ADVERTISEMENT.

IT has long been the opinion of the editor of this volume, that the noblest employment of ⚫ the mind of man is the contemplating the works of his Creator; these living testimonies of the being and attributes of God have also ever appeared to him infinitely superior to the best arguments that the understanding of man has been able to advance.

To lead, especially, the youthful mind, to this happy turn of observation, has been his object in the arrangement of these pages; and he trusts that the familiar and comprehensive delineations of Nature, which he has endeavoured to give, will be found not only calculated for the improvement and extension of knowledge, but shew to the reader, that in every object in nature there are, ample traces of the wisdom, power, and bounty of the Creator, and convince him, that even the vilest weed and the meanest insect offer incontestible. evidences of their Maker.