smell, taste, quality, and duration; and each climate enjoys such wines as are best adapted to the nature and constitution of its inhabitants. But it is very lamentable to see how much this blessing is abused. Some legislators have interdicted its use, not from motives of improving the health and the morals of the people, but from false principles of economy, or absurd notions of fanaticism. To one or other of these causes must be attributed the prohibition of wine to his followers by Mahomet.

The adulteration of wine so generally practised, particularly when effected by such noxious ingredients as lime, white lead, litharge, &c. &c. is highly prejudicial, and often fatal in its consequences. What can be more cruel and horrible than, for the sake of emolument, to convert what it has pleased Providence, in his infinite mercy and condescension, to bestow upon us for our comfort and support, into an unwholesome and poisonous drink? Surely, hardened as is the heart of man, he might feel some remorse, some compunction, in thus destroying and counteracting the efficacy of one of the richest gifts of nature. A poor unfortunate wretch, diseased and distressed, applies to wine as to a choice remedy which will relieve his misery and solace his affliction out of the small pittance earned by his daily labour he purchases a little portion, and hugs himself in the fond hope that his strength will now be recruited, and his pains mitigated; but the avarice of man has tainted the source, and poisoned the spring; the streams are no longer salubrious, and, instead of life-invigorating juice, a slow poison circulates through all his veins.

Wine, when pure and unadulterated, is a most valuable medicine, restores the vigour of the constitution, and imports energy to the system; but the too frequent and liberal use of it is as hurtful as in moderation it is beneficial.

OCTOBER XIII.

Migration of Birds.

ABOUT this time of the year, many of the birds, which during the summer frequented our fields, woods, and gardens, leave our climate, and migrate into other countries. Very

few pass the winter with us: the principal species of those which remain are the yellow-hammer, the woodpecker, the crow, the raven, the sparrow, the wren, the partridge, thrush, and blackbird. Most of the rest leave us entirely, or conceal themselves in secure retreats. Their migration is very wonderful, and highly interesting.

Some species, without ever taking a high flight, or parting in company, steer towards the south, in quest of the seeds and fruits which they prefer, and soon return. Others, which are called birds of passage, collect together at certain seasons, and fly in large flocks to other climates. Some species are satisfied with passing from one country to another, attracted at certain times by the air and food; others cross the seas, and undertake astonishingly long voyages. The birds of passage most known are the quail, the swallow, the wild-duck, the plover, the snipe, and the crane. The quails, in spring, leave the heat of Africa for the milder temperature of Europe: they fly in flocks like clouds, and often through weariness fall into ships, where they are readily taken. Swallows pursue a different method: many of them cross the sea, and many remain in Europe, concealing themselves in holes of the earth, or in marshes, fastening themselves together, claw against claw, and bill against bill. They pile themselves in heaps, in places which are unfrequented by men and beasts. Wildducks and cranes also, at the approach of winter, go to seek milder climates: they assemble together on a certain day, and leave the country in a flock, which is generally arranged in two lines united in a point, like two sides of a triangle; a single bird leading forms the point, and the rest follow in two lines more or less extended. The duck or crane which thus takes the lead cuts the air, and facilitates the passage of those which follow, whose beaks rest on the tails of those that precede. The leader holds his commission only a certain time, and wheels from the point to the rear, and whilst he rests is replaced by another. All birds of passage, however, do not fly in flocks; some of them travel quite alone, or only in company with their females and family; o.hers unite in small bodies. They are not long in their passages it is calculated that they can fly two hundred miles in six hours each day, provided that they repose the rest of the time, and during the night. Ac

cording to this calculation, they can pass from our climate to the equinoctial line in seven or eight days; and this is confirmed, since swallows have been seen on the coasts of Senegal eight or nine days after their departure from Europe.

