dormant principle of action, which required continually some fresh subject to exercise its power-some new and untried space to perambulate and to pass through; it was an ever-working and operating faculty, an ever-moving and resisting principle, which it was impossible to tire or tame. There was nothing like rest or slumber about it: it could not stagnate; it could not stop; it was impossible to weaken its energies, or to contract their operation. No matter was too tough for its force, no metal too unmalleable for its strokes. The mind of Johnson, on the contrary, was utterly devoid of all that intellectual activity and elasticity which Warburton possessed. With more of positive force when called into action, it had not the same principle of motion, the same sleepless inquietude and feverish excitement. It lay there like the leviathan, reposing amidst the depths of the ocean, till necessity drove it out to display the magnitude of his strength. Solidity and condensation were the qualities of the one; continued vigour and pliability the characteristics of the other. In Warburton there was a boundless fertility of vigour, which ripened up into all the rankness of rich luxuriance. In Johnson the harvest of intellect was not so spontaneous, nor perhaps its fertility so great; but when once raised, it never required the hand of the weeder, but rose unmixed with tares. The genius of the one, like a cascade, threw up its water into the air, which glistened in the sun, and shone with the variety of ten thousand hues and colourings; while the talents of the other never exerted themselves, without joining at the same time utility with splendour. 1. Who was Dr. Warburton; and when did he die? 2. In what respect were Bishop Warburton and Dr. Johnson the two greatest men of the last century in our national literature ? 3. What was the distinguishing faculty in Warburton ? 5. What is said of the intellect of Johnson ? Reflections of Alexander Selkirk, during his solitary Abode on the Island of Juan Fernandez. I AM monarch of all I survey, My right there is none to dispute; REFLECTIONS OF ALEXANDER SELKIRK. O Solitude! where are the charms That Sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms Than reign in this horrible place. I am out of humanity's reach, I must finish my journey alone! The beasts that roam over the plain But the sound of the church-going bell Or smiled when a Sabbath appear'd. Ye winds, that have made me your sport, Some cordial endearing report Of a land I shall visit no more! My friends, do they now and then send How fleet is a glance of the mind! And the swift-winged arrows of light. 229 When I think of my own native land, Soon hurries me back to despair. But the sea-fowl is gone to her nest, There's mercy in every place; And reconciles man to his lot. LESSON CLX.-JUNE THE NINTH. Of Rivers. ALL rivers have their source either in mountains or elevated lakes, and it is in their descent from these that they acquire that velocity which maintains their future current. At first the course of a river is generally rapid, but it is retarded in its journey by the continual friction against the banks, by the many obstacles it meets with to divert its stream, and by the surface of the earth generally becoming more level as it approaches towards the sea. Rivers have everywhere been the objects of love and adoration. A sect of the ancient Persians reverenced them so highly that they deemed it sacrilege to pollute them. For countless ages the dwellers by the Ganges have looked upon it as a god, and have deemed it the summit of human felicity to be permitted to expire upon its banks. The Egyptian still esteems the Nile above all earthly blessings; and the Abyssinian worships it as a divinity. Superstition has peopled these and a thousand other streams with a variety of beings, or personified them in human shapes, the better to do them homage. The largest rivers in EUROPE are, first, the Wolga, which is about 650 leagues in length, extending from Reschew to Astracan; the next in order is the Danube (the course of this river is about 450 leagues, from the mountains of Suabia to the Black Sea); the Don or Tanais, which is 400 leagues from the source of that branch of it called the Sofna, to its mouth in the Euxine Sea; the Dnieper, which rises in Muscovy, and runs a course of 350 leagues, to empty itself into the Black Sea; the Dwina, which takes its rise in a province of the same name in Russia, then runs a course of 300 leagues, and disembogues into the White Sea, a little below Archangel. The largest rivers of ASIA are, the Amour, in Eastern Tartary, whose course is about 600 leagues, from its source to its outfall into the sea of Kamtschatka; the Kianku and the Hoanho in China, whose lengths are about 700, and 660 leagues; the Jenesei, of Tartary, about 700 leagues, and the Oby, also in Tartary, after a course of about 500 leagues, falls into the Northern Sea; the Burrampooter, the Ganges, and the Indus, in Hindoostan, are each about 640 leagues long; the Ganges is one of the most noted rivers in the world; and lastly, though still more celebrated, the Euphrates, which rises in Asiatic Turkey, and falls into the Gulf of Persia. The largest rivers in AFRICA are, the Senegal, whose course is said to be 3000 miles in length; the celebrated Nile, which, from its source among the mountains of the Moon, in Upper Ethiopia, to the Mediterranean, is thought to extend as far; and the Niger, whose length has not yet been ascertained. But of all parts of the world, AMERICA, as it exhibits the most lofty mountains, so it supplies the largest rivers; the principal of these is the great river Amazon, which performs a course of nearly 4000 miles. The breadth and depth of this river are answerable to its vast length, and where its width is most contracted, its depth is augmented in proportion. So great is the body of its waters, that other considerable rivers, objects of admiration, are swallowed in its bosom. It proceeds after their junction with its usual appearance without any visible change in its breadth or rapidity; and at length discharges itself into the ocean by a channel which is 150 miles broad. The other great American rivers are the Mississippi, Missouri, the St. Lawrence, and La Plata. To whatever quarter of the globe we turn, we shall find new reasons to be satisfied with that part in which we ourselves reside. The rivers of England furnish all the plenty of the African stream without its inundations; they have all the coolness of the polar rivulets, with a more constant supply; they may want the terrible magnificence of huge cataracts or extensive lakes, but they are more navigable, and more transparent; though less deep and rapid than the rivers of the torrid zone, they are more manageable, and only wait the will of man to take their direction. The Cause and Nature of the Tides. To witness from day to day, at a certain regular succession of hours, an enormous body of water advancing by slow degrees, defying all barriers by which it may be opposed, until it reaches a certain elevation, and then as regularly falling and retreating; its very apparent irregularities being soon found to conform themselves to regular periods; and all this without any apparent cause acting to produce it; and going on with unceasing regularity, not merely in one place, but all over the world;-these are phenomena which powerfully claim our attention, independent of their great practical importance to the navigator, and their influence on commerce. The waters of the ocean are observed to flow for certain hours from the south towards the north; in which motion or flow, which lasts about six hours, the sea gradually swells, so that, entering the mouths of rivers, it drives them back towards their heads. After a continual flow of six hours, the sea seems to rest for a quarter of an hour; it then begins to recede or fall; and thus it has alternately risen and fallen twice a day since the creation. Although some vague hints of the true cause had been thrown out by several philosophers, no one gave any thing like a satisfactory explanation till Newton. He perceived at once that the phenomenon was, at least in its more general features, a simple consequence of his principle of universal gravitation acting between the sun, the moon, the solid earth, and the waters of the ocean. The waters for a large space under the moon, being more attracted than the great body of the earth, are thus rendered lighter than those parts of the ocean which are at the same distance as the earth's centre; and, being lighter, they are forced upwards a little by the surrounding mass, which is heavier. |