NUMBER XLVII. -And thou majestic main, A fecret world of wonders in thyself, Sound His ftupenduous praise, whofe greater voice TH THOMSON, HE elegant poet, quoted above, calls the Ocean, with much propriety, a fecret world of wonders! No man can contemplate this great and glorious object, unconvinced of the juftness of his expreffion: for furely, while we stand upon the fhore, and behold the vaft billows of the boundless main, with impetuous and ever reftless tumult, proudly rolling along; while we ftretch our wondering fight over the immense world of waters; furvey the chalky and rising cliffs, which furround the fhore, or the firm and level fand, which gives limits to this feemingly uncontrolable element: while we reflect upon the animal as well as vegetable productions of the ocean, infinite in number, endless in variety and when we confider the prodigious advantages arising from this connector of the univerfe advantages, in which we of this nation are peculiarly interested; we cannot fail to admire the wifdem of him, who feparated the waters from the dry land; and who, fuperlative in power, ruleth this roaring monfter with all the facility of command; faying, Hitherto halt thou come, but no farther, and here fhall thy proud waves be flayed. And as the ocean, hath lately obtained an acceffion of honour, and is become, if I may fo fay, the grand and univerfal physician; and on that account is not only visited more generally, but more highly efteemed,-for what fo worthy our esteem, as that which is the means of imparting health, the choiceft of human bleffings, and without which, no other can be a bleffing ---I do not doubt but it will be agreeable to inany of my readers, to trace with me the wonders of the great deep; which I propose to do in this, and fome following papers; the great deep, of which Euripides hath faid long ago, "That it is the purifier of all human ills.' Θάλασσα κλύζει πανα τ' ανθρώπων κακα. A line which from the prefent practice, one would imagine almost prophetic: For what dif ease or evil is fuppofed unconquerable by this univerfal medicine? None, we hope, who have tried it this Summer, have found it inefficacious: we would indulge a beneficent wish, that it may have been the secondary cause, at least, of kindling up the glow of rofeate beauty in many a pale pale and lovely cheek; of reftoring many a lanquid nerve to its vigour; and of bleffing many a family, by the return of the parent, the friend, in all the livelinefs of health, to the anxious and alarmed relatives. The faltnefs of its waters is the first thing, which we may imagine, will strike every obferver of the ocean. This is fo peculiar a circumstance, that no man can pass it over unheeded; curfory remarkers are apt, in the hafte of their thoughts, to conceive, that this particular is an objection to the wisdom of the creator, fince a fupply of fresh waters fo near at hand would preferve, they fuppofe, the lives of numbers who crofs the perilous main. But fo far is this from the truth, that the poffibility of failing would be removed were not the waters falt: It is well known that no colds or illnesses arife from a total immerfion in falt water, and a total neglect of yourself in confequence. Hence the honeft feaman so oft dashed and covered with the briny waves, feels no inconveniencies, and receives. no damage. Besides so immense a body of waters, the common fewers of nature, would putrify and corrupt, if they were not strongly impregnated with faline particles; and at the fame time in that perpetual motion, and restless agitation, which the waters of the fea continually experience. They never are ftill, never at reft; and thus by their saline quality, they are secured C 6 from from any internal principle of corruption; by their inceffant perturbation they work themfelves clear from every adventitious defilement. "A directory this, and a pattern for me, fays a writer. Thus may divine Grace, like the penetrating power of falt, cure the depravity of my heart, and rectify the disorders of my temper! Seafon my words, and make all my converfation favoury. Thus may a continual course of activity, in every vocation, prevent the pernicious effects of indolence; let me daily exercise, or be attempting to exercise the graces of Chriftianity. Left faith become feeble: Left hope contract dimness; and charity wax cold." When all other waters are fresh, but thefe of the ocean, all other waters, which owe their rife to the ocean, and are conveyed from its boundless treasury, through the bowels of the earth;-No reasonable man can fuppofe, that thofe of the ocean were, without defign, impregnated with falts: and especially, when he beholds the utility, the neceffity of this provifion, which various other particulars might prove, he will acknowledge, that this also hath God done! But fee the waters come rolling in upon us! Wave dashes over wave, curling its foamy skirt; billow rifes over billow, and rolls with regular and irrefiftible impetuofity to the fhore. The tide is coming in, and the tide furnishes us with a fresh fource of admiration. Every day this immenfe collection of waters for the space of five or fix hours, flows towards the land: and, as it were unfatisfied with its ftation, no fooner reaches its deftined height, but it begins again, almost inftantly, to retire to its inmost caverns: taking up nearly the fame time in its retreat as it required for its accefs. We refer our readers to the philofophers, for a folution of this extraordinary phenomenon, which they tell us is owing to the gravitation of the earth, and the attractive influence of the moon. So fays the poet 'Tis thine bright Cynthia to dispense, The hoary deep (untra&t'd immenfe) We will rather obferve, how "great is the power, and how excellent the wisdom, which fets the whole fluid world in motion! Which protrudes to the fhores, fuch an inconceivable weight of waters, without any concurrence from the winds, frequently in direct oppofition to all their force. How gracious alfo is the providence which bids the mighty element perform its revolutions with the most exact punctuality! Was it fuffered to advance with a lawless and |