way of life before fhe was carried off, and particularly the account of her family and relations, how much was he furprised and delighted to find the young Lady the sitter of his friend and fellow-traveller, Eubulus, who had returned with him not above a month before! Joy flowed fo full upon him, that Agathias was going to have taken Eliza in his arms, and to have made a full difcovery. But he checked himself, and only congratulated her upon her happy efcape; and he made no doubt but that, as Heaven had already appeared very feasonably for her relief, it would at last crown her virtue with an happiness proportioned to it. Upon this, he left her.

When Agathias and Eubulus returned from their travels, Eubulus was extremely troubled to find the manfion-houfe defolate, and his dear fifter, his chief joy of life, gone, and no-body could tell whither.

Agathias told Eubulus, (who had been moftly with him fince his return, not being able to bear the folitude of his own houfe, where every apartment and field recalled fome mournful image of his heavy loss;) that the Lady's converfation and manners juftified, and even increased the high esteem he had conceived for her. And, added he, with a kind of transport of joy, you your. felf, Eubulus, fhall judge to-morrow, whether I have been hafty in my opinion.

could not refuse her benefactress fo finall a boon, the, with modeft, downcat eyes, begun her ftory from the time of her first acquaintance with Lothario, and told what had befallen her fince, till her fortunate meeting with Agathias, her generous deliverer. She told her Itory fo gracefully, reprefented the villainy of Lothario in fuch foft terms, and passed over her own behaviour with fuch a modest bathfulness and humility, as wonderfully moved and charmed Agathias and his mother. Eubulus felt an uncommon tenderness, mixed with admiration; the tears farted into his eyes. Madam, faid he, give me leave to ask your name and family? Alas! Sir, the replied, you defire me to renew my grief. But that part of my story is thort: My parents are both dead, my dear mother lait. I had once two brothers, they went abroad several years ago, but, whether they are dead or alive, I have not lately heard. One of them had been very unhappy; with the other, I had formed a tender and inviolable friendhip: He is now upon his travels with a Gentleman of fortune and great merit. I wifh for nothing to repair the lofs of the beft of mothers, and make me completely happy, but to fee him again. If my dear Eubulus be ftill alive, and it please Heaven to restore him to my fight, O how happyShe could proceed no farther; fighs denied, a paffage to her words. Eubulus, whose mind had been ali along fhaken with a thousand emotions of tenderness and paffion, could contain no longer. He started from his feat, and ran to her in the tendereft tranfports, and, clafping her in his arms, burit out, Then, my dearest filter, be as happy as your virtue-Words failed him to fay more; a flood of tears fucceeded, the effect of inexpreffible delight. This unexpected recovering of her brother raised in Eliza's breaft fuch a conflict of agreeable paflions, that the continued fome time fpeechlefs. Nor were Agathias and his mo ther lefs melted with fo tender a fcene.

Next day, he took Eubulus with him, to fee the unfortunate stranger. The mother of Agathias had concerted it with her fon, not to reveal any thing to either of them; and had only prepared Eliza thus far, as to tell her, the was to introduce to her a particular friend of her fon.-As Eubulus had been several years abroad, both his and his fifter's looks were pretty much altered. He could not, however, help feeling fome Strange fympathies at his firft feeing her, which he did not know, nor indeed, endeavour to account for. Eliza's concern was reciprocal, and the was obferved to fteal feveral attentive glances at him, which drew fome blushes from her, when the perceived they were taken notice of. Agathias, in the mean while, and his mother were greatly delighted with thofe kindlings of mutual fympathy, and a growing tenderness which they faw Bathing, like harmless lightning, eye to eye. In the afternoon, they led them into the garden, where, in a retired arbour, Agathias's mother begged of Eliza to entertain them with an account of her ftory, and the late accident; for perhaps, added fhe, the ftranger we have introduced to you is more interested in your fortunes than you are aware of. Eliza would have gladly declined the task, but, as the

from

Eliza, having at length given vent to the joy which overpowered her, in a liberal flood of tears, broke out: O, my dearelt. Eubulus, my brother! Is it you? Am I, indeed, fo happy as to fee you again? Has Heaven reftored you to me to part no more? Behold there, in the fon of my benefactress, my deliverer and guardian, to whom I owe more than life, my honour, and my all! You must acknowledge the immenfe debt I owe him; I have an heart to feel, but want words to exprefs it. O, Madam, replied` Agathias, your brother and my friend, as well as fellow traveller, has already paid me more fubftantially than by words. To

