foundation for a holy affiance, and true magnanimity of spirit; to afford piety the strongest motives, both for a lively gratitude, and profound veneration.

While Galileo lifts his tube, and discovers the prodigious magnitude of these radiant orbs;- -while Newton measures their amazing distances, and unites the whole system in harmonious order, by the subtle influences of attraction;

I would only, like the herald before that illustrious Hebrew,* proclaim, at every turn, "Bow the knee, and adore the Almighty Maker; magnify his eternal name, and make his praise, like all his works, to be glorious."

• Gen. xli. 43.

CONTEMPLATIONS

ON THE

NIGHT.

THE business of the day dispatched, and the sultry heats abated, invited me to the recreation of a walk; a walk in one of the finest recesses of the country, and in one of the most pleasant evenings which the summer season produced.

The limes and elms, uniting their branches over my head, formed a verdant canopy, and cast a most refreshing shade. Under my feet lay a carpet of nature's velvet; grass intermingled with moss, and embroidered with flowers. Jessamines, in conjunction with woodbines, twined around the trees, displaying their artless beauties to the eye, and diffusing their delicious sweets through the air. On either side, the boughs, rounded into a set of regular arches, opened a view into the distant fields, and presented me with a prospect of the bending skies. The little birds, all joyous and grateful for the favors of the light, were paying their acknowledgments in a tribute of harmony, and soothing themselves to rest with songs; while a French horn, from a neighbouring seat, sent its melodious accents, softened by the length of their passage, to complete the concert of the grove.

Roving in this agreeable manner, my thoughts were exercised on a subject still more agreeable than the season, or I mean, our late signal victory over the united forces of intestine treason, and foreign invasion, a victory

the scene.

which pours joy through the present age, and will transmit its influence to generations yet unborn.- -Are not all the blessings, which can endear society, or render life itself desirable, centred in our present happy constitution, and auspicious government? Were they not all struck at, by that impious and horrid blow, meditated at Rome, levelled by France, and seconded by factious spirits at home? Who then can be sufficiently thankful for the gracious interposition of Providence, which has not only averted the impending ruin, but turned it, with aggravated confusion, on the authors of our troubles.

Methinks, every thing valuable, which I possess; every thing charming, which I behold; conspire to enhance this ever-memorable event. To this is owing that I can ramble unmolested along the vale of private life, and taste all the innocent satisfactions of contemplative retirement.Had rebellion succeeded in her detestable designs;* instead of walking with security and complacence in these flowery paths, I might have met the assassin with his dagger; or, have been obliged to abandon my habitation, and embrace the rock for a shelter."Farewell, then, ye fragrant shades; seats of meditation, and calm repose! I should have been driven from your loved retreats, to make way for some barbarous, some insulting victor.Farewell, then, ye pleasing toils, and wholesome amusements of my rural_hours! I should no more have reared the tender flower to the sun; no more have taught the espalier to expand her boughs; nor have fetched any longer from my kitchen-garden, the purest supplies of health.

Had rebellion succeeded in her detestable designs, instead of being regaled with the music of the woods, I might have been alarmed with the sound of the trumpet, and all the thunder of war. Instead of being entertained with this beautiful landscape, I might have beheld our houses ransacked, and our villages plundered: I might have beheld our fenced cities encompassed with armies, and our fruitful fields "clothed with desolation," or have been shocked with the

Referring to the rebellion, set on foot in the year 1745which, for several months, made a very alarming progress in the North ;- -but was happily extinguished by the glorious and decisive victory at Culloden.

more frightful images of "garments rolled in blood," and of a ruffian's blade reeking from a brother's heart. Instead of peace, with her cheering olives sheltering our abodes; instead of justice, with her impartial scale, securing our goods; persecution had brandished her sword, and slavery clanked her chains.

Nor are these miseries imaginary only, or the creatures of a groundless panic. There are, in a neighbouring kingdom, who very lately experienced them in all their rigour. And, if the malignant spirit of Popery had forced itself into our church: if an abjured pretender had cut his way to our throne; we could have no reason to expect a mitigation of their severity, on our behalf.. But, supposing the tender mercies of a bigotted usurper to have been somewhat less cruel; where, alas! would have been the encouragement to cultivate our little portion: or what pleasure could arise from an improved spot: if both the one and the other lay, every moment, at the mercy of lawless power? This imbittering circumstance would spoil their relish; and by rendering them a precarious, would render them a joyless acquisition.In vain might the vine spread her purple clusters, in vain be lavish of her generous juices; if tyranny, like a ravenous harpy, should be always hovering over the bowl, and ready to snatch it from the lip of industry, or wrest it from the hand of liberty.

Liberty, that dearest of names, and property, that best of charters, give an additional, an inexpressible charm; to every delightful object.See how the declining sun has beautified the western clouds; has arrayed them in crimson, and skirted them with gold. Such a refinement of our domestic bliss is property; such an improvement of our public privileges is liberty.When the lamp of day shall entirely withdraw his beams, there will still remain the same collection of floating vapours; but, O! how changed, how gloomy! The carnation streaks are faded; the golden edges are worn away; and all the lovely tinges are lost, in a leaden-coloured

* See a pamphlet, entitled, Popery always the same ;-which contains a narrative of the persecutions, and severe hardships, lately suffered by the protestants in the southern parts of France; and closes with a most seasonable, alarming, and spirited address to the inhabitants of Great Britain. Printed 1746.

T

louring sadness. Such would be the aspect of all these scENTES of beauty, and all these abodes of pleasure, if exposed continually to the caprice of arbitrary sway, or held in a state of abject and cringing dependence.

The sun has almost finished his daily race, and hastens to the gaol. He descends lower and lower, till his chariot wheels seem to hover on the utmost verge of the sky. What is somewhat remarkable, the orb of light, upon the point of setting, grows considerably broader. The shadows of objects, just before they become blended in undistinguishable darkness, are exceedingly lengthened.Like Blessings, little prized, while possessed; but highly esteemed, the very instant they are preparing for their flight; bitterly regretted when once they are gone, and to be seen no more.

The radiant globe is now half immersed beneath the dusky earth, or as the ancient poet speaks, is shooting into the ocean, and sinks in the western sea.- -And could I view the sea at this juncture, it would yield a most amusing and curious spectacle. The rays striking horizontally on the liquid element, give it the appearance of floating glass; or reflected in many a different direction, form a beautiful multiplicity of colours. A stranger, as he walks along the sandy beach, and lost in pensive attention, listens to the murmurings of the restless flood, is agreeably alarmed by the gay decorations of the surface. With entertainment and with wonder, he sees the curling waves, here glittering with white, there glowing with purple; in one place wearing an azure tincture, in another, glancing a cast of undulating green; in the whole, exhibiting a piece of fluid scenery, that may vie with yonder pensile tapestries, though wrought in the loom, and tinged with the dyes of heaven.

While I am transported by fancy to the shore of the ocean, the great luminary is sunk beneath the horizon, and totally disappears. The whole face of the ground is overspread with shades; or, with what one of the finest painters of nature calls, a dun obscurity. Only a few very superior eminences are tipt with streaming silver. The tops of groves and lofty towers, catch the last smiles of day;t are still

Majoresque cadunt altis de montibus umbra. VIRG. See this remarkable appearance delicately described, and wrought into a comparison, which, in my opinion, is one of the