How lovely is nature," said Douglas, "always lovely! She is ever changing, but her changes leave one no regrets. Like a friend of peculiar delicacy, she seems prepared to receive us in our own moodiness. When we are sad, she sooths us; when we are happy, she gladdens us; when we would be silent, she is still as death; and when we would speak, she is the echo of our sentiments!"

"And," said Lefevre, "how simple, how cheap, how accessible, are her pleasures! Those who desire them, have them, without money and without price: and those who have a taste for them never want society. As Prince Eugene is said to have eminently esteemed a friend, who first taught him the value of a moral maxim, so I would reckon those among my benefactors, who have given me a relish for nature."

"Would that, as these pleasures are open to all, so they were universally enjoyed!" observed Douglas; "but how many persons there are, who have no rational delight in nature. They little know

what a source of pleasure-what a preventative of temptation, they are neglecting!-But, tell me, who do you reckon the benefactors to whom you have referred?"

Principally, perhaps, I am indebted to Hervey, to Beattie, to Goldsmith, to Cowper, to Thomson, to Addison, and to some writers on Natural History, and of Voyages and Travels; and, if I speak as I feel, I shall not omit a reference to yourself. Yes, you must allow me to say, that, whatever was my love of nature previously, it has been greatly improved by our friendship."

"The advantages of our friendship are, I hope, my dear Charles, mutual. To some of the writers you have named, I owe obligations; and, in addition to them, passing by poets, I ought to refer to Adams, Paley, St. Pierre, and the Rev. William Jones. I know not what I owe to these excellent men; and I shall not easily forget the pleasure I had in first reading their principal writings.

"After all, I am convinced that nature is not to be fully enjoyed without

religion. Nature is but the handmaid to devotion; and, where piety is unknown, her offices are but little understood. Men may pursue nature scientifically, to feed their curiosity; and pant for splendid discoveries, as the path to fame; but no one, I believe, ever had a true and exalted relish for her enjoyments, but the child of devotion.

"In my own case," Douglas continued, "I remember I always had a partiality for nature. When but a child, the garden was my favorite resort, and the spade and rake my favorite playthings. When a schoolboy, I frequently stole from the noisy playground, to ramble solitarily over the vales and woods of Hornsey and Highgate, admiring all I saw.

"But it was not till I became the subject of religious influence, that I saw nature as she should be seen, and enjoyed her as she is to be enjoyed. It was when I could recognise a present God in all her works; when I saw his wisdom composing the harmonies of nature-his finger directing the movements of nature--and his bene

volence making all those movements beneficial to man;-when I saw the sun filled with his glory-the moon walking in his brightness-the lily clothed with his beauty-the waters held in his hand, and every living thing animated by his life;when, in a word, I could look round on the whole heavens and earth, and, adopting the divine sentiment of your favorite poet, say, 'My Father made them all!'-then it was, that nature first appeared to me most interesting, most sublime! All that was filial and tender-all that was exalted and religious, struggled within me. I felt that religion had united me to the Author of all things; and I surveyed the beauties of nature as a son surveys a paternal inheritance; frequently ascending, from the wonders of creation, to the more sublime wonders of our Redemption."

"Hence it is," said Lefevre, willing to prolong his friend's remarks, on a theme so delightful to them, "that those writers have generally been most successful in interesting and elevated descriptions of nature, who have been most imbued with the spirit of religion."

"As far as I can judge," resumed Douglas, "I think, talent being equal, we may say this has always been the case; and from a most obvious reason. We shall always succeed in painting, in proportion as we fully conceive, and enthusiastically admire an object; and the works of nature are not to be properly understood, or admired, but by the devout mind. Hence also it is, that the sacred writers are superior to all others. The finest judges allow, that there is nothing to be compared with some parts of the writings of Moses, of David, of Nahum, and of Isaiah; and it is purely the sublime spirit of devotion, that raises them so far above all other writers, and frequently above themselves. They find God present every where. It is of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. The universe is his temple; the everlasting hills are his altars; and all animate and inaminate beings are his worshippers. Oh, my dear friend, no object can be great without religion!-no character can rise to sublimity without devotion! This scene," continued he, inclining his