melancholy Jaques, the calm and gentle fear of the world, that distinguishes many elegant minds, the corrosive sadness of Hamlet, or the misanthropy of Timon, we might with propriety exclaim,-"These spots are suited to them all.”

X,

We associate, too, the most remarkable animals and vegetables with the countries, in which they abound; and when travelling or voyaging near them, our imagination dwells with interest on their manners, habits, or peculiar properties. Thus with Batavia we sometimes associate the scorpion,-one of the few animals, capable of committing suicide; which it performs by stinging itself on the back of the head. The beaver we connect with Canada; the reindeer with Lapland; and the crocodile and hippopotamos with the Nile and the Niger.-With Arabia, Egypt, and Morocco, we associate the dromedary; with Ethiopia the camelopard; and with Chili aud Peru the armadillo and the lama. With the Falkland Isles we connect the circumstance of their having been originally peopled with Antarctic foxes, by their being accidentally conveyed thither, from the extreme coast of South America, on islands of ice, broken from the mainland, and driven thither by the winds and cur rents. With the Bahama Islands we associate vast numbers of violet crabs, which breed among their mountains; sally from the stumps of trees and crevices of rocks, at a stated season of the year, in bodies of several millions; pursue the course of the banks of rivers; and in one unvaried and undeviating progress,

Virtue erroneously associated with Rocks, &c. 111

keep their way, during the cool of evening, to the ocean, where they deposit their spawn. While in Barbary we observe the cervicapra follow the pipe of the huntsman, delighted with the fumes of tobacco; or behold it hunted by a falcon, running from the plains to the rocks, with the talons of the bird, sticking in its body.

XI.

From associations of this kind, we may turn to those general appearances of Nature, which, to the vulgar eye, afford nothing worthy of admiration ; but which to a philosophical one presents objects, pregnant, as it were, with subjects of sterling value.

How many tranquil hours have we past, my Lelius, in the bosom of deep glens, and on the sides and summits of elevated mountains. My heart loves to recal those hours of repose! While breathing the vigorous air. among clouds, coloured by the sun's morning rays; while listening to the call of the hunter, or to the echo of a shepherd's pipe; amid the haunts of foxes, woodcocks, grouse and black game, I have often reflected on the errors of those philosophers and moralists, who, in scenes so rough and rugged, have fixed the residence of virtue. This is an allegory adapted only for times, when virtue consisted chiefly in courage, and in states which were in perpetual fear of losing their liberties. In modern times, virtue has descended from precipices, and fixed her abode in towns and hamlets; and access to her is become so easy, that all may associate with her, if they are but so disposed.

XII.

As we were one day sitting on a stone half covered with moss, near a small whitewashed cottage, that stood on the verge of a brook, which murmured down the deep valley, that winded below, we were struck with the variety, which was presented to the imagination: and being in the humour to indulge in meditation, we gave wing to our thoughts. The sun shone brilliantly; and a large sycamore expanded over our heads, wreathing what Milton happily calls "Mosaic." On both sides of us rose two steep mountains, lined with wood; but not sufficiently so as to screen the flocks, that grazed upon their summits.

As these woods presented various species of trees, we were naturally led into a consideration of the manner, in which Nature had formed them for enjoyment. The Scotch fir rose at intervals, and gave solemnity to others of a brighter foliage. These, we remembered, in common with every other species of pine, bear distinct male and female flowers; the males being arranged in what botanists call "brotherhoods." The oak, the beech and the chesnut, which rose high in air; and the hazel, which formed the underwood, have also distinct males and females on the same tree; but the males are not disposed in brotherhoods. Then the ivy, which crept up their trunks, exhibit, when in bloom, five males to one female; while the moss, which in detached portions made their arms and trunks of a dusky green, entirely conceal their methods of fructification. holly, which graced the hedges, presented an example

The

of equal marriages; each corolla containing four husbands and four wives. The hawthorn exhibited, as it were, several lovers courting two sisters.

In the hedges were violets and primroses, having one female to five males; the violet giving shelter to a small red insect, which had caused red tubercles to appear on the outward part of the calyx. Beyond were rising stems of fox-glove,—the most powerful of British officinal plants; with four males, two lower than the others: while in the shepherd's-purse an instance was afforded of six husbands, four distinguished above the other two by superior height.

On the banks of the brook we marked the alder and the willow ;-two plants assimilating in no small degree in soil and natures; yet differing in one essential particular. The alder bears distinct sexual flowers on the same branch; the willow on two different plants; while the rough-leaved willow produces flowers and leaves from the same bud.

As we were remembering these peculiarities, a king's-fisher darted along the rivulet, agreeably asso· ciating itself in our imaginations with the halcyon of antiquity. The stagnant part of the brook was covered with a green coating; which, upon examination, we found to consist of a prodigious number of animaculæ, affording nutriment to several species of birds and insects.

Soon after a boy passed with a bird's-nest in his hand. Upon examining it, we found it lined outwards with wood-moss, speckled with moss off walls. The inside was lined with asses' hair. There were three

layers: one of moss; a second of feathers; a third of hair :—and the body of the nest was made up of all those materials, mixed with greenish grass, pieces of cotton, dead grass, light feathers, fibres, roots, dead leaves, and hemp straw.

Then we observed a large fly flit before us; so beautiful, that, after the manner of the Chinese, we might have called it a flying flower. It was the dragon-fly; and, as its history is curious, we dwelt upon it. This insect in summer gives life to almost every landscape, through which a river winds, or a brook murmurs, by its green, scarlet, blue, and crimson colours. Now glittering like silver, and now gleaming like gold; and yet it was once an inhabitant of the water! The mother drops her eggs in the surface of the stream, in the form of a cluster of grapes; the weight of which sinks them to the bottom; upon breaking the shells of their eggs the new formed insects assume the shape of a worm with six legs. They continue to creep and to swim in the water for some time, feeding on mud and glutinous substances. At length, swimming to the surface of the water, they crawl up the banks; hide themselves in the grass, or under a stone; disengage themselves from their larva skins; and fly first from grass to grass, and then from shrub to shrub. Some of them having black bodies, variegated with bright blue or deep green; with wings presenting a transparent network of various hues.

Now we heard the woodlark.-Then we saw a large hill of ants; and not far off a garden spider,