"The world is too much with us; late and soon
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not."

WORDSWORTH.

"Whatever our wanderings, our happiness will always be found within a narrow compass, and amidst the objects more immediately within our reach; but we are seldom sensible of this truth (hackneyed though it be in the Schools of all Philosophies) till our researches have spread over a wide area."

BULWER-The Caxtons.

PREFACE.

"BUSINESS must be attended to."

Undoubtedly. There is no need to insist upon the maxim, for it is observed as religiously as if it comprised the whole duty of man. Rather should it be, "The intervals of business must be attended to." Business is a compulsory affair-a man's leisure is his own; and for his own sake, as well as that of the community, it should be leisure of occupation. And, as mere mercantile business has a tendency to contract the range of thought, and to give a money value to all matters, a man's pleasures and recreations should have a contrary character, and cultivate those powers of

his mind that are untouched by his business avocations; in order that he may see all things on both sides and in their true light.

There is no employment for leisure hours, whether they be the few of the man of business or the many of the man of no business, more innocent in itself or more productive of benefits than the pursuit of Natural History generally; and Entomology, or the Natural History of Insects, on account of the number, beauty and accessibility of its objects, has peculiar advantages as a means of popular recreation. Once begun, ennui and the want of something to do vanish, every step is on enchanted ground, and on all sides the prospect becomes more and more enticing. The inducement to go out of doors, -the walk with a purpose in view, so different to that most dreary of all employments, walking for the sake of exercise, is itself no mean advantage. Then the collector wants to know something about the nature of the insects he has acquired, and begins to study their habits, forms and relationships.

This calls into exercise the practice of patience, of minuteness and accuracy of observation, and eventually of cautiousness in induction and generalization; all of which, besides their value as elements of mental discipline, are qualities serviceable in an eminent degree in the business of life. Bonnet has said, "When I see an insect working at the construction of a nest or a cocoon, I am impressed with respect, because it seems to me that I am at a spectacle where the Supreme Artist is hid behind the curtain." Who can view such scenes continually without forgetfulness of self, and having his thoughts carried upwards, and becoming not only a wiser but a better man!

Contrast with such an employment of leisure the way in which the majority of young men spend their spare hours, dissipation, frivolous amusements or the ephemeral literature of the day, and who can be surprised that the result, so far as regards the cultivation of the individuals, is nil, the balance being on the other side. There is a minority of young men, I know, that do better

than this, yet, without any desire to undervalue literature or art,-nay, with every inclination to reverence and appreciate genius of every kind, whether showing the power of mind over mind or the power of mind over matter,-I still believe that man and his doings, his follies and his crimes, engage too much of our attention. And if we go beyond the circle of human sympathy, I fear we are too prone to be passive: we like knowledge to come to us second-hand filtered through other men's brains; and we take their conclusions -the truth as it appeared to them-to be the whole truth. But no man, however great, has so thoroughly comprehended any subject as to have exhausted it; every phase of Nature has yet at least another point from which it may be viewed. For observers and reasoners Natural History still offers a boundless field. I have no wish to elevate Entomology above its rank in the scale of NaturalHistory Science, nor to laud it as a panacea for the evils accruing to society from the waste of time; but I am sure that, whether as a recreation, a study, or both, it would give to multitudes a