fineft fpeculations on the wisdom and grandeur of the creation. A warm admirer of nature, St. Pierre bows at her fhrine with fervent reverence, and induces his readers to join with him in his adorations. Atheism is his abhorrence, and, indeed, no one but the FOOL fays-THERE IS NO GOD. The fecond Study-On the Beneficence of Nature, fhall be introduced-it is a fair fpetimen of the whole. STUDY THE SECOND. BENEFICENCE OF NATURE. "Moft men, in policed nations, look on nature with ine difference. They are in the midst of her works, and admire only human grandeur. What charm can render the hiftory of man fo interesting? it has to boast of vain objects of glory alone, of uncertain opinions, of bloody victories, or, at most, of useless labours. If nature, fometimes, finds a place in it, we are called upon to obferve only the ravages fhe has committed, and to hear her charged with a thousand calamities, which may be all traced up to our own imprudence. "With what unremitting attention, on the contrary, is this common mother providing for us the means of happiness! She has diffused her benefits from pole to pole, in the view of engaging us to unite in a mutual communication of them. She recals us from the prejudices which unhappily feparate mankind, to the univerfal laws of juftice and humanity, by frequently putting our ills in the hands of the fo highly vaunted conquerors, and our pleafures in those of the oppreffed, whom we hardly deign to favour with our pity. "When the princes of Europe iffued forth, with the Gofpels in their hand, to ravage Afia, they brought back with them the pestilence, the leprofy, and small-pox; but nature pointed out to a dervife the coffee plant, and produced our plagues from our Croifades, and our delicious beverage from the cup of a Mahometan monk. The fucceffors of thefe princes fubjugated the American continent, and tranfmitted to us a fucceffion of wars and venereal difeafes. While they were exterminating its inoffenfive inhabitants, a Caraib, in token of peace, fet the failors a fmoking his calumet; the Nu 3 perfume perfume of tobacco diffipated their chagrin, and the use of it is diffeminated over the universe. "To whom are we indebted for the ufe of fugar, of chocolate, of fo many agreeable means of fubfiftence, and fo many falutary medicines? To naked Indians, to poor peafants, to wretched negroes. The fpade of flaves has done more good, than the word of conquerors has done mischief. But in which of our great fquares are we to look for the statues of our obfcure benefactors? Our hiftories have not vouchfafed to name them. "Where is now the time, when our forefathers wandered up and down, living on the precarious fupplies of hunting, and not daring to truft to nature? Her fimpleft phenomena filled them with terror, and they trembled at fight of an eclipfe. I will suppose, that a philofopher, fuch as Newton, were then to have treated them with the fpectacle of fome of our natural sciences, and fhewn them, with the microscope, forefts in muss, mountains in grains of fand, thousands of animals in drops of water; that afterwards, difcovering to them, in the heavens, a progeffion of greatness equally infinite, he had fhewn them, in the planets, hardly, perceptible to the naked eye, worlds much greater than ours, Saturn, three hundred millions of leagues diftant; in the fixed stars, infinitely more remote, funs which probably illuminate other worlds; in the whiteness of the milky way, ftars, that is funs, innumerable, scattered about in the heavens, as grains of duft on the earth, without man's knowing whether all this may not be more than the threshold of Creation merely; with what tranfports would they have viewed a fpectacle which we, at this day, behold without emotion? "But I would rather fuppofe, that, unprovided with the magic of science, a man like Fenelon had prefented himself to them, in all the majesty of virtue, and thus addressed the Druids: "You frighten yourfelves, my friends, with the groundless terrors which you inftil into the people. God is righteous. He conveys to the wicked terrible apprehenfions, which recoil on those who communicate them. But He speaks to all men in the bleflings which He beftows. Your religion would govern men by fear; mine draws them with cords of love, and imitates his fun in the firmament, whom he causes to fhine on the evil and on the good." After this, that he had had distributed among them the fimple prefents of nature, till then unknown, fheaves of corn, lips of the vine, theep clothed with the woolly fleece: Oh! what would have been the gratitude of our grandfathers! They would, perhaps, have fled with terror from the inventor of the telefcope, miftaking him for a fpirit; but undoubtedly, they would have fallen down, and worshipped the author of Telemachus. "Thefe are only the fmallest part of the bleffings for which their opulent defcendants stand indebted to Nature. An infinite number of arts are employed at home, to diffuse knowledge and delight; and there is not a fpot of the earth, or fea, but what furnishes them with fume article of enjoyment.Even the fands of Africa, where they have no game-keeper, fend them in clouds, quails, and other birds of paffage, which crofs the fea in fpring, to load their table in autumn; and the northern pole, where they have no cruifer, pours on their fhores, every fummer, legions of mackarel, freth cod, and turbots, fattened in the long nights of winter. "Not only the fowls and the fishes change for them their climate, but the very trees themselves. They have no longer occafion for funs: they can difpofe of latitudes. They can convey, in their hot-houses, the heats of Syria to exotic plants, at the very season their hinds are perifhing with the cold of the Alps, in their hovels. Not only every thing that actually exifts, but ages paft, all contribute to their felicity. "The fublime geniuses, of all ages and countries, celebrating, without concert, the undecaying luftre of virtue, and the providence of Heaven, in the punishment of vice, add the authority of their reafon to the univerfal inftinct of mankind, and multiply, in their favour, the hopes of another life, of longer duration, and more exalted felicity. But it is from the very lap of plenteoufnefs and pleasure, that the voice of murmuring against Providence now arises. From libraries, ftored with fo many fources of knowledge, iffue forth the black clouds which have obfcured the hopes and virtues of Europe." The The Captive of Spilberg, in Two Acts, as performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, altered from the favourite French Drama, called Le Souterrain, with a Preface, by the Tranflator. The Music by Duffek. is. 6d. Stace. OF this piece we gave an account in our Dramatic Regifter, at the time of its introduction upon our ftage, and, therefore, shall only add that its perusal affords entertainment. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Lines addreffed by a Gentleman to his Sifter on her Return Home-Verfes wrote in a Summer's Evening-Ode to Fancy, and a Song by J. J.-An Ode to the Rofe, and Sonnet to Mirth, by Civis, and Retirement, by Orlando, fhall be inferted. Defpondency, to Harriot, cannot find a place, because it is too fevere a fatire on the ftrains of love-fick poetry. The poor unhappy lover deferves not our cenfure, and is entitled to our compaffion. Sincerity, by J. C. is admiffible; but we are forry to fay that Remarks on the Practice of committing the Care of Infants to Servants, do not fuit the nature of our MisCELLANY.-For the Lady's Magazine the piece will form a fuitable communication, whither we would recommend the ingenious author to fend it. We had not forgotten W. M. and shall be glad to hear from him on future occafions. We cannot conclude this Seventh Volume, without thanking A. K. for her School for Parents, which clofes with this Number, and from the perufal of which the Reader must experience both entertainment and inftruction. Tales of fo virtuous a tendency cannot fail to prove ufeful to the rifing generation. Such pieces, indeed, always prove an acceptable contribution to our Mifcellany. ་ |