over, in the frame of the most minute creature, such as a flea, a louse, or a mite; as it would be impossible for any mortal to conceive, without a previous inspection of them. But I shall not, at present, enter any further into the wonderful variety of particulars which might be collected on this subject. I shall confine myself to such reflections as the last lines of the above poetical extract must naturally suggest; namely, the very striking contrast which the microscope discovers between the works of Nature and the efforts of Art. Nature, it is observed, is not less remarkable for the accuracy and beauty of all her works than for variety and profusion. Defects, on the contrary, are always discovered in the works of Art, when examined with a microscope; while the close inspection of a leaf of a flower is like removing a veil from the face of beauty. The finest needle ever polished, and pointed by the most ingenious artist, appears, when it is viewed by the solar microscope, quite obtuse; while the sting of a bee, however magnified, still retains all its ori nal acuteness of termination. The most accurate engravings or embossments seem such rude and deformed work, when thus magnified, as if they had been wrought by a mattock or a trowel; and the threads of the finest cambric appear like packthread, and seem rather the workmanship of a basket-maker, than the beautiful production of the loom. On the contrary, the serrated borders of the petal of a flower, and the fringe on the wing of a fly, display an accuracy of delineation, which no pencil can rival. Such an infinite difference is there between the exquisite skill of Nature and the comparative rudeness and imperfection of Art'.

It is a great mortification to the vanity of man, that his utmost art and industry can never equal the meanest VOL. I.

P

I think, therefore, that I cannot better conclude this paper, than by observing, what an inconsistency it is in the character of a rational being, to be transported with the workmanship of a poor mortal, and to feel no rapture in surveying the inimitable performances, in which the hand of Deity is so visible. The subject, moreover, may suggest to us a becoming caution, not to treat with contemptuous superiority, and much less with wantonness and cruelty, the meanest of those creatures, to the formation and decoration of which God himself has been so attentive: for if we exalt our views to the celestial orbs above, and conceive the possible existence, in other worlds, of beings infinitely superior to us in dignity and excellence, yet still infinitely remote from the Deity in perfection; how comparatively minute and contemptible may we appear to them! But, not to wander in the fields of imagination, with what emphasis and propriety has the Psalmist taught us to exclaim, When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him?"

The examination of flowers by the microscope opens a new field of wonder to the inquiring naturalist. As a pleasing illustration of the preceding paper, we subjoin Sir John Hill's interesting account of what appeared on examining a carnation first published in the Inspector, No. 109. It is written with peculiar elegance. The principal

of Nature's productions, either for beauty or value. Art is only the under workman, and is employed to give a few strokes of embellishment to those species, which came from the hand of the master. Some of the drapery may be of his drawing; but he is not allowed to touch the prin cipal figure. Art may make a suit of clothes: but Nature must produce a man.

HUME.

flower in this bouquet, was a carnation: the fragrance of this led me to enjoy it frequently and near: the sense of smelling was not the only one affected on these occasions; while that was satiated with the powerful sweet, the ear was constantly attacked by an extremely soft but agreeable murmuring sound. Curiosity is a first principle in my nature on all occasions of this kind. It was easy to know that some animal, within the covert, must be the musician, and that the little noise must come from some little body suited to produce it. I am furnished with apparatusses of a thousand kinds for these occasions. I instantly distended the lower part of the flower, and, placing it in a full light, could discover troops of little insects frisking and capering with wild jollity among the narrow pedestals that supported its leaves, and the little threads that occupied its centre. What a fragrant world for their habitation! what a perfect security from all annoyance in the deep husk that surrounded their scene of action!

'I was not cruel enough to pull out any one of them for examination; but adapting a microscope to take in, at one view, the whole base of the flower, I gave myself an opportunity of contemplating what they were about, and this for many days together, without giving them the least disturbance. Thus could I discover their economy, their passions, and their enjoyments. With what adoration to the Hand that gave being to these minute existences must a heart, capable of a due warmth in His praise, see the happiness he has bestowed on them! But, alas! all magnitude is but comparative; an accident of matter, not one of its properties; and, in reality, a very nothing in no degree affecting the subjects themselves, though of such seeming consequence to us.

The microscope, on this occasion, had given what nature seemed to have denied to the objects of contemplation. The base of the flower extended itself under its influence to a vast plain; the slender stems of the leaves became trunks of so many stately cedars; the threads in the middle seemed columns of massy structure, supporting, at the top, their several ornaments; and the narrow spaces between were enlarged into walks, parterres, and terraces.

On the polished bottom of these, brighter than Parian marble, walked in pairs, alone, or in larger companies, the winged inhabitants: these from little dusky flies (for such only the naked eye would have shown them) were raised to glorious glittering animals, stained with living purple, and with a glossy gold that would have made all the labours of the loom contemptible in the comparison.

'I could, at leisure, as they walked together, admire their elegant limbs, their velvet shoulders, and their silken wings; their backs vyeing with the empyræan in its blue; and their eyes, each formed of a thousand others, out-glittering the little planes on a brilliant; above description, and too great almost for admiration. I could observe them here singling out their favourite females, courting them with the music of their buzzing wings, with little songs formed for their little organs, leading them from walk to walk among the perfumed shades, and pointing out to their taste the drop of liquid nectar just bursting from some vein within the living trunk: here were the perfumed groves, the more than myrtle shades of the poet's fancy, realised; here the happy lovers spent their days in joyful dalliance; or, in the triumph of their little hearts, skipped

after one another from stem to stem among the painted trees; or winged their short flight to the close shadow of some broader leaf, to revel undisturbed in the heights of all felicity'.'

No. XXXII.

FURTHER REFLECTIONS ON THE MINUTE WONDERS OF CREATION.

Nature's great works no distance can obscure,
No smallness her near objects can secure:
We've learned the curious sight to press
Into the privatest recess

Of her imperceptible littleness!

We've learned to read her smallest hand,

And well begun her deepest sense to understand.

In an insect or a flower,

Such microscopic proofs of skill and power,
As hid from ages past, God now displays,

COWLEY.

To combat atheists with in modern days. COWPER.

IN my preceding Paper, I considered, in general, the great superiority of the works of Nature over those of Art, as particularly discernible in the objects of microscopic vision. This is a subject of contemplation, of which the ancients had no conception, and of which, consequently, they can afford us no poetical illustrations. It was reserved for modern philosophy, moreover, to invent the means of bringing creatures, imperceptible to the naked eye, under our cognizance and inspec

The whole of this Paper will be found in Dr. Drake's Gleaner, vol. ii. p. 268.