his bravery I owe my life, which Heaven has prolonged to give me an opportunity of preferving what is infinitely dearer to me. I am more than fufficiently rewarded, in the pleasure of having contributed to the ease of one fo deferving in herself, and fo dear to him. If you, Madam, think there is any thing yet owing, it is you only who can pay it. It is yourself I afk, as the full reward. To poffefs fuch a treasure is all I wish to crown my happiness. My fortune is not equal to your merit, but it will be more than enough, if I can fhare it with you. The high generofity of fuch a pro

pofal so surprised and confounded El that he could make no reply, but her fil blushes fignified her confent, with a mod and expreffive eloquence, transcending the pomp of words. The match was co cluded in a few days, with the intire a probation of all their friends. Agath found that treafure he wished for and d ferved, in the peffeffion of one of the m virtuous and accomplished of her fex; a Eliza's tranfient fufferings, which the bo fo gracefully, were rewarded with a happ nels that still continues undecaying, in co junction with one of the beft of men.

ANATOMY abundance and lives

that all plants are organic and living bodies; and that all organic bodies are propagated from an egg has been fufficiently demonftrated by the industry of the moderns; we therefore the rather, according to the opinion of the skilful, reject the æquivocal generation of plants; and the more fo, as it is certain, that every living thing is produced from an egg. Now the feeds of vegetables are called eggs; these are different in every different plant, that, the means being the fame, each may multiply its fpecies, and produce an offspring like its parent. We do not deny, that very many plants push forth from their roots fresh offfets for two or more years. Nay, not a few plants may be propagated by branches, buds, fuckers, and leaves fixed in the ground, as likewife many trees. Hence their ftems, being divided into branches, may be looked on as roots above ground; for, in the fame way, the roots creep under ground, and divide into branches. And there is the more reafon for thinking fo, because we know that a tree will grow in an inverted fituation, the roots being placed upwards, and the head downwards, and buried in the ground; for then the branches will become roots, and the roots will produce leaves and flowers. The lime-tree will ferve for an example, on which gardeners have chiefly made the experiment: Yet this by no means overturns the doctrine, that all vegetables are propagated by feeds; fince it is clear, that in each of the foregoing inftances nothing vegetates, but what was part of a plant formerly produced from feed, fo that, accurately speaking, without feed no new plant is produced.

Thus again plants produce feeds; but they are intirely unfit for propagation, unJefs foecundation precedes, which is performed by an intercourfe between different

fexes, as experience teftifies. Plants ther fore must be provided with organs of gene ration; in which refpect they hold an ana logy with animals. Since in every plan the flower always precedes the fruit, an the fœcundated feeds vifibly arife from th fruit; it is evident, that the organs of ge neration are contained in the flower; which organs are called antheræ and ftigmata and that the impregnation is accomplished within the flower. This impregnation performed by means of the duft of the an there falling upon the moist stigmata, where the duft adheres, is burft, and fends forth a very fubtile matter, which is abforbed by the ftyle, and is conveyed down to the ru diments of the feed, and thus renders it fertile. When this operation is over, the organs of generation wither and fall; nay, a change in the whole flower enfues. We muft however observe, that, in the vege table kingdom, one and the fame flower does not always contain the organs of generation of both fexes; but oftentimes the male organs are on one plant, and the fe male on another. But, that the bufinefs of impregnation may go on fuccefsfully, and that no plant may be deprived of the neceffary duft, the whole moft elegant apparatus of the antheræ and ftigmata, in every flower, is contrived with wonderful wisdom.

