Season, to re-affume all the Graces, and to re-exert all the Vigour of Youth.-Though She has been pregnant with thousands and thousands of Vintages and Harvests; though She has fuckled unnumbered Millions of green and flowery Families; her Womb is as ftrong and lively to conceive*, her Breafts are as copious and milky to nourish, as if She was but juft delivered of her First-born.-To what is this unequaled and never-ceafing Fertility owing? What, but that mighty Word, proceeding from the Mouth of JEHOVAH; While the Earth remaineth, Seed-time and Harvest shall not ceafe +. How short the Decree, but how long and lafting its Efficacy! It has reached to this Hour; it will reach to distant Ages; it will extend itself to the very End of Time.

The Unevenness of the Ground, far from being a Blemish or a Defect; heightens its Beauty, and augments its Usefulness. Here, it is fcooped into deep and sheltered Vales, almost constantly covered with a fpontaneous Growth of Verdure: which, all tender and fucculent, compofes an eafy 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 replenifhed with the Husbandman's Seed, fhoots into a copious Harvest. A Harveft, not only of that principal Wheat, which strengthens our Heart, and is

the

St. Chryfoftom thought this a wonderful Circumftance, and has touched it in one of his most celebrated Orations. Εννόησον μοι το καλλος τ8 έρανε, ποσον εχει χρονον, και εκ ημαυρώθη, αλλ' ωσπερ σήμερον κατασκευασθείς, όπως για αποτιλβων της γης την δύναμιν, πως εκ ήίόνησεν αύτης η γαςης τοσαλον τικλετα χρονον. Ανδριαντ. ι.

+ Gen. viii. 22.

the Staff of our Life; but of the appointed Barley alfo, and of various other Sorts of Grain. Which yield an excellent Food for our Animals; and either enable them to dispatch our Drudgery, or elfe fatten their Flefh 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 manufactured, transforms itself into fome of the most neceffary Accommodations of Life, and genteeleft 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 twifted into vaft Lengths of Cordage; which add Nerves to the Crane, and lend Sinews to the Pulley; or elfe, adhering to the Anchor, they faften the Veffel even on the fluctuating Element, and fecure its Station even amidst driving Tempefts.-It furnishes the Duchefs with her coftly Head-drefs, and delicately fine Ruffles. No lefs ftrong than neat, it fupplies the Plowman with his coarfe Frock, and the Sailor with his clumfy Trowfers. Its Fibres,

Ifai, xxviii. 25. Theron adopts our received Tranf lation. Which feems, like the Trumpet giving an un certain Sound, to perplex, rather than inform. We know not, what to understand by the Word appointed, when ufed in this Connection. Whereas, the true Interpretation of the Original, is, I think, as follows; ywi

Et Hordeo fignata ef e Due Meta נסמן וכסמת גבלתו

Jua. A Proper Place is affigned both for the Barley and the
Rye.

† One may venture to fay of the Earth, with regard to its vegetable Operation;

Cmnia transformat fefe in Miracula Rerum.

Flax and Hemp.

bres, 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 enchant 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 lefs 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; fome ragged with mishapen Rocks, or yawning with fubterraneous 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 Afylum to perfecuted Merit *, and a Safeguard to the most valuable Lives.

At a greater Distance, the Mountains lift their frozen Brows, or penetrate the Clouds with their afpiring Peaks. Their frozen Brows arreft the roving, and condenfe the rarefied Vapours +. Their ftony Bowels, formed into Caverns, collect the dripping Treasures, and fend them abroad, in gradual Communications, by trickling Springs. While their steep Sides precipitate the watery Stores; rolling them on with fuch a forcible Impulse ‡, that

they

To David, from Saul's Malice; to Elijah, from Jezebel'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 obfervable, that the largest Rivers in the World, thofe which roll the heavieft Burden of Waters, and per

form

they never intermit their unwearied Courfe, till they have swept through the most extenfive Climes, and regained their native Seas.

The Vineyard (wells into a Profufion of Clufters: fome tinged with the deepest Purple, and delicately clouded with Azure: fome, clad with a whitish transparent Skin, which fhews the tempting Kernels, lodged in luscious Nectar.-The Vine requires a strong Reflection of the Sun-beams, and a very large Proportion of Warmth. How commodiously do the Hills and Mountains minister to this Purpose! May We not call thofe vaft Declivities, the Garden-walls of Nature? Which, far more effectually than the moft coftly Glaffes, or moft artful Green-houses, concenter the folar Heat, and complete the Maturity of the Grape. Diftending it with a Liquor of the finest Scent, the most agreeable Relish, and the most exalted Qualities: fuch as diffipate Sadness, and inspire Vivacity: such as

make

form 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 fteep Ridges of Niphates. And, to mention but one more Inftance, 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 the Reader is inclined to fee the Origin and Formation of Rivers defcribed, in all the Sublimity of Diction, and with all the Graces of Poetry, He may find this Entertainment in Mr. Thomson's Autumn, Lin. 781. last Edit.

Amazing Scene! behold, the Glooms difclofe.

I fee the Rivers in their infant Beds!

Deep, deep I hear them, lab'ring to get free! &c.

make glad the Heart of Man, and most sweetly prompt, both his Gratitude and his Duty, to the Munificent GIVER.—I grieve, and I blush for my Fellow-creatures, that Any fhould abuse this Indulgence of Heaven. That Any fhould turn fo valuable a Gift of GOD into a deteftable Inftrument of Sin! Should turn the most exhilarating of Cordials into Poison, Madness, and Death.

The Kitchen-garden presents Us with a new Train of Benefits. In its blooming Ornaments, what unaffected Beauty! In its culinary Productions, what diverfified Riches! It ripens a Multitude of nutrimental Efculents, and almoft an equal Abundance of medicinal Herbs; diftributing Refreshments to the Healthy, and administering Remedies to the Sick.-The Orchard, all fair, and ruddy, and bowing down beneath its own delicious Burden, gives Us a fresh Demonftration of our CREATOR's Kindness. Regales Us, firft, with all the Delicacies of Summer Fruits; next, with the more lasting Succeffion of Autumnal Dainties.

What is Nature, but a Series of Wonders, and a Fund of Delights! That such a Variety of Fruits, fo beautifully coloured, and fo elegantly shaped; fo charmingly flavoured, and enriched with fuch admirable Juices; fhould arife from the Earth! Than which nothing is more infipid, fordid, and defpicable. I am ftruck with pleafing Aftonishment, at the Cause of these fine Effects! I am no less furprifed, at the Manner of bringing them into Exiftence. I take a Walk in my Garden, or a Turn through my Orchard, in the Month of December. There ftand several Logs of Wood. Some, of stately Height, and diffufive Spread. Others, contracted

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