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nay, even later, we may trace the beauties of the declining year, and

Catch the last smile

Of autumn beaming o'er the yellow woods.

Even when the beauty of the landscape is gone, the charms of autumn may remain. After the rage of summer is abated, and before the rigours of winter are yet set in, there are often days of such heavenly temperature, that every mind must feel their effect. Thomson, to whom the beauties of nature were familiar, thus describes a day of this kind:

The morning shines,

Serene in all its dewy beauties bright,

Unfolding fair the last autumnal day.

O'er all the soul its sacred influence breathes,
Inflames imagination, through the breast

Infuses every tenderness, and far

Beyond dim earth exalts the swelling thought.

To the picturesque beauties of autumn we may add, that the setting sun, at that season, is commonly richer than when the days are of the same length in the spring, or, indeed, at any other season."

No. LXII.

ON THE CHAIN OF BEINGS IN THE
UNIVERSE.

Look round our world; behold the chain of love
Combining all below and all above,

But how preserved

The chain unbroken upward, to the realms
Of incorporeal life-those realms of bliss
Where Death hath no dominion?

POPE.

YOUNG.

ALL the beings in this world, whether animal or vegetable, have a mutual connexion and dependence. There is a graduated scale or chain of existence, not a link of which, how insignificant soever, could be broken, without affecting the whole. Unthinking men are apt to wonder, for instance, at the design of Providence in producing certain insects and reptiles. They do not consider, that the annihilation of any one species of these creatures, although some of them are even noxious to man, would make a blank in the creation, and prove destructive to other crea tures that feed upon them. The destruction of these, in their turn, would occasion the destruction of other species; and the system of devastation would gradually proceed, till man himself were extirpated, and the earth left destitute of animation.

He, who through vast immensity can pierce,
See worlds on worlds compose one universe,
Observe how system into system runs,
What other planets circle other suns,
What varied being peoples every star,
May tell why Heav'n has made us as we are.
But of this frame the bearings and the ties,
The strong connexions, nice dependencies,

Gradations just, has thy pervading soul
Looked through? Or can a part contain the whole?

POPE.

Man is certainly the chief link in the chain of animals; and all the other links descend from him by almost imperceptible gradations. As a rational animal, highly improved by science and the arts; and, more particularly, from the capacity of religious knowledge, which, of all the creatures of this world, he alone possesses; he is, in some measure, related to Beings of a superior order, wherever they exist. By contemplating the works of creation, he rises to some faint idea of its great. Author.-But why, it has been asked, do not men possess the capacity and powers of angels? With the same propriety, it may be asked, why have not brutes the intellectual faculties of men? Questions of this kind proceed from the petulance of ignorance and presumption. Every creature is perfect, according to its destination. Exalt or depress any order of beings, the whole system, of course, would be deranged, and a new world would be necessary to contain and support them. Particular orders of beings should not be considered separately, but by the rank they hold in the general system. From man to the most minute animalcule that can be discovered by the microscope, the chasm seems to be infinite: but that chasm is actually filled up with sentient beings, of which the lines of discrimination are almost imperceptible; and all of them are endued with certain degrees of perfection proportioned to their respective stations in the universe.

See, through this air, this ocean, and this earth,
All matter quick, and bursting into birth.
Above, how high progressive life may go !
Around, how wide! how deep extend below!
Vast chain of being! which from God began,
Natures ethereal, human, angel, man,

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Beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see,
No glass can reach; from Infinite to thee,
From thee to nothing.

POPE.

Even among mankind, which is a particular species, the scale of intellect is very extensive; the degrees of intelligence extremely varied. What a difference, for instance, between the enlightened philosopher of Europe, and the brutal savage of New Holland! Still, however, Nature observes, for the wisest purposes, an uniform plan of gradation. Were all men philosophers, the business of life could not be executed, and neither society, nor even the species, could long exist. Industry, various degrees of knowledge, different dispositions, and different talents, are great bonds of society. Nature, indeed, has formed the human species, as it were, into casts or ranks. To some she gives superior genius and mental abilities; and, even of these, the views, the pursuits, and the tastes, are wonderfully diversified,

Not alike to every mortal eye

Is this great scene unveiled: For while the claims
Of social life to different labours urge

The active powers of man, with wisest care
Hath Nature on the multitude of minds
Impressed a various bias; and to each
Decreed its province in the common toil.
To some she taught the fabric of the sphere,
The changeful moon, the circuit of the stars,
The golden zones of heaven. To some she gave
To search the story of eternal thought;
Of space, and time; of fate's unbroken chain,
And will's quick movement. Others by the hand
She led o'er vales and mountains, to explore
What healing virtue dwells in every vein
Of herbs or trees. But some to nobler hopes
Were destined: some within a finer mould
She wrought, and tempered with a purer flame.
To these the Sire Omnipotent unfolds,
In fuller aspects and with fairer lights,

This picture of the world. Through every part
They trace the lofty sketches of his hand:
In earth, or air, the meadow's flowery store,
The moon's mild radiance, or the virgin's mien
Dressed in attractive smiles, they see pourtrayed
(As far as mortal eyes the portrait scan)
Those lineaments of beauty which delight
The Mind Supreme. They also feel their force,
Enamoured they partake the eternal joy.

AKENSIDE.

In the talents and qualities of quadrupeds of the same species, there are often remarkable differences. These differences are conspicuous in the various races of horses, dogs, &c. Even among the same races, some are bold, sprightly, and sagacious: others are comparatively timid, phlegmatic, and dull.

Our knowledge of the chain of intellectual and corporeal beings is very imperfect; but what we do know affords the most exalted ideas of the variety and progression which reign in the universe. An impenetrable cloud prevents our discerning the most beautiful and magnificent parts of this immense chain of beings. I shall endeavour, however, to point out a few of its more obvious links, which fall under our limited observation.

Man, even by his external qualities, stands at the head of this world. His relations are more extensive than those of any other animal: his form is more advantageous. His intellectual powers, when improved by society, science, and religion, exalt him so high, that, if no degrees of excellence existed among his own species, he would leave a great void in the chain of beings. Were we to consider the characters, the manners, and the genius of different nations, of different provinces and towns, and even of the members of the same family, we should imagine that the species of men were as various as the numbers of individuals. What gradations, as I have already observed, may be traced between the stupid savage

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