Steal from the throng to haunts untrod, Night is the time for death; When all around is peace, From sin and suffering cease, Think of heaven's bliss, and give the sign LESSON XLVIII. A Sketch of the Universe. GOLDSMITH. THE world may be considered as one vast mansion, where man has been admitted to enjoy, to admire, and to be grateful. The first desires of savage nature are merely to gratify the importunities of sensual appetite, and to neglect the contemplation of things, barely satisfied with their enjoyment: the beauties of nature, and all the wonders of creation, have but little charm for a being taken up in obviating the wants of the day, and anxious for precarious subsistence. Our philosophers, therefore, who have testified such surprise at the want of curiosity in the ignorant, seem not to consider that they are usually employed in making provisions of a more important nature - in providing rather for the necessities than the amusements of life. It is not till our more pressing wants are sufficiently supplied, that we can scientific attend to the calls of curiosity; so that in every age refinement has been the latest effort of human industry. But human curiosity, though at first slowly excited, being at last possessed of leisure for indulging its propensity, be comes one of the greatest amusements of life, and gives higher satisfactions than what even the senses can afford. A man of this disposition turns all nature into a magnificent theatre, replete with objects of wonder and surprise, and fitted up chiefly for his happiness and entertainment; he industriously examines all things, from the minutest insect to the most finished animal, and when his limited organs can no longer make the disquisition, he sends out his imagination upon new inquiries. Nothing, therefore, can be more august and striking than the idea which his reason, aided by his imagination, furnishes of the universe around him. Astronomers tell us that this earth which we inhabit forms but a very minute part in that great assemblage of bodies of which the world is composed. It is a million of times less than the sun, by which it is enlightened. The planets, also, which, like it, are subordinate to the sun's influence, exceed the earth one thousand times in magnitude. These, which were at first supposed to wander in the heavens without any fixed path, and that took their name from their apparent deviations, have long been found to perform their circuits with great exactness and strict regularity. They have been discovered as forming with our earth a system of bodies circulating round the sun, all obedient to one law, and impelled by one common influence. Modern philosophy has taught us to believe, that when the great Author of nature began the work of creation, he chose to operate by second causes; and that, suspending the constant exertion of his power, he endued matter with a quality by which the universal economy of nature might be continued, without his immediate assistance. This quality is called attraction, a sort of approximating influence, which all bodies, whether terrestrial or celestial, are found to possess; and which, in all, increases as the quantity of matter in each inThe sun, by far the greatest body in our system, is, of consequence, possessed of much the greatest share of this creases. attracting power; and all the planets, of which our earth is one, are, of course, entirely subject to its superior influence. Were this power, therefore, left uncontrolled by any other, the sun must quickly have attracted all the bodies of our celestial system to itself; but it is equally counteracted by another power of equal efficacy; namely, a progressive force which each planet received when it was impelled forward by the divine Architect upon its first formation. The heavenly bodies of our system being thus acted upon by two opposing powers, - namely, by that of attraction, which draws them towards the sun, and that of impulsion, which drives them straight forward into the great void of space,-they pursue a track between these contrary directions; and each, like a stone whirled about in a sling, obeying two opposite forces, circulates round its great centre of heat and motion. In this manner, therefore, is the harmony of our planetary system preserved. The sun, in the midst, gives heat, and light, and circular motion to the planets which surround it: Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn perform their constant circuits at different distances, each taking up a time to complete its revolutions proportioned to the greatness of the circle which it is to describe. The lesser planets, also, which are attendants upon some of the greater, are subject to the same laws; they circulate with the same exactness, and are in the same manner influenced by their respective centres of motion. Besides those bodies which make a part of our peculiar system, and which may be said to reside within its great circumference, there are others, that frequently come among us from the most distant tracts of space, and that seem like dangerous intruders upon the beautiful simplicity of nature. These are comets, whose appearance was once so terrible to mankind, and the theory of which is so little understood at present. all we know is, that their number is much greater than that of the planets, and that, like these, they roll in orbits in some measure obedient to solar influence. Astronomers have en deavored to calculate the returning periods of many of them; but experience has not, as yet, confirmed the veracity of their investigations. Indeed, who can tell, when those wanderers have made their excursions into other worlds and distant systems, what obstacles may be found to oppose their progress, to accelerate their motious, or retard their return? But what we have hitherto attempted to sketch is but a small part of that great fabric in which the Deity has thought proper to manifest his wisdom and omnipotence. There are multitudes of other bodies dispersed over the face of the heavens, that lie too remote for examination: these have no motion such as the planets are found to possess, and are therefore called fixed stars; and from their extreme brilliancy and their immense distance, philosophers have been induced to suppose them to be suns resembling that which enlivens our system. As the imagination, also, once excited, is seldom content to stop, it has furnished each with an attendant system of planets belonging to itself, and has even induced some to deplore the fate of those systems whose imagined suns, which sometimes happens, have become no longer visible. But conjectures of this kind, which no reasoning can ascertain nor experiment reach, are rather amusing than useful. Though we see the greatness and wisdom of the Deity in all the seeming worlds that surround us, it is our chief concern to trace him in that which we inhabit. The examination of the earth, the wonders of its contrivance, the history of its advantages, or of the seeming defects in its formation, are the proper business of the natural historian. A description of this earth, its animals, vegetables, and minerals, is the most delightful entertainment the mind can be furnished with, as it is the most interesting and useful. I would beg leave, therefore, to conclude these commonplace speculations with an observation which, I hope, is not entirely so. A use, hitherto not much insisted upon, that may result from the contemplation of celestial magnificence, is, that it will teach us to make an allowance for the apparent irregu larities we find below. Whenever we can examine the works of the Deity at a proper point of distance, so as to take in the whole of his design, we see nothing but uniformity, beauty, and precision. The heavens present us with a plan which, though inexpressibly magnificent, is yet regular beyond the power of invention. Whenever, therefore, we find any apparent defects in the earth, instead of attempting to reason ourselves into an opinion that they are beautiful, it will be wiser to say that we do not behold them at the proper point of distance, and that our eye is laid too close to the objects to take in the regularity of their connection. In short, we may conclude that God, who is regular in his great productions, acts with equal uniformity in the little. LESSON XLIX. Fishes. ALTERED FROM TURNER. THE largest number of the fish tribes are very agreeable objects to the sight; and many are eminently beautiful in their color, as well as in the general appearance of their neat and glossy skin and scales. Our most common fish are often highly pleasing; and there is not one that exceeds the mackerel in the brilliancy of its colors, or in the elegance of its shape. The fine deep blue upon the back is crossed by many black streaks, accompanied by a tinge of green, which varies as the fish changes its position. The bright silver color of the abdomen, and the varying tinge of gold green which runs along the sides, are eminently beautiful in this species; but are only to be seen to perfection when it is first taken out of |