THE STUDY OF NATURE. And look at the broad-faced sun, how he smiles 353 MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER. THE STUDY OF NATURE. THAT which may profit and amuse is gathered from the volume of creation, For every chapter therein teemeth with the playfulness of wisdom. The elements of all things are the same, though nature hath mixed them with a difference, And learning delighteth to discover the affinity of seeming opposites: So out of great things and small draweth he the secrets of the universe, And argueth the cycles of the stars, from a pebble flung by a child. It is pleasant to note all plants, from the rush to the spreading cedar, From the giant king of palms, to the lichen that staineth its stem; To watch the workings of instinct, that grosser reason of brutes, The river horse browsing in the jungle, the plover screaming on the moor, The cayman basking on a mud-bank, and the walrus anchored to an iceberg, The dog at his master's feet, and the milch-kine lowing in the meadow: To trace the consummate skill that hath modelled the anatomy of insects, Small fowls that sun their wings on the petals of wild flowers; To learn a use in the beetle, and more than a beauty in the butterfly; To recognise affections in a moth, and look with admiration on a spider. It is glorious to gaze upon the firmament, and see from far the mansions of the blest, Each distant shining world, a kingdom for one of the redeemed; To read the antique history of earth, stamped upon those medals in the rocks Which design hath rescued from decay, to tell of the green infancy of time; To gather from the unconsidered shingle the mottled starlike agates, Full of unstoried flowers in the budding bloom-chalcedony; Or gay and curious shells, fretted with microscopic carving, Corallines, and fresh sea weeds, spreading forth their delicate branches, It is an admirable lore to learn the cause in the change, To study the chemistry of nature, her grand but simple secrets, To search out all her wonders, to track the resources of her skill, To note her kind compensations, her unobtrusive excel lence. In all it is wise happiness to see the well-ordained laws. of Jehovah, The harmony that filleth all his mind, the justice that tempereth his bounty, The wonderful all-prevalent analogy that testifieth one Creator, The broad arrow of the Great King, carved on all the stores of his arsenal. BEAUTIES AND ENJOYMENTS OF THE COUNTRY. ALEXANDER POPE. BORN, 1688; DIED, 1744. CONTENTMENT. HAPPY the man, whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound, Content to breathe his native air In his own ground Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, Whose trees in summer yield him shade, Blest who can unconcern'dly find Quiet by day, Sound sleep by night: study and case, And innocence, which most does please With meditation. Thus let me live, unseen, unknown; Thus unlamented let me die, Steal from the world, and not a stone Tell where I lie.* • This ode was written when the author was only 12 years of age. JAMES THOMSON." BORN, 1700; DIED, 1748. HAPPINESS OF A COUNTRY LIFE. Or floating loose, or stiff with mazy gold, Bleeds not, and his insatiate table heaps With luxury and death? What though his bowl In herbs and fruits. Whatever greens the spring, Conceal'd, and fattens with the richest sap, Nor bleating mountains; nor the chide of streams, PICTURE OF A VILLAGE LIFE. Into the guiltless breast, beneath the shade, OLIVER GOLDSMITH. BORN, 1728; DIED, 1774. PICTURE OF A VILLAGE LIFE. 357 SWEET Auburn! loveliest village of the plain, The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm, The never-failing brook, the busy mill, The decent church that topped the neighbouring hill, Near yonder thorn, that lifts its head on high, Where once the sign-post caught the passing eye, The parlour splendours of that festive place; |