Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

cipal means of attaining perfection. In the consideration of Infancy, many particulars press upon our attention. The original stage of Man in this present world deserves our examination.

The first and most obvious circumstance respecting Infancy is, the gratification occasioned by the birth of an INFANT. It lights up smiles in every countenance; it diffuses pleasure through the bosom of every member of the family. In some cases the exultation spreads far and wide; it bursts forth into public expressions of triumph-.

What means the stir in yon time-hallow'd tower ?
Why reigns o'er all this general face of joy?
Why yields the gay parterre its fairest flower ?
To hail a new-born guest-a LOVELY BOY!
The MOTHER on her couch in silence laid,
Pain, Hope, and Anguish, darting o'er her eye
New to the scene-thinks all her throes o'erpaid
Soon as she hears the little stranger cry!*

Nor has this exultation on the birth of a child passed unnoticed by an inspired writer; John xvi. 21. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow because her hour is come, but as soon as she is delivered of the child she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. The circumstance is natural, and therefore universal ; it

* See Human Life, an anonymous poem, in five parts ; from which stanzas will be frequently taken in the course of these il. lustrations. It was published in 1806, and is dedicated to the Earl of Aberdeen.

?

is peculiar to no one age, nor confined to any particular country.

Some stanzas on the birth of an INFANT shall be added; for they express not merely the joy occasioned by the arrival of the little stranger, but are fraught with parental anxiety, which follows the Infant growing up to maturity, and pushing forward through the subsequent gradations of life

Welcome, little helpless stranger,
Welcome to the light of day;
Smile upon thy HAPPY MOTHER,
Smile, and chase her cares away!

Lift thine eyes and look around thee,
Various objects court thy sight;
Nature spreads her verdant carpet,
Earth was made for thy delight!

Welcome to a Mother's bosom,
Welcome to a Father's arms,
Heir to all thy FATHER'S virtues,
Heir to all thy MOTHER'S charms!

Joy thou bring'st, but mix'd with trembling,
Anxious joys, and tender fears;
Pleasing hopes, and mingled sorrows,
Smiles of transport dash'd with tears!

Who can say what lies before thee,
Calm, or tempest-peace, or strife?
With what various turns and trials
HEAVEN may mark thy chequer'd life!

Who can tell what eager passions
In this little breast shall beat,
When Ambition, Love, or Glory,
Shall invade this peaceful seat?

Who can tell how wide the branches
Of this tender plant may spread,
While beneath their ample shadow
Swains may rest, and flocks be fed?
ANGELS guard thee, lovely blossom,
Hover round and shield from ill;
Crown thy Parents' largest wishes,

And their fondest hopes fulfil ! And yet what a spectacle of weakness does this little thrice-welcomed stranger exhibit to all around him! The inbecility of Infancy is most picturesquely portrayed by our great Poet :

At first, the Infant, Mewling and puking in the Nurse's arms ! The term mewling is admirably expressive of that indistinctness of cry in INFANTS, which is more the result of animal than of mental sensation. Indications of pain will arise from the action of the atmosphere; but the child is soon reconciled to it, and feels its genial influence. Buffon, speaking of the new-born Infant, says it is equally sensible of heat as of cold; in every situation it utters complaints, and pain appears to be its first and only sensation. Unlike the young of other animals, infants open

the moment they enter the world; but their eyes are fixed and dull. The senses also are weak and illusory; they require time before they attain to any degree of consistency. According to the great naturalist already mentioned, an infant begins not to smile in less than forty days; when it begins also to weep, for its former cries were un

their eyes

accompanied with tears. Lord Byron however has these beautiful lines on the subject:

When late I saw thy favourite child

I thought my jealous heart would break,
But when the unconscious Infant smil'd
I kiss'd it for its MOTHER's sake;
I kiss'd it, and repress'd my sighs
Its Father in its face to see;
But then it had its MOTHER's eyes,

And they were all to Love and Me!

Nor are there vestiges of the passions in the countenance of a new-born child. The features of the face have not acquired that consistence and elasticity which are necessary for expressing the sentiments of the mind. Indeed INFANCY at its commencement is proverbial imbecility.

New-born INFANTS are much addicted to sleep, "Tir'd nature's sweet restorer," is soon wanted with its balmy energies, to recruit the tremulous delicacy of infancy. From this sleep, into which it is almost constantly falling, it is roused either by pain or hunger. Thus sleep is often terminated by a fit of crying; the only method which the tender infant has in its power to make known its wants. And when hunger stimulates, the application of the Babe to the MOTHER's breast is a sovereign remedy:

The MOTHER now unveils her snowy breast,
Swell'd with a milky stream, and gently lays
Her charge delighted in her lap to rest;
Then, softly raising, to the fount conveys:
Instinctive NATURE to the nipple clings,

Down glides in copious draughts the luscious store;

While round her Boy the indulgent Parent flings

Maternal arms, and eyes him o'er and o'er ! This same instinctive nature teaches the babe to throw off the superabundant quantity without trouble to itself, or disgust to the mother. And this apparently trivial circumstance, "puking in the nurse's arms,” our Poet has noticed as the second characteristic of Infancy.

The lamp of life burns with a feeble glimmering in the bosom of an INFANT. The life of a child, says Buffon, till it be three years of age, is extremely precarious. In the two or three succeeding years, however, its life becomes more certain; and in the șixth or seventh year, a child has a better chance of living, than at any other period. According to Tables of the Degrees of Mortality, in the British Metropolis, when a child is born, we might lay a bet that it would not live above three years! This exhibits a melancholy view of the human species; for though a man who dies at the age of Twentyone, is generally lamented as being prematurely de. prived of life; yet, according to certain calculations, one half of mankind must die before the termination of three years; and consequently every man who lives more than three years, instead of complaining of his fate, ought to consider himself as peculiarly favoured by his Creator.

It is a curious remark made respecting INFANTS, that, though their bodies be extremely delicate, they are less sensible of cold than at any other period of

« ZurückWeiter »