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    playful gambols of the young fawn sporting id } y on the greensward ,

    —the little squirrel leaping wantonly , through the foliage of a tree , from bough to bough , —the bird describing a thousand gyrations in the sunny air , or singing cheerfully in the forest shade ^ —are all objects of attention which gratify , while they excite the interest of every benevolent mind . And this is as it should be , for the

    consciousness of pleasure and the sensibility to pain are integral elements of vitality ; wherefore the humblest being in the scale of organization ought not to be passed over with callous indifference : it would , indeed , be more in accordance with the principles of the highest philosophy to believe with Wordsworth , that c Every flower which lives Enjoys the air it breathes . '

    Hereby practical sensibility would be perpetually inculcated , and certainly many a more idle theory has tampered with the credulity of mankind .

    Viewing in this extended sense the whole creation , inanimate and animate , an infinitude of harmonies and mysteries are recognised which it is difficult adequately to appreciate ; in endeavouring to analyze them , indeed , the human intellect recoils upon the sense of its own restricted faculties , fully conscious that a finite being cannot comprehend that which is infinite , or trace the mystic relations between cause and effect , which seem in truth to

    distance and divide the Creator from the created . Well , therefore , and without any affectation of humility , may we be solicitous of ascertaining whether there be any means of so advancing the powers of the human intellect , that it may become more intimately conversant with nature ; for , by patient investigation , aided by the toils of science , the boundaries of human knowledge

    have been , and it is reasonable to believe will l ) c yet extended , prejudice after prejudice annihilated , mystery after mystery dissipated , until the Promethean prophecy itself becomes accomplished : 4 Heaven hast thou secrets ? Man unveils me ( the eartli ;) I have none / And this is the true end of all Revelation ; that man shall

    take advantage of the means allotted to him for ameliorating his moral and intellectual condition until he ultimately is enabled to comprehend those secrets which heaven , during the probation of his ignorance , has shrouded from his sight . We would not , however , pay homage to science in the vain belief that the mere facts she reveals constitute in themselves the instar omnium of

    human wisdom ; they should , on the contrary , be received only as the means whereby we may attain a certain end : they should , in other words , he esteemed as valuable only in proportion as they may enable us to understand more clearly , and sympathize more fervently , with all we observe in nature . This alone is their practical application . Away , then , with the jargon of scientific school-

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    270 Tht Study of Birds .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1835, page 270, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2644/page/46/