one evident advantage, hinted above the young have time to grow fo firm as easily to bear the inclemencies of winter. A Were one to guefs what probably would be the time of rutting, fummer would be named, especially in a cold climate. And yet to quadrupeds who carry but four or five months, that economy would throw the time of delivery to an improper season, for warmth, as well as for food. Wifely is it ordered, that the delivery fhouid conftantly be at the beft feafon for both. 1 Gregarious quadrupeds that ftore up food for winter, differ from all other quadrupeds with refpect to the time of delivery. Beavers copulate about the end of autumn, and bring forth in January, when their granary is full. The fame economy probably obtains among all other quadrupeds of the fame kind. One rule takes place among all brute animals, without a fingle exception, That the female never is burdened with two litters at the same time. The time of gestation is fo unerringly calculated by nature, that the young brood can provide for themselves before another brood comes on. Even a hare is not an exception, tho' many litters The fe litters are produced in a year. male carries thirty or thirty-one days; but the fuckles her young only twenty days, after which they provide for themfelves, and leave her free to a new litter. The care of animals to preferve their young from harm is a beautiful inftance of Providence. When a hind hears the hounds, fhe puts herself in the way of being hunted, and leads them from her fawn. The lapwing is no lefs ingenious: if a perfon approach, fhe flies about, retiring always from her nest. A partridge is extremely artful: fhe hops away, hanging a wing as if broken: lingers till the perfon approach, and hops again *. A hen, timid by nature, is bold as a lion in defence of her young: fhe darts upon every creature that threatens danger. The roe-buck defends its young with resolution *The following incident hardly deferves to be mentioned it is fo common, but that the tear is fcarce dry which the fight wrung from me. A man mowing a field for hay, paffed over a partridge fitting on her neft. Turning about to cut down a tuft that had been left, he unhappily brought up the partridge on the point of his fcythe. Such affection there is even for a brood, not yet brought to light. and courage. So doth a ram; and fo do many other quadrupeds. It is obferved by an ingenious writer (a), that nature sports in the colour of domeftic animals, in order that men may the more readily diftinguish their own. It is not eafy to fay, why colour is more varied in fuch animals, than in those which remain in the state of nature: I can only fay, that the caufe affigned is not fatisfac-. tory. One is feldom at a loss to distinguish one animal from another; and Providence never interpofes to vary the ordinary courfe of nature, for an end fo little neceffary as to make the diftinction filh more obvious. I add, that it does not ap-. pear in any inftance the intention of Providence, to encourage inattention and in-, dolence. The foregoing particulars are offered to the public as hints merely: may, it not be hoped, that they will excite curiofity in those who relish natural history? The field is rich, tho' little cultivated; and I know no other branch of natural hiftory that ofiner views into the conduct of Providence. pens (a) Pennant. SKETCH HE wifdom of Providence is in no TH T adjufting the conftitution of man to his external circumstances. Food is extremely. precarious in the hunter-ftate; fometimes fuperabounding with little fatigue, fometimes failing after great fatigue. A favage, like other animals of prey, has a ftomach adjusted to that variety: he can bear a long fast; and gorges voraciously when he has plenty, without being the worse for it. Whence it is, that barbarians, who have fcarce any fense of decency, are great and grofs feeders. The ༣ འ * In the Iliad of Homer, book 9. Agamemnon calls a council at night in his tent. Before entering on business, they go to fupper, (line 122). An embaffy to Achilles is refolved on. The ambaffadors again fup with Achilles on pork grifkins, (line 271). Achilles rejects Agamemnon's offer; and the fame night Ulyffes and Diomed fet out on their expedi tion to the Trojan camp: returning before day, they had a third supper. Kamfkatkans Kamfkatkans love fat; and a man entertains his guests by cramming into their mouths fat flices of a feal, or a whale, cutting off with his knife what hangs out. Barbarians are equally addicted to drunkennefs; and peculiarly fond of spirituous liquors. Drinking was a fashionable vice in Greece, when Menander, Philemon, and Diphilus, wrote, if we can rely on the tranflations or imitations of their plays by Plautus and Terence. Cyrus preparing to attack his brother Artaxerxes, King of Perfia, published a manifesto, that he was more worthy of the throne than his brother, because he could fwallow more wine. Diodorus Siculus reports, that in his time the Gauls, like other barbarians, were much addicted to drinking. The ancient Scandinavians, who, like other favages, were intemperate in eating and drinking, fwallowed large cups to their gods, and to fuch of their countrymen as had fallen bravely in battle. We learn from the 25th fable of the Edda, which was their facred book, that to hold much liquor was repuputed a heroic virtue. Contarini the Venetian ambaffador, who wrote ann. 1473, fays, that the Ruffians were abandoned to drunkennefs; |