abundance upon them. The barren and dry soil Thou waterest with gent'e rains. The cold and wet places Thou warmest with the rays of the sun. The weather and the seasons Thou orderest wisely, and in the inanner most beneficial to mankind; and, in the midst of all the vicissitudes of heat and cold, rain and drought,we still behold the food destined for us spring up, grow, and ripen, through thy goodness. Thou coverest our fields with rich harvests, and the wings of the wind support the waving corn. Thou adornest the tops of barren rocks with grapes. Thou dressest our pasture with clover; and, by thy command, the fountains and rivulets refresh the thirsty animals. Thou causest the tree to take root, and it prospers. Thou. causest a quickening sap to circulate through its trunk, and givest it force to branch out with leaves and blossoms, while the abundance of fruit, under which the boughs bend, proves the pleasure Thou hast in doing good. O! let us therefore glorify our Creator, our great Benefactor! Let us bless his holy name! Let us praise his mercies with transport! Great is the Lord our God! All his works are holy and wonderful! Let us exalt his almighty name! The Lord is good! It is meet that the righteous should publish his praise for ever and ever. JUNE XX. Caterpillars. THOUGH these insects are so disagreeable to the lovers of gardens, and so disgusting to over-delicate people, they nevertheless deserve our attention. Caterpillars generally live upon our trees, and we have such an aversion to them, that wherever we meet with them we destroy them. This is the reason we do not deign to honour them with a look, and still less to examine them attentively. And yet there is no doubt but these insects may very agreeably amuse an attentive observer of nature. Let us here try to prove it. Perhaps, by raising the curiosity of those who have hitherto neglected them, they may be induced not to trample them under foot, without at least first observing their wonderful formation, and taking from thence occasion to look up to the Creator. The number of species of caterpillars already known amounts to more than three hundred, and there are new ones daily discovering. Their shape, their colour, their form, their inclinations, and way of life, all differ in some respects; but this circumstance they have in common, that they are composed of rings, which, by moving to and fro, carry the body wherever they want to go. Nature has given them two sorts of feet, which have each their particular use. The six fore-feet are sorts of hooks, which they make use of in taking a fast hold and clinging to any thing. The soles of the hinder-feet are broad, and armed with little sharp nails. With the hooks they draw to them the leaves, the grass, and whatever they want for food, and they fix the fore part of their body with them while they are drawing up the hind rings. The hinder feet serve to keep them firm, and to hold by whatever they are to rest upon. When they are on a branch or a leaf, they can seize on food at some distance; for, by hooking themselves on with the hind-feet they stand up, and raise the fore part of their body, move it about and poise it in the air on every side, get considerably upon the leaf, reach their food. and take it with their claws. However adapted the body of the caterpillar is to its several wants, it is remarkable that its state is but transient, that the limbs last but a certain time, and that this creeping worm becomes a chrysalis, without feet or motion, till it is metamorphosed into a creature classing with the inhabitants of the air. Were it for this reason only, the caterpillars would be worth our attention. Towards the end of summer, and often sooner, after having satiated themselves with verdure, and after having changed their coat several times, they cease to eat, and begin to build a house, in order to end their life in it, with the caterpillar state, and to be afterwards transformed into butterflies. The chrysalis is full of a sort of thick milk,which serves for food to the butterfly till it comes out. When it is entirely formed, and its parts arrive at consistency, and that a gentle warmth invites it to quit its prison, it makes itself a passage through the end of the chrysalis that is largest, and at the same time the thinnest. The head (which has always been turned towards that end) disengages itself,the horns lengthen, the feet and wings spread out, the butterfly takes wing and flies away. It preserves none of its former state. The caterpillar which changed into the chrysalis, and the butterfly that comes out of it, are two animals totally different. The former was rough, hairy, and often hideous; the other is adorned with the liveliest colours.-The former limited itself to a gross food; the lat ter goes from flower to flower, and freely enjoys all nature, of which it is itself the ornament. Will not this description reconcile every one to these insects, and put an end to all aversion to them?→ Perhaps some may still think they have a right to ask, To what purpose, after all, are these caterpillars? Would it not be better to be entirely free from them? Not on the contrary, it is certain, that the world would not be as perfect as it is, if there were no caterpillars in it. Take away these insects, and you deprive the birds of a considerable part of their subsistence. As the birds were to feed on caterpillars, it was just that the Creator should ordain for their food the leaves and plants, to which they have as good a right as us. It is true that the voracity of these animals makes them sometimes troublesome to mankind; but this is an evil which the Creator permits with much wisdom. For the mischief the caterpillars sometimes do us may serve to humble us, and make us recollect the uncertainty of all our earthly possessions. And, even supposing we could not penetrate into God's reasons for forming such creatures, we should not therefore have a right to deny their utility. We ought, on the contrary, to take occasion from thence to acknowledge our ignorance, and trust in the wisdom of God. TIIIS day summer begins. Many of us have often seen the changes occasioned by this day throughout all nature: but is it known how it happens that the sun remains so long afterwards above the horizon: why this is the longest day of the year: and why, in reckoning from this to the end of autumn, we perceive the heat and length of the days diminish in equal proportion? All these changes are owing to the annual course of our globe round the sun. When that body enters into the sign of Cancer,the earth is so situated,that all its northern side is turned towards the sun, because the Creator has inclined the axis of our globe towards the north, and that it preserves that direction invariably. On this direction, and on the constant paraJellisin of the axis, depends, properly speaking, the changes of the four seasons of the year. Let us here reflect a moment on the goodness and wisdom of God, in thus inclining the axis of the earth. If it had been in a perpendicular direction, our globe would have been a very melancholy habitation, either for plants or animals. Neither growth nor diminution of days could take place, nor the several changes of the seasons. How much to be pitied should we be who live in Germany, and consequently near the north! The air we should breathe would be always as sharp as in March or September, and our soil would afford nothing but a little moss and grass. In a word, the greatest part of the two hemispheres would be but a frightful desert, inhabited only by a few insects. In our climate, nature has at this time almost ended her annual work. She has already lost some of her variety. Nothing can be more green than the vines, the orchards, and the forests; but the shades of colour are not so pleasing as they were. The meadows begin to whiten, and their flowers are mowed down. The corn insensibly grows yellow, and the number of flowers diminish. The variety and brightness of them, the various notes of numberless birds, had before all charms of novelty, and afforded us the most pleasing sensations; but now, the nearer we approach to autumn, the more these enjoyments diminish. The nightingale is si lent, and the great heat makes it inconvenient to walk. Do we not here see an emblem of life?Are not the pleasures we enjoy equally transient? Even the most innocent of them, such as nature in the beauty of spring presents to us, are liable to change, and give place to other objects. What we at present observe in the summer of nature we may observe in the summer of life. When we have attained our fortieth year, which is the beginning of a riper age, the world loses part of its charms, such as delighted us in our youth; and, when we approach the autumn of life, we become a prey to cares, less calm, less serene, less lively and joyous than we were. We observe that our strength of body insensibly wears away with age. In fine, there come days when we say, "I no longer take pleasure in them." But with what a lively sense of joy do I, at this moment, raise my |