For, in moft flowers, the ftamina furround the piftils, and are of about the fame height; but there are many plants, in which the piftil is longer than the stamina; and in thefe it is wonderful to obferve, that the Creator has made the flowers recline, in ordes that the duft may more easily fall into the stigma; as in the campanula, primrose, &c. but, when the foecundation is com pleted, the flowers rise again, that the ripe feeds may not fall out before they are difperfed by the winds. In other flowers, on the contrary, the piftil is horter, and there

the

the flowers preserve an erect fituation; nay, when the flowering comes on, they become erect, though before they were drooping, or immerfed under water. Laftly, whenever the male flowers are placed below the female ones, the leaves are exceedingly fmall and narrow, that they may not hinder the duft from flying upwards like smoke; as we fee in the pine, fir, yew, fea-grape, juniper, cypress, &c. and when, in one and the fame fpecies, one plant is male, and the other female, and confequently may be far from one another, there the duft, without which there is no impregnation, is carried in abundance, by the help of the wind, from the male to the female; as in the whole dioicous clafs, where one plant bears male flowers, and the other female. Again, a more difficult impregnation is compenfated by the longevity of the individuals, and the continuation of life by buds, fuckers, and roots; fo that we may obferve every thing moft wifely difpofed in this affair. We cannot alfo without admiration obferve, that moft flowers expand themselves when the fun fhines forth; whereas, when clouds, rain, or the evening comes on, they clofe up, left the genital duft should be coagulated, or rendered useless, so that it cannot be conveyed to the ftigmata. But what is ftill more remarkable and wonderful! when the fœcundation is over, the flowers neither upon showers, nor evening coming on, clofe themselves up. Hence, when rain falls in the flowering time, the husbandman and gardener foretel a scarcity of fruits. I cannot help remarking one particular more, namely, that the organs of generation, which, in the animal kingdom, are by Nature generally removed from fight, in the vegetable, are expofed to the eyes of all; and that, when their nuptials are celebrated, it is wonderful what delight they afford to the fpectator by their most beautiful colours and delicious odours. At this time, bees, flies, and other infects fuck honey out of their nectaries, not to mention the humming bird; and that from their effete duft the bees gather wax.

The diffemination of feeds, after they come to maturity, is abfolutely neceffary, otherwife no crop could follow; and there. fore the Author of nature has widely provided for it in numberless ways. The ftalks and stems favour this purpofe; for thefe raise the fruit above the ground, that the winds, fhaking them to and fro, may difperfe far off the ripe feeds. Moft of the péricarpies are fhut at top, that the feeds may not fall, before they are fhook out by ftormy winds. Wings are given to many feeds, by the help of which they fly far

from the mother plant, and oftentimes fpread over a whole country. These wings confift either of a down, as in most of the compofite flowered plants; or of a membrane, as in the birch, alder, ash, &c. Hence woods, which happen to be confumed by fire, or any other accident, will foon be restored again by new plants, diffeminated by this means. Many kinds of fruits are endued with a remarkable elasticity, by the force of which the ripe pericarpies throw the feeds to a great diftance; as the wood-forrel, the fpurge, the phyllanthus, the dittany. Other feeds or pericarpies are rough, or provided with hooks; fo that they are apt to ftick to animals that país by them, and by this means are carried to their holes, where they are both fown and manured by Nature's wonderful care; and therefore the plants of thefe feeds grow where others will not, as houndstongue, agrimony, &c.

Berries, and other pericarpies, are by Nature allotted for aliment to animals; but with this condition, that, while they eat the pulp, they fhall fow the feeds; for, when they feed upon it, they either difperfe them at the fame time, or, if they swallow them, they are returned with intereft, for they always come out unhurt. It is not therefore surprising, that, if a field be manured with recent mud, or dung not quite rotten, various other plants, injurious to the farmer, fhould come up along with the grain that is fowed. Many have believed, that barley or rye has been changed into oats, although all fuch kinds of metamorphofes are repugnant to the laws of generation; not confidering, that, as another cause of this phænomenon, the ground perhaps has been manured with horfe dung, in which the feeds of oats, coming intire from the horfe, lie hid and produce that grain. The mifletoe always grows upon other trees, because the thruth, that eats the feeds of it, cafts them forth with its dung; and, as bird-catchers make their bird-lime of this fame plant, and daub the branches of trees with it, in order to catch the thrush, the proverb hence took its rife :

The thrush, when he befouls the bough,
Sows for himself the feeds of woe.

It is not to be doubted, but that, the greatest part of the junipers alfo, that fill our woods, are fown by thrushes and other birds in the fame manner, as the berries, being heavy, cannot be difperfed far by the winds. The cross-bill, that lives on the fircones, and the haw finch, that feeds on the pine-cones, at the fame time fow many of their feeds, efpecially when they carry the

A a

cone

cone to a stone, or trunk of a tree, that they may more easily ftrip it of its scales. Swine likewife, by turning up the earth, and moles by throwing up hillocks, prepare the ground for feeds in the fame manner, as the ploughman does.

