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corn, rye, and wheat, which are sown during this month and the next.

Not only the swallow-tribe, but many other small birds which feed on insects, disappear on the approach of cold weather, when the insects themselves are no longer to be met with.

On the other hand, some birds arrive at this season from still more northerly countries to spend the winter with us. The fieldfare and red-wing, whose departure was mentioned in March, return about the end of September. They feed chiefly on the berries with which our woods and hedges alt plentifully stored all the winter.

The most useful fruit this country affords, the apple, successively ripens, according to its different kinds, from July to September or October; but the principal harvest of them is about the close of this month. They are no gathered for our English vintage, the cyder-making, which in some counties is a busy and important employment.

Pears treated in the same manner yield a vinous liquer called perry. These are the common drinks in the coun

ties where they are chiefly made.

The autumnal equinox, when day and night are again equal over the whole globe, happens about the 23d of September. This, as well as the vernal, is generally attended with storms, which throw down much of the fruit yet remaining on the trees.

FRUIT.

THIS is the happy season in which Divine Goodness lavishes all sorts of fruit upon us in great abundance. The charms of summer give place to more solid enjoyments. The boughs of the apple-tree bend under the weight of that

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golden fruit, the beauty of which is still heightened by its purple streaks. The melting pear, the plum sweet as honey, display their charms, and seem to invite the hand of their master. Should we not be unpardonable, if the sight of these blessings, which we owe to the munificence of God, did not create in us grateful reflections, and by such means sanctify the pleasures of autumn ?

There is hardly any food so wholesome as fruits. It was with a beneficent view, that Providence gave them to us in a season when they are not only pleasing and refreshing to us, but also excellent in a medicinal way. Apples come seasonably during the heat of summer, because they temper the heat of the blood, and cool the stomach and bowels. The plumbs have an acid sweetness, with an oily softening juice, which may make them useful in many cases. They gently open the body, and correct the acrid humours, which so often occasion inflammatory disorders. Nothing certainly is more delicious than fruit. Each sort has a flavour peculiar to itself. This variety renders them doubly pleasing to us. Thus, God, like a tender father, provides not only for the support of his creatures, but also for their pleasure.

The moral use of the Nights.

THE days begin to shorten, and the nights grow long. Many people are discontented with this part of Nature's plan. They secretly wish, perhaps, that there was no night, or at least that they were all the year round as short as in the months of June and July. But such wishes are unreasonable, and betray our ignorance. If we would take the trouble to reflect on the advantages resulting from the vicissitudes of day and night, we should not be so hasty

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in our judgments; we should not make such groundless complaints; but rather acknowledge the use of night, and bless God for it. How many mental pleasures, and how much information would we not be deprived of, if there were no night? The wonders of the creation, which the starry sky presents to us, would be lost. Each night, we may in them behold the greatness of God. If every thing which reminds us of God is desirable, how must we love the night, which proclaims so forcibly his perfections? If we made this use of it, no night would appear long; none that might not be beneficial to us. One single night's reHection on the works of God would have a salutary effect on our whole lives. Let us contemplate with attention the immense display of his wonders. One single good thought which this may create, a thought with which we may fall asleep, and recollect when we awaken, and which will leave an impression all the day, may be of the greatest use to our hearts and minds. In general, the night is a happy time for those who love to meditate and reflect. The hurry and dissipation in which we usually pass the day, leaves us but a little time to recollect ourselves, to wean ourselves from the world, or to think seriously of our duties: But the tranquillity of the night invites us to these useful employments, and makes them easy to us. We may then, without interruption, commune with our hearts, and acquire the most important Knowledge, the knowledge of ourselves. The soul may collect its forces, and direct them towards objects which concern our everlasting hap piness. We may then banish the ill impressions received in the world, and strengthen our minds against the seducing examples of the age. It is the moment for re flecting on death, and its great consequences. The tran

quil solitude of the closet is favourable to religious thoughts, and inspires us more and more with a desire to indulge them.

HERRINGS.

THIS is the season in which they fish for herrings on the coasts of England and Scotland; by which means we shall receive in a short time, a great quantity of these fish, which feed the poor as well as the rich during the whole year. Let us examine what is most important in the natural history of these fish. Innumerable shoals of herrings live in the Frozen Sea near the Arctic Pole; but at a certain period they quit that place, and come in multitudes to the coasts of England and Scotland. It is not yet positively ascertained what may be the cause of this emigration. Some think it is to avoid whales and other great fish in the frozen seas; others imagine, that the prodigious increase of the herrings obliges them to take these long voyages, and to divide into separate colonies, lest they should be in too great quantities to find sufficient food in the northern seas. Perhaps also, it is the desire of propagation, and a peculiar instinct, which leads them to the places most favourable for the increase and preservation of their race. It is certainly these reasons in general that occasion such shoals of herrings to quit the north at the beginning of the year; for in the month of March, a wing of their army had already reached the coasts of Iceland, and it is their western wing. The herrings are at this season so plentiful there, that by putting the shovel with which the sails are watered into the sea, there are great quantities of them taken up at a time. The eastern wing advances farther into the Baltic Sea.

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part of it turns towards the North Cape, sails along the coasts of Norway, and enters through the southern straits into the sea. Another part gains the northern point of Jutland, then enters into the Zuyder Zee, and from thence, passes again through the Baltic Sea, in order to return to the place from whence it set out. But the largest detach

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ment of the eastern wing, is that which turns to the western coast, in order to turn directly to the Orkney islands, where the Dutch go to catch them. Towards the 8th of June, the sea in those parts is full of herrings. They then direct their course towards Scotland and England, where they fill all the bays and the mouths of the rivers with their fry. After having quitted England, they probably return back to their own country. The prodigious mu!titude of these fish is surprising: One single herring lays at least ten thousand eggs in the sea near the British coasts.

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It is but just that we should lift up our hearts to the Almighty and Beneficent Creator, who, by a guidance full of wisdom, causes these fish to fall into the hands of man. By how many different ways he provides for our support! All the seas, the lakes, and the rivers, are subservient to mankind, and contribute to our preservation.

MORE DEPLORABLE EFFECTS OF HEATHENISH SUPERSTITION.

Concluded from p, 360.

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THE humanity and intrepid spirit of Marquis WELLESLY (Dr BUCHANAN observes,) abolished a yet more criminal practice, which was considered by the Hindoos as a religious rite, and consecrated by custom; I mean the SACRIFICE OF CHILDREN. His Lordship had been informed that it had been a custom of the Hindoos to sacrifice children in consequence of vows, by drowning them, or exposing them to Sharks and Crocodiles; and that twentythree persons had perished at Saugor in one month (January 1801,) many of whom were sacrificed in this manner. He immediately instituted an enquiry into the principle of this ancient atrocity; he heard patiently what Natives and Europeans had to say in defence of the custom, and then

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