and 80 millions with all the boundless extent which lies beyond the limits of mortal vision; and, at every step of this mental process, sufficient time must be allowed for the imagination to expatiate on the objects before it, till the ideas approximate, as near as possible, to the reality. In order to form a comprehensive conception of the extent of the terraqueous globe, the mind must dwell on an extensive landscape, and the objects with which it is adorned; it must endeavor to survey the many thousands of diversified landscapes which the earth exhibits the hills and plains, the lakes and rivers, and mountains, which stretch in endless variety over its surface-it must dive into the vast caverns of the oceanpenetrate into the subterraneous regions of the globe, and wing its way amidst clouds and tempests, through the surrounding atmosphere. It must next extend its flight through the more expansive regions of the solar system, realizing, in imagination, those magnificent scenes which can be descried neither by the naked eye, nor by the telescope; and comparing the extent of our sublunary world, with the more magnificent globes that roll around us. Leaving the sun and all his attendant planets behind, till they have diminished to the size of a small twinkling star, it must next wing its way to the starry regions, and pass from one system of worlds to another, from one Nebula to another, from one region of Nebula to another, till it arrive at the utmost boundaries of creation which human genius has explored. It must also endeavor to extend its flight beyond all that is visible by the best telescopes, and expatiate at large in that boundless expanse into which no human eye has yet penetrated, and which is doubtless, replenished with other worlds, and systems, and firmaments, where the operations of infinite power and beneficence are displayed, in endless variety, throughout the illimitable regions of space. Here, then, with reverence, let us pause, and wonder! Over all this vast assemblage of material existence, God presides. Amidst the diversified objects and intelligences it contains, he is eternally and essentially present. By his unerring wisdom, all its complicated movements are directed. By his Almighty fiat, it emerged from nothing into existence, and is continually supported from age to age. "HE SPAKE, AND IT WAS DONE; HE COMMANDED, AND IT STOOD FAST;" "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the spirit of his mouth." What an astonishing display of Divine power is here exhibited to our view! How far transcending all finite comprehension must be the energies of Him who only "spake, and it was done;" who only gave the command, and this mighty system of the universe, with all its mag nificence, started into being! (To be continued.) · THE ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY OF NATIONS. OF THE FOURTH, OR ROMAN MONARCHY. A government thus wisely instituted induced numbers from the adjacent towns to live under it; women were only wanting to ascertain its duration. These he obtained by stratagem. He proclaimed a feast in honor of Neptune, and invited to its celebration all the inhabitants of the surrounding country. The Sabines, the most warlike people of Italy, were among the foremost as spectators, bringing their wives and daughters with them to share the pleasure of the entertainments. While the strangers were intent upon the spectacle, a number of Roman youth rushed in among them with drawn swords, seized the youngest and most beautiful women, and carried them off by violence. In vain the parents protested against this breach of hospitality; equally unavailing were the entreaties and prayers of the children to be returned to their native homes. A long and bloody war ensued. Several cities combined to revenge the common cause; these the Romans soon subdued, and rendered tributary to their own government. But Tatius, king of a Sabine city, having by large promises prevailed upon Tarpeia, daughter to the commander of the Capitoline Hill, to betray one of the gates to his army, entered the city with twenty-five thousand men. As a reward for this act of perfidy she demanded what the soldiers wore on their arms, by which she meant their bracelets. They, however, either mistaking her meaning, or desirous to punish her treachery, threw their bucklers upon her as they entered, and crushed her to death. The Sabines being thus possessed of the Capitoline, carried on an indecisive war for a considerable length of time, till the Sabine women interposed between their parents and husbands, entreating of them, that if there must be victims, they might suffer, on account of whom the war had been originally waged. At this affecting spectacle both the Romans and Sabines let fall their weapons: an accommodation ensued, by which it was agreed that Romulus and Tatius should be joint sovereigns in Rome; that an hundred Sabines should be admitted into the senate; that the city should still retain its former name, but the citizens should be called Quirites, a name till then appropriated to the Sabines only; and that the people of both states should be admitted to equal privileges. Thus did fortune assist the ambitious views of Romulus, who, in a few hours, saw his dominions and subjects nearly doubled. Tatius, the partner in his government, was, in a few years, killed by the Lavinians, when Romulus found himself again sole monarch of Rome in its enlarged state. After many successful wars against the neighboring states, the views of Romulus were directed to regulate the internal affairs of the nation. He divided the people into classes; endeavoured to unite the interests of the whole by one common bond, and directed the labors of the client, as well as those of the patron, to the same end, the aggrandizement of the state. When Romulus had reigned more than thirty years he began to assume absolute authority, and to pay no respect whatever to those laws by which he, as well as his subjects, were bound to act. The senate, displeased at his conduct, and alarmed at the encroachments which were daily making upon their rights and privileges, found means to free themselves from his dominion. The precise manner of his death was never known, but so highly was he reverenced by the people at large, that the senate were obliged to persuade the multitude that he was taken up into heaven. Thus the man whom they could no longer endure as a king, they were contented to worship as a god. Under the successors of Romulus the power of the state was increased, and the boundaries of her dominions extended. Numa Pomilius was elected second king of Rome in the year 714 B. C. At first he resisted the solicitations of his friends, and refused the sovereign dignity. Overcome, at length, by their entreaties and prayers, he accepted the crown, and applied himself to the instruction and civilization of his subjects. During the whole of his reign he lived at peace with the neighboring states, and exerted all his powers in inspiring his subjects with a love of piety, and a veneration for the Deity. He built many temples, and so far discouraged idol worship, that it was not resumed again in the city for more than one hundred and sixty years after his reign. For the encouragement of agriculture, he presented the poorer classes of the people with the land gained by the conquests of his predecessor: he softened the rigor of the laws, prevented the father from selling his son after marriage, judging it unjust that a woman who had married a freeman should be constrained to live with a slave: he regulated the calendar, making the year to consist of twelve months instead of ten; and he brought about a more perfect union between the Romans and Sabines. At the age of eighty-three years, after having reigned forty-three years in profound peace, he died, greatly regretted by his countrymen (To be continued.) DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL HISTORY. There are few insects with whose form we are better acquainted than that of the gnat. It is to be found in all latitudes and climates; as prolific in the polar as in the equatorial regions. In 1736 they were so numerous, and were seen to rise in such clouds from Salisbury cathedral, that they looked like columns of smoke, and frightened the people, who thought the building was on fire. In 1766, they appeared at Oxford, Eng. in the form of a thick black cloud; six columns were observed to ascend the height of fifty or sixty feet. Their bite was attended with alarming inflammation. To some appearances of this kind the poet Spencer alludes, in the following beautiful simile: As when a swarm of gnats at eventide Their murmurring small trumpets sownden wide, In Lapland their numbers have been compared to a flight of snow when the flakes fall thickest, and the minor evil of being nearly suffocated by smoke is endured to get rid of these little pests. The instrument with which they inflict their tor tures, simple as it appears to the eye, is nevertheless wonderfully complicated and ingenious: it forms a set of lancets, consisting of five pieces, enclosed in a case. This case is split from one end to the other, and, as the creature sucks, it serves to give steadiness to the instruments, while they are thrust forward into our flesh. In the first figure (fig. 1,) the lancets alone are seen enter 2 ing, and their case forms an arc, supporting them. In the second, (fig 2,) the lancets are perceived to have penetrated more deeply while the case, not entering, is seen to form an angle. In order to see the whole process of suction, Reaumur courted what most others sedulously shun-a sting or two: "After a gnat had done me the kindness of settling on the hand I stretched out, I saw that it protruded a very fine point from its proboscis, with the |