They muft afpire; why fhould they fudden ftop Among the broken mountains rufhy dells,

And ere they gain its highest peak desert

Th' attractive fand, that charm'd their course so long?

Befides, the hard agglomerating falts

The spoil of ages wou'd impervious choak
Their fecret channels; or by flow degrees,
High as the hills protrude the swelling vales :
Old ocean too, fuck'd thro' the porous globe,
Had long ere now forfook his horrid bed,
And brought Deucalion's watry times again.

The poet then proceeds to a more philofophical account; and after a fine description of the most remarkable mountains, whose inward structure he wishes to furvey, he adds,

Amazing fcene! Behold! The glooms difclofe;
I fee the rivers in their infant beds!

Deep, deep, I hear them lab'ring to get free!
I fee the leaning Strata, artful rang'd;
The gaping fiffures to receive the rains,
The melting fnows, and ever dripping fogs!
Strow'd bibulous above I fee the fands,
The pebbly gravel next, the layers then
Of mingled moulds; of more retentive earths,
The gutter'd rocks, and mazy-running clefts;
That while the ftealing moisture they tranfmit
Retard its motion, and forbid its wafte.

Beneath

Beneath th' inceffant weeping of these drains,
I fee the rocky fiphons ftretch'd immenfe,
The mighty refervoirs of harden'd chalk,
Or ftiff compacted clay, capacious form'd.
O'er-flowing thence the congregated stores
The cryftal treasures of the liquid world,
Thro' the ftirr'd fands a bubbling paffage burst;
And welling out around the middle fteep,
Or from the bottoms of the bosom'd hills,
pure
effufion flow United thus,
Th' exhaling fun, the vapour-burden'd air,
The gelid mountains, that to rain condens'd
These vapours in continual current draw,
And fend them, o'er the fair divided earth,
In bounteous rivers to the deep again ;
A focial commerce hold, and firm support,
The full adjusted harmony of things.

In

Seafons, Autumn V. 751, &c.

An harmony, let us not fail to remark, which manifests in the fairest light, the wisdom and goodnefs, of that omnipotent maker, all whose works praise him! for all his works declare

"His goodness beyond thought, and pow'r divine!"

NUM

He fays;

NUMBER LII.

To the VISITOR.

be calm; the fea obeys his will;

The form is filent, and the waves are fill.

SIR,

IH

WHEATLAND's Pfalms.

HAVE been greatly pleased and instructed with your contemplations on the Ocean, and expect, with much fatisfaction, a continuance of your remarks. Permit me to express my approbation of this method of writing, which fo happily blends inftruction with entertainment; and fuffer me to hope, that other parts of nature will hereafter furnish you with the opportunities you defire of elevating your readers hearts to a grateful acknowledgment of the Creator's wif dom and bounty. Indeed I must be allowed to speak with particular pleasure of your Saturdays papers in general: not only as they afford me delight, but as I find them universally well received; which is no bad proof, in my humble opinion, that our taste is neither fo depraved or vicious as fome would reprefent it; which is no bad fign, that true and ferious religion hath yet its votaries amongst us. Go on and profper.

Your

Your reflections on the Ocean, occafioned me to read over with attention, that inimitable defcription of a ftorm, which the royal poet of Ifrael gives us in his cviith Pfalm; than which I know nothing more great and more finished in any compofitions. Indeed the facred writings abound with the most striking inftances of the fublime and it would be a labour well worthy your pen, as it could not fail to give the greatest delight to your readers, if you would occafionally mark out some of these paffages, and fhew us their excellencies, from a comparison with fimilar paffages in profane writers: this might serve not only to enhance the value of the divine oracles in their opinion, who prize them already, but also to draw the attention, and conciliate the favour of thofe, who may be caught by a lofty sentiment; tho' they despise a plain and humble truth; and who may thus be honeftly enfnared to their own felicity. Pardon my freedom in propofing this hint. I return to the paffage which gave birth to the thought.

They who go down to the fea in fhips, and occupy their business in great waters; these men fee the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For at his word the ftormy wind arifeth, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heavens; they go down again to the depths: their foul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger

like a drunken man, and are at their wits end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their diftrefs. He maketh the ftorm a calm, fo that the waves thereof are fill. Then are they glad, because they are at reft; fo he bringeth them unto their defired haven. O that, &c."

Nothing can be more grand and picturesque than this defcription. We fee the most unruly elements subject to the immediate controul of the Almighty; and winds and waves, like duteous fervants, ready to obey his voice. For at his word, the ftormy wind arifeth. He speaks, and the tempeft iffues forth inftantly to perform his commandment: the ftormy wind, which hath force enough to lift up, even the rude and unweildy waves of that most unruly element, the ocean! You fee them rife, foon as the tempeft,

pleafed the Almighty's order to perform,” breathes with its irrefiftible breath, and carries them now up to the clouds; now finks a fearful valley below, while the vessel fhoots down the horrid precipice, and expects, every moment expects, to be fwallowed up by the mountainous billows! -The omiffion of the connecting particles, in the next verses, they mount up; they go down, &c. finely expreffes the haste and terror. You fee the diftrefs of the failors, who are toffed from one fide to the other of the veffel, amidft this terrible commotion,-their fears,