I pafs over many other things, which might be mentioned concerning the fea, lakes, and rivers, by the help of which, oftentimes, feeds are conveyed unhurt to diftant countries; nor need I mention in what a variety of other ways Nature provides for the diffemination of plants.

The great Author and Parent of all things decreed that the whole earth fhould be covered with plants, and that no place fhould be void, none barren. But, fince all countries have not the fame changes of feafons, and every foil is not equally fit for every plant, he therefore, that no place fhould be without fome, gave to every one of them fuch a nature as might be chiefly adapted to the climate; fo that fome of them can bear an intenfe cold, others an equal degree of heat; fome delight in dry ground, and others in moift. Hence the fame plants grow only where there are the fame feafons of the year, and the fame foil.

The Alpine plants live only in high and cold fituations, and therefore often on the Alps of Armenia, Switzerland, the Pyreneans, &c. whofe tops are equally covered with eternal fnows as thofe of the Lapland Alps, plants of the fame kind are found, and it would be in vain to feek for them anywhere elfe. It is remarkable, in relation to the Alpine plants, that they blow and ripen their feeds very early, left the winter fhould fteal upon them on a fudden, and deftroy them.

The northern plants, although they are extremely rare every-where else, yet are found in Siberia, and about Hudson's bay.

Plants impatient of cold live within the torrid zones; hence both the Indies, though at fuch a distance from one another, haye plants in common. The Cape of Good Hope, I know not from what caufe, produces plants peculiar to itself, as all the mefembryanthema, and almost all the fpecies of aloes. Graffes, the most common of all plants, can bear almost any temperature of the air, in which the good providence of the Creator particularly appears; for, all over the globe, they above all plants are neceffary for the nourishment of cattle, and the fame thing is seen in relation to our molt common grains.

Thus, neither the fcorching fun nor the pinching cold hinders any country from having its vegetables. Nor is there any foil which does not bring forth many kinds of

plants; the pond-weeds, the water-lily, and lobelia inhabit the waters; the fluviales, fuci, and confervæ cover the bottoms of rivers and fea; the fphagma fill the marshes ; the brya cloath the plains; the driest woods, and places scarce ever illuminated by the rays of the fun, are adorned with the hypna ; Nay ftones and the trunks of trees are not excepted, for these are covered with various kinds of liverwort.

The defart and most fandy places have their peculiar trees and plants; and, as rivers or brooks are very feldom found there, we cannot without wonder observe that many of them diftil water, and by that means afford the greatest comfort both to man and beafts that travel there. Thus the tillandfia, which is a parafitical plant, and grows on the tops of trees in the defarts of America, has its leaves turned at the base into the fhape of a pitcher, with the extremity expanded; in these the rain is collected, and preserved for thirsty men, birds, and beafts.

The water-tree in Ceylon produces cylindrical bladders, covered with a lid; into these is fecreted a most pure and refreshing water, that taftes like nectar to men and other animals. There is a kind of cuckowpint in New France, that, if you break a branch of it, will afford you a pint of excellent water. How wife, how beautiful is the agreement between the plants of every country, and its inhabitants and other circumstances!

Plants oftentimes by their very ftru&ture contribute remarkably both to their own preservation and that of others; but the wifdom of the Creator appears no-where more than in the manner of growth of trees; for, as their roots defcend deeper than those of other plants, provifion is thereby made that they fhall not rob them too much of nourishment; and, what is still more, a stem not above a fpan in diameter often shoots up its branches very high; these bear perhaps many thousand buds, each of which is a plant, with its leaves, flowers, and ftipula. Now, if all thefe grew upon the plain, they would take up a thousand times as much space as the tree does, and in this cafe there would scarcely be room in all the earth for so many plants as at present the trees alone afford; befides, plants that shoot up in this way are more eafily preserved from cattle by a natural defence; and farther, their leaves, falling in autumn, cover the plants growing about against the rigour of the winter, and in the fummer they afford a pleafing fhade, not only to animals, but to plants, against the intense heat of the fun. We may add, that trees, like all other vegetables, imbibe the water from the

earth,

earth, which water does not circulate again to the root, as the ancients imagined; but, being difperfed like fmall rain, by the tranfpiration of the leaves, moiftens the plants that grow about. Again, many trees bear fiefhy fruits of the berry or apple kind, which, being fecure from the attack of cattle, grow ripe, for the use of man and other animals, while their feeds are difperfed up and down after digeftion. Laftly, the particular tructure of trees contributes very much to the propagation of infects; for these chiefly lay their eggs upon their leaves, where they are fecure from the reach of cattle.

