relieved in the forest, the other day, brought me two bunches of violets. Nam vita gaudet mortua floribus. I was much pleased with the present. An English woman would have presented a pair of worsted stockings;—at least in February." An Englishman, however, is far from being destitute. He sees, and smiles, wonders and becomes thoughtful.

An English cottager is, in fact, a great admirer of Nature; -for while his wife has her geraniums in the window, he has frequently his crocus, polyanthus, sweetbriars, and honeysuckle; his bow at the gate; and a bower at the farther end of his garden. If to these we add a room, frequently whitewashed, walls hung with sacred pictures, ballads, and portraits of the king, queen, and royal family; we have a complete idea of a British cottage. In Glamorganshire this picture might be improved: and often among the rocks, precipices and mountains, among storms of hail, and tempests of wind, in scenes, seldom visited even by the woodman, and not by men of education for centuries, how delightful have appeared the warmth, quiet, and repose of the cottages, occasionally half hid by woodbines and eglantines, down in the vales of that beautiful province; and which, when seen from the wild precipices of the distant mountains, have appeared like cottages of Arcadian land.

A love of Nature is said peculiarly to distinguish the Dooraunes. "The delight, with which they dwell," says an observing traveller, " on the moments, passed in their beautiful valleys; and the enthusiasm, with which they speak of the varieties, through which they pass, when travelling in other countries, can never, in such an unpolished people, be heard without pleasure and surprise"."

a Akenside.

Elphinstone's Caubul. A curious instance of the susceptibility of the Brazilian slaves is recorded in Mr. Luccock's Notes on Rio de Janeiro, p. 63, 4to.

Mr. Coxe, in his travels through Switzerland, says", that he was so captivated with scenes in the canton of Glaris, that he could not refrain from stopping, every moment, to admire them; but that his guide could not be made to understand, that he stopped by choice: he not being able to comprehend, that the cause of Mr. Coxe's horse every now and then stopping arose from any thing than his laziness.

In Spain, however, the peasantry are far from being insensible to the charms of Nature; and Mr. Irving assures us that he has often remarked their sensibility in this respect. "The lustre of a star," says he", "the beauty and fragrance of a flower, the crystal purity of a fountain, will inspire them with a poetical delight; and then what words their magnificent language affords with which to give utterance to their thoughts!"

In general, however, few natives of fine countries have any power of appreciation in this respect;-neither are they lovers of poetry or the fine arts; nor are they possessed of imaginative feelings or of rich associative faculties,

The public walks of the Athenians were along the banks of the Cephisus and Ilyssus: while those around the city of Smyrna, whose atmosphere is frequently charged with a light vapour, tinged with crimson, and whose wells are washed by the waters of one of the most beautiful bays in all the world, are represented as highly pleasant and agreeable; particularly on the west side of the Frank: where there are groves of orange and lemon trees; which, being clothed with leaves, blossoms, and fruit, regale three of the senses at the same time.

The public promenade, on the banks of the Neva, at St. Petersburg, is represented as being as fine as any in the world. At Berlin the squares, which are the most elegant, are those, in which are planted shrubs and trees. The entire city is surrounded by gardens; while that of Vienna, whose dirty and narrow streets inspire nothing but disgust, is encircled by a wide field, having a singular appearance; and such as no other b Alhambra, vol. i. p. 212.

a Vol. i. 49.