Sovereignty of the Ocean.-In another Place, she produces from a dry Grain, first the green Blade; then the turgid Ear; afterwards the fullgrown and ripened Corn in the Ear*. Repaying, with exact Punctuality, and with lavish Ufury, the Hufbandman's Toil, and the Hufbandman's Loan: caufing, by a most surprising Resurrection, the Death of one Seed, to be fruitful in the Birth of Hundreds.

But I forget your Caution, Afpafio; forget, how kindly you have checked me, when I have been haranguing upon, I know not what, Powers and Works of Nature. Whereas, it is GOD who worketh hitherto : who to this Day exerts, and to the End of Time will exert, that fecret but unremitted Energy, which is the Life of this majestic System, and the Cause of all its ftupendous Operations.Let this fhew you, how much I want my Guide, my Philofopher, and Friend. Without his prompting Aid, my Genius is dull; my Reflections are aukward; and my religious Improvements jejune; fomewhat like the bungling Imitations of the Tool, compared with the masterly Effects of Vegetation.However, I will proceed. Yet, not from View of informing my Afpafio, but only to draw a Bill upon his Pen; and lay him under an Obligation to enrich me with another Letter,

any

ter, upon the grand and excellent Subject of

his laft.

Art is dim-fighted in her Plans, and defective even in her moft elaborate Effays. But Nature, or rather Nature's fublime AUTHOR, is indeed a Defigner and a Workman that need not be ashamed*. His Eye ftrikes out ten thoufand elegant Models, and his Touch executes all with inimitable Perfection.-What an admirable Specimen is Here, of the divine Skill, and of the divine Goodnefs! This terraqueous Globe is intended, not only for a Place of Habitation, but for a Storehouse of Conveniencies. If We examine the feveral Apartments of our great Abode; if We take a general Inventory of our common Goods; We fhall find the utmost Reason to be charmed with the Displays, both of nice Oeconomy, and boundless Profufion.

Obferve the Surface of this universal Meffuage. The Ground, coarfe as it may feem, and trodden by every Foot, is nevertheless the Laboratory, where the most exquifite Operations are performed; the Shop, if I may fo fpeak, where the finest Manufactures are wrought. Though a Multitude of Generations have always been accommodated, and though a Multitude of Nations are daily fupplied

*2 Tim. iii. 15.

plied by its Liberalities, it ftill continues inexhauftible. Is a Refource, that never fails; a 'Magazine, never to be drained.

The Unevenness of the Ground, far from being a Blemish or a Defect; heightens its Beauty, and augments its Usefulness.-Here, it is scooped into deep and fheltered Vales, almost constantly covered with a spontaneous Growth of Verdure: which, all tender and fucculent, composes an easy Couch, and yields the most agreeable Fodder, for the various Tribes of Cattle.-There, it is extended into a wide, open, champain Country: which, annually replenished with the Hufbandman's Seed, shoots into a copious Harvest. A Harvest, not only of that principal Wheat, which is the Staff of our Life, and ftrengthens our Heart; but of the appointed Barley *, and various other Sorts of Grain, which yield an excellent Food for our Animals; and either enable them to difpatch our Drudgery, or else fatten their Flesh for our Tables.

The Furrows, obedient to the Will of Man, vary their Produce. They bring forth a Crop of tall, flexile, flender Plants : whofe thin filmy Coat, dried, attenuated, and skilfully

Ifai. xxviii. 25.

+ One may venture to say of the Earth, with regard to its vegetable Operations;

Omnia transformat fefe in Miracula Rerum.

Flax and Hemp.

fully manufactured, transforms itself into fome of the most neceffary Accommodations of Life, and genteelest Embellishments of Society. -It is wove into ample Volumes of Cloth; which, fixed to the Maft, give Wings to our Ships, and waft them to the Extremities of the Ocean. It is twisted into vast Lengths of Cordage; which add Nerves to the Crane, and lend Sinews to the Pulley; or elfe, adhering to the Anchor, they fasten the Vessel even on the fluctuating Element, and fecure it even amidst driving Tempests. It furnishes the Duchefs with her coftly Head-dress, and delicately fine Ruffles. No less strong than neat, it supplies the Plowman with his coarse Frock, and the Sailor with his clumsy Trowsers. Its Fibres, artfully ranged by the Operations of the Loom, cover our Tables with a graceful Elegance, and furround our Bodies with a cherishing Warmth. On this the Painter spreads the Colours, which inchant the Eye; in this the Merchant packs the Wares, which enrich the World.

Yonder, the Hills, like a grand Amphitheatre, arife. Amphitheatre! All the pompous Works of Roman Magnificence, are less than Mole-banks, are mere Cockle-fhells, compared with those majestic Elevations of the Earth. Some clad with mantling Vines; fome crowned with towering Cedars; some ragged with

mishapen Rocks, or yawning with subterraneous Dens, Whofe rough and inacceffible Craggs, whofe hideous and gloomy Cavities, are not only a continual Refuge for the wild Goats, but have often proved an Asylum to perfecuted Merit*, and a Safeguard to the most valuable Lives.

At a greater Diftance, the Mountains lift their frozen Brows, or penetrate the Clouds with their aspiring Peaks. Their frozen Brows arreft the roving, and condenfe the rarefied Vapours +. Their caverned Bowels collect the dripping Treasures, and fend them abroad, in gradual Communications, by trickling Springs, While their steep Sides precipitate the watery Treasures; rolling them on with fuch a forcible Impulse, that they never intermit their unwearied

*To David, from Saul's Malice; to Elijah, from Je zebel's Vengeance; to many of the primitive Chriftians, from the Rage of perfecuting Emperors: they wandered in Defarts and in Mountains, in Dens and Caves of the Earth. Heb, xi. 38.

+ Therefore ftyled― Nimbofa Cacumina Montis, Virg.

It is obferved, that the largest Rivers in the World, those which roll the heaviest Burden of Waters, and perform the most extenfive Circuit through the Nations, generally take their Rife from Mountains. The Rhine, the Rhone, and the Po, all defcend from the Alps. The Tygris derives its rapid Flood, from the everlasting Snows, and steep Ridges of Niphates. And, to mention no more Inftances, the River Amazones, which pours itself through a Multitude of Provinces, and waters near eighteen hundred Leagues of Land, has its Urn in the Caverns, and its Impetus from the Precipices, of that immenfe Range of Hills the Andes.

If