Ever-green trees and fhrubs, with us, are chiefly found in the most barren woods, that they may be a fhelter to animals in the winter. They lofe their leaves only every third year, as their feeds are fufficiently guarded by the moffes, and do not want any other covering. The palms in the hot countries perpetually keep their leaves, for there the feeds ftand in no need of any fhelter whatever.

Many plants, and fhrubs, are armed with thorns, as the buck-thorn, floe, carduus, cotton-thistle, &c. that they may keep off the animals, which otherwife would deftroy their fruit. Thefe at the fame time cover many other plants, especially of the annual kind, under their branches. So that, while the adjacent grounds are robbed of all plants by the voracity of animals, fome may be preferved, to ripen flowers and fruit, and ftock the parts about with feeds, which otherwife would be quite extirpated.

All herbs cover the ground with their leaves, and by their fhade hinder it from being totally deprived of that moisture, which is neceffary to their nourishment. They are moreover an ornament to the earth, especially as leaves have a more agreeable verdure on the upper, than the under fide.

The moffes, which adorn the most barren places, at the fame time preferve the leffer plants, when they begin to shoot, from cold and drought. As we find by experience in our gardens, that plants are preferved in the fame way. They alfo hinder the fermenting earth from forcing the roots of plants upwards in the fpring; as we fee happen annually to trunks of trees, and other things put into the ground. Hence very few moffes grow in the warmer climates, as not being fo neceffary to that end in those places.

The English fea mat-weed, or marran, will bear no foil but pure fand, which Na ture has allotted to it. Sand, the produce of the fea, is blown by winds oftentimes to very remote parts, and deluges, as it were,

woods and fields. But, where this grafs grows, it frequently fixes the fand, gathers it into hillocks, and thrives fo much, that, by means of this alone, at last an intire hill of fand is raised. Thus the fand is kept in bounds, other plants are preferved free from it, the ground is increased, and the fea is repelled by this wonderful difpofition of Nature.

How follicitous Nature is about the prefervation of graffes is abundantly evident from hence, that, the more the leaves of the perennial graffes are eat, the more they creep by the roots, and fend forth off-fets. For the Author of nature intended, that vegetables of this kind, which have very flender and erect leaves, should be copious, and very thick-fet, covering the ground like a carpet; and thus afford food fufficient for fo vaft a quantity of grazing animals. But what chiefly increases our wonder is, that, although the graffes are the principal food of fuch animals, yet they are forbid, as it were, to touch the flower, and feed-bearing ftems; that fo the feeds may ripen and be fown.

The caterpillar, or grub of the moth, although it feeds upon graffes, to the great deftruction of them, in meadows, yet it feems to be formed, in order to keep a due proportion between these and other plants; for graffes, when left to grow freely, increafe to that degree, that they exclude all other plants; which would confequently be extirpated, unless this infect fometimes prepared a place for them. Hence always more fpecies of plants appear in thofe places, where this caterpillar has laid waite the paftures the preceding year, than at any other time.

Daily experience teaches us, that all plants, as well as all other living things, muft fubmit to death.

They fpring up, they grow, they flourish, they ripen their fruit, they wither, and at laft, having finished their courfe, they die, and return to the duft again, from whence they first took their rife. Thus all black mould, which every-where covers the earth, for the greatest part is owing to dead vege tables. For all roots defcend into the fand by their branches, and, after a plant has loit its item, the root remains; but this too rots at laft, and changes into mould. By this means this kind of earth is mixed with fand, by the contrivance of Nature, nearly in the fame way as dung thrown upon fields is wrought into the earth by the induftry of the hufbandman. The earth thus prepared offers again to plants, from its bofom, what it has received from them. For, when feeds are committed to the earth,