These migrations cannot be too much admired: no doubt the alternation of heat and cold, and want of nourishment, warn them to change their abode. But how is it, that when the temperature of the air is mild, and they can obtain food enough, they still go at the appointed time? How do they know that they will find nourishment and a due degree of heat in other countries? Why do they all migrate at the same time, as if they had before unanimously determined upon the precise day of their departure? And how, in the obscurity of night, and without knowing the country or the climate, do they pursue their course with uninterrupted perseverance? These, and many more questions of like nature, which may be asked upon this interesting subject, are perplexing, and cannot be explained in a satisfactory manner, because we do not know enough of the nature and instinct of these animals. We may, however, acknowledge in these migrations the wise and beneficent directions of Providence. What means does not he employ to preserve and nourish certain species of birds? How tenderly and carefully he supplies their wants, when their food fails in some countries! Let us learn from this, that every thing in the vast empire of nature is arranged with the utmost wisdom. Instinct is to birds what reason is to man, and dictates to them all that is necessary for their preservation and support. How unfounded, then, is that uncertainty and distrust which makes us doubt the cares of Providence! The very flights of the birds should instruct us in our duty. Why do we so often abandon ourselves to discouragement, doubts, and fears? Will not that God who directs the birds in their distant voyages over the seas, also have as much love and regard for the beings whom he has vouchsafed, in his mercy, to endow with the noblest faculties and pre-eminence? And shall not man, appointed by the immediate word of God, sovereign of the creation, experience the tender cares and parental affection of his Creator? I will walk on my way with confidence; God is my leader, and I will not turn aside into crooked paths. He wills my hap

piness, and I cannot be miserable when conducted by so kind a Father."

OCTOBER XIV.

Variety of Trees.

THE great diversity which is seen in all the productions of the vegetable kingdom may also be observed amongst trees. Some, as the oak, are remarkable for their strength and du. ration; others, as the elm and fir, are tall and slender; and others, as the thorn and box-tree, never attain any great height. Some are knotty, with a rough bark; while others are smooth and fine, as the maple, the poplar, and the birch. Some are used to adorn the apartments of the rich, whilst others are employed in common and necessary purposes. Some are so delicate, that the least wind overturns them; and others unmoved resist the violence of the northern blast. Some of them grow to an extraordinary height and thickness, and each year, for more than a century, has contributed to their size; others acquire their full growth in a very few years. Pliny admired those great trees out of whose bark they constructed boats capable of containing thirty people; what, then, would he have said of those trees of Congo, which, when hollowed, form boats which will hold two hundred persons? or of those trees which, according to the accounts of travellers, are eleven feet in diameter, and upon which they can carry from 40 to 50,000lbs. weight? There is one of this kind in Malabar, which is said to be fifty feet in circumference. Such is the cocoatree: it is a species of palm, and the leaves of some of them are so large that they will cover twenty people. The tallipot, a tree which grows in the island of Ceylon, and in height resembles the mast of a ship, is also remarkable for its leaves, which are so large, that it is said one of them alone will shelter twenty men from the rain: they are so pliant when dry, that they may be folded up like fans, in which state they are extremely light, and not thicker than a man's arm. There are still to be seen on mount Lebanon twentythree ancient cedars, which are said to be ante-diluvian. A naturalist who has seen them asserts, that ten men could not embrace one of those cedars; they must consequently

be from thirty to thirty-six feet in circumference. The gum-trees in the American islands are generally twenty-six feet in circumference; from which we may conjecture, that the cedars of Lebanon are not so old as is reported, though it is well known that many trees attain a very great age. There are apple-trees a thousand years old.

This great diversity of trees may remind us of the varieties which we find amongst men, as to their occupations in life, their talents, modes of thinking, and the services they perform. As there is no well-formed tree in the forest that is not of some use to its owner, so there is no person in society who may not be useful in the profession which he follows. One man resembles the oak in his firmness and unbending constancy; another compensates this want of strength by complaisance and address; he is all things to all men, flexible as the willow, bowing to every breath. The man of integrity will only comply with what is just and innocent; but he who regards with indifference laws human and divine, will always coincide with that party which is the strongest, without troubling himself which side is in the right.

However different trees are from each other, they all belong to the Governor of the universe, are nourished by the same earth, refreshed by the rains, and cheered by the same sun. Would to heaven that all men, whatever diversity there is among them, would unite to acknowledge that they are all alike the creatures of God, equally the subjects of his power, and the objects of his parental solicitude; that they owe to him all their nourishment and preservation, and to him are indebted for those faculties which distinguish them above all the creatures of the earth. The cedar rising majestically upon mount Lebanon, and the bramble creeping at its feet, are alike nourished by the juices of the earth and the rains of heaven. The Divine protection is also as necessary to the rich as to the poor. Men, in the most elevated and exalted ranks of society, ought always to remember that it is to God they owe all their grandeur, that they only enjoy it through his permission, and that one moment may see them overturned from their lofty seats, and mingling with their native dust. Such thoughts as these would tend to repress those emotions of pride which are too apt to possess their hearts, and would