croscope: the "Microscope discovers to us the insatiable variety of nature, as Cicero called it." But no; I perceive that the exuberance of youthful merriment has not yet subsided: that, like butterflies unfurling the wing, sporting round and round, and chasing their companions in airy circles, so am I enclosed in your jocund evolutions. Let all then join the gay throng in an exertion, which usually subdues the most agile: we fix some mark on a bush behind the steep slope; while, marshalled in a row, the youngest first—they wait full of impatient eagerness the signal-one, two, three, and away!-happy the Atalanta, who gains the prize. The race you have just run suggests to my mind, that human life may be compared to it: as on the side of a gently sloping hill, different ages place us successively at different stages; first on the ascent, next on the summit, and lastly on the descent. For you, my beloved, who are just starting as candidates for happiness, not for fame, flowers are scattered in the path for me, who am placed on the summit, and making a progressive step downwards, you are the fruits I have cultivated. The contemplation of nature will mature, the soundest aliment of the mind for young and old :Now attend to the murmuring sound of this carnation; it proceeds from insects which inhabit there; and although these musicians be invisible to the eye, our glasses will discover troops of them, sporting among narrow pedestals that support the leaves. Observe the flower magnified; the base of the carnation extends itself under the force of the microscope, to a vast plain. The slender stems of the leaves become like trunks of so many stately cedars. The threads in the middle, columns of massy structure; and the narrow spaces between are enlarged into walks, parterres, and terraces. The winged inhabitants single out their favourite companions, serenading them with the music of their buzzing wings and little songs: leading them from walk to walk among the perfumed shades, and pointing out to their taste the drops of liquid nectar. Another very striking phenomenon to be viewed through our smaller magnifier, will agreeably occupy some other leisure hour. It has recently been suggested by an ingenious Lady, that the embryos of the seeds of plants and trees are formed in the root alone.* No other preparation is necessary in order to view this process, than merely cutting off a small piece of the outward rind of any tree; then cutting an extremely thin slice adjoining the several cuticles; which if it be the proper time, will be so soft as to be cut with the utmost ease. In this specimen, with * Mrs. Ibbotson. the naked eye, if held up to the light, but certainly with a small magnifier, the seeds will be seen mounting the tree. We are now well assured that the bulbous roots form the flower in the root, and take in their seeds in the same place. "If one set of plants can receive their seeds there, why should not all? It requires but dividing a hyacinth a month before blowing, and all its seeds may be seen mounting to the top of the root, to enter the flower; but it must be before the bud is quite complete." } Adieu! you go to other scenes. While seeking the charms of nature elsewhere, still let a mother's soft voice be heard: Oh, listen to my song, And I will guide thee to her favourite walks, And point her loveliest features to thy view. |