the feathered race, in this piece, from that providential inftinct which incites the swallow tribe to launch fearless on the unbounded fky in queft of a retreat from the storms of winter, deduces with perfuafive energy the reasonablenefs of a confidential reliance on the fame providence, in our flight from the ftormy regions of this life to a peaceful futurity. And does no power its friendly aid dispense, Beyond the ftroke of death, the verge of time! A fine vein of defcriptive poetry is intermixed with the moral fentiment of this little piece, fo that he has fhewn himself an elegant observer of nature, as well as a forcible preacher. H 3 The The return of the swallows, in partic را 1 blim JonW lar, is beautifully painted. boop At length the winter's furly blasts are o'er; tud jonno ! 'Array'd in fmiles the lovely fpring returns: Health to the breeze unbars the screaming door! And every breast with heat celeftial burns. Again the daifies peep, the violets blow, Again the tenants of the leafy grove, yo! £ Forgot the patt'ring hail, the driving fnow, Refume the lay to melody and love. And fee, my Delia, fee o'er yonder ftream, NOTHING can be better imagined, or more confonant to the natural hiftory of these birds, than their fuppofed conversation on their return. I'll think I hear you tell of distant fands, 1a¶ What painted swarms fubfift on Lybia's fands, What mild Euphrates yields, and Ganges' „bstrusq vunditukod zi. flood. Το I cannot but attribute a degree of merit to this poem, higher than its mere poetical excellence might claim, on account of its being the model of a new combination of moral precept with natural defcription, greatly fuperior, in many respects, to fable. encourage the imitation of this, as well as the other beauties which have been exemplified in the preceding pages, by fhewing that their fource is ftill open and unexhaufted, will more particularly be the bufinefs of the remaining part of this Effay... PLINY has already been mentioned as bamnaturalift who throws, into his defcriptions all the fire and elevation of a poet. He may therefore be advantageously studied, not only for the matter of his relations, but the ftyle in which they are cloathed; for as the former is often extremely curious and entertaining, and indeed, of better authority than is commonly imagined, fo the latter is remarkably bold, expreffive, and energetic. It would be difficult for a writer, in poetry to improve the following defcription, in which the Dog is reprefented with a *A RELISH for the beauties of this author, and an efteem for the ftudy of natural history, induced the writer of this Effay lately to publish fome felect pieces, chiefly extracted from the zoological parts of his work, which, while they where principally defigned for the use of schools, might at the fame time be not unacceptable to fuch clam. cal readers as should wish to obtain a general knowledge of this author's manner and language, without the labour of turning over his voluminous w writings. charac character of courage and magnanimitys equaloto that of Homer's lions, and as fuitable for heroical compari fondl ! in Indiam petenti Alexandro Magno, "rex Albania dono dederat inufitatæ "magnitudinis unum: cujus fpecie de«<lectatus juffit urfos, mox apros, et deinde damas emitti, contemtu immobili jacente eo. Qua fegnitie tanti cor"poris offenfus Imperator generofi fpiri❝tus, eum interimi juffit. Nuntiavit hoc "fama regi. Itaque alterum mittens ad didit mandata, ne in parvis experiri "vellet, fed in leone, elephantove. Duos fibi fuiffe: hoc interemto, præterea |