The Sun.
London, England, 1824-04-28 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

PLEASURES OF A RURAL LIFE.
Mn. EDITOR—A' strong predilection for a
country life, seems almost a natural and heredi-
tary passion in man. Before human nature had
been corrupted by sin,such was the mode of exist-
ence assigned to him by his maker. A garden was
his habitation, and to till the earth from which
he was taken, his amusement, as well as his oc-
cupation. It is not surprizing therefore that
men in our present corrupted state, should
still feel a strong degree of partiality for the
manner of life Divine goodness had destined for
us. To cities belong, without doubt, pomp,
bustle, gaiety, and magnificence ; but what are
all these when compared to the peace and tran-
quillity of mind,which nature presents to us in the
country. We may some times gaze with delight
and admiration upon the beautiful or the stu-
pendous fabrics which the hands of man have
raised ; but magnificent, and beautiful as they
may be, what are they it► comparison to the sub-
lime and more perfect works which nature ex-
hibits to our view ! So much are almost all men
alive to this superiority of the country, that
wherever we see large and opulent cities, we
are sure to find there environs covered with rural
retreats to which all that can do so, hasten to
forget, amidst woods and fields, the noise and
bustle of a town life. What an encomium is this
of the country. We quit it because necessity
compels us, but no sooner are we at liberty to
follow our own inclinations, than we hasten back
to it with joy.
In the springof life the pleasures which the coun-
try afford are not less varied and numerous, than
they are eminently conducive to health. There,
all that surrounds us is in unison with our feel-
ings and inclinations, and nature appears equally
youthful and vigorous with ourselves. All hours
of the day have their particular advantage.
When we awake, the " cocks shrill clarion," the
cloudless sky, the warbling birds, the merry
swains, induce us to quit our couch,
Brushing with hasty steps the dew away,
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.
And there enjoy the delight which the awak-
ing of nature imparts to every feeling mind.
—The enamelled fields invite us to walk : the
beauties of the distant prospect urge us to
extend our rambles ; the cooling shade invites
us to repose, and the murmuring stream, soothes
our mind into a pleasing state of melancholy.
At the close of day, then have we it in our
power to enjoy that greatest of all rural bless-
ings, an evening walk, in which all that are
possibly combined to charm our senses, and de-
light our eyes, our ears, our smell, arises spon-
taneously around us, and requires only attention
to afford one of the most pure of earthly enjoy-
ments. And when night closes the scene, and
all nature sinks into repose, we retire to our
couch, not swerved by fashionable or riotous pur-
suits, but calm and tranquil as the scenes around
us, and with no more of fatigue than what will
render our slumber quiet and refreshing.
The delights of a rural life are not, however,
confined to the young; they are equally grateful
to the old. When age has smoothed the sharp
edges of our passions, when the restlessness of
youth has yielded to the quiet of maturer years,
then jdo we still seek in the country the repose
which is most congenial to our present feelings.
The purity of the air refreshes whilst it invigo-
rates the frame, which the closeness of cities and
the cares of a public life had impaired. The
cheering rays of the sun supply the warmth
which time has decayed ; the serenity of the sky
produces a corresponding serenity in the hitherto,
agitated mind, and the charms which every where
court the attention, afford an end lest and varied
source of employment and of pleasure to the
mind. Attending to occupations of a nature
wholly dissimilar from those that had hitherto
employed all our thoughts, we find them con.
ducive to our repose, and discover, for the firsi
time, that we may be busy, without beiug fa-
tigued.

-To the meditative and contemplative mind,
the country is particularly delightful. There,
with the great book of nature ever open before
his eyes, man can never he at a loss for something
that may amuse and interest him. In all he sees,
in all he examines, he finds wonder hitherto un-
noticed, or unknown ; and the more he sees, the
more he_ examines, the greater is his astonish-
ment, his delight, and his admiration. Every
sense that he possesses, becomes the source of
some enjoyment. The whole of the productions
of nature seem created merely to administer to
his pleasures. He feels himself truly the lord
of nature. It is for him that she is arrayed in
the gayest colours ; for him that she sends forth
the sweetest perfumes; for him that she assumes
the most beautiful forms; for him that she has peo-
pled the groves with a variety of feathered song-
sters ; for him that she appears every where teeming
with order, with fruitfulness and with life. To
the mind capable of feeling all this, the country
presents, indeed,an inexhaustible fund of amuse-
ment and of occupation. Every one of its fa-
culties is called into action, and every notion it
acquires has all the charm of a discovery. The
mineral, the vegetable, and the animal kingdoms,
offer that variety of objects which, while they
afford ample scope for meditation and reflection,
banish monotory and prevent satiety : whilst the
enjoyment of air and of exercise which such
pursuits render necessary, prove no less benefi-
cial to the body than the study itself is pleasing
to the mind.

At night, the objects that claim our attention
are equally beautiful, and not much more magni-
ficent and sublime. Through an air free from all
impurity, we behold thousands of stars, shining
in the vast canopy of the Heavens. This is a
scene, which no rational and sentient being can
possibly view without emotions of pleasure, and
without feeling himself elevated high above his
earthly habitation, and all the beauties it con-
tains. Great as is the pleasure we derive from
the productions of nature, it is of nature less
intellectual than that which we experience,
when gazing upon the starry firmament.—
The former confines us to the earth ; the
latter yaises us to Heaven, and impels our
imagination to wing its daring flight, and
boldly soar to the utmost limits of universal crea-

Lion. In the former the mind is annoyed by
endless variety; in the latter it is awed by in-
comprehensible immensity. The productions of
nature exhibit the wisdom and goodness of our-
God ; the host of heaven manifest his power
and proclaim his infinite perfections. When me-
ditating upon the former, man fancies that he is
something in creation; when reflecting upon the
latter, he finds that even his earthly habitation,
nay, the whole system of which it forms a part,
are only inconsiderable portions of the vast uni-
verse. What a spectacle is here, indeed, offered
to his view ! Millions of millions of stars are
present to his " mind's eye ;" and yet this may
bear no proportion to the number that really
exist ! How powerful the hand that formed
them ! How incomprehensible the wisdom that
regulated these various and complicated motions !
How infinite the goodness which gave to a being;
apparently so insignificant as man, a mind ca-
pable of arriving at conceptions so sublime, and
so gratifying to an intellectual being.
Illidhurst.

A. P.

An article from Switzerland, dated April 17,
says—" There have been some disturbances in
that part of the canton of Appenzell, called the
Rhode's Interior. On the Ist of this month,
while the Great Council was assembled at Ap-
penzell,a pretty considerable number of country
people proceeded to the town with a petition,
demanding admittance. They were received to
the number of forty-one, and their petition read.
It required, in the name of the people, that the
two Councils should carefully examine the new
Decrees issued by the Government, the rights of
the people, the rights of the Magistrates, and, in
short, whatever might appear advantageous to the
general prosperity ; and that the result of their
labour should be laid before the sovereign
people. The Petitioners added, that if, contrary
to all expectation, this desire was refused, the
Landegemeind (a general assembly of the people)
should be immediately convoked. The Council,
after a long debate, required that all the articles
which the petitioners had in view should be dis-
tinctly specified ; but the latter referring to their
application, confined themselves to complaining
in general of the innovations which had taken
place in the administration ; desiring that the
various ordinances relative to them should be ex-
tracted from the protocol. The Council then
appointed the sth of April for the complainants
to appear before a Speeial Committee, and det.
Clare their grievances. The Committee was to
consist of impartial men, chosen from each dis-
trict of the Canton. On the sth the complainants
appeared, and pointed out verbally the innova-
tions that had begun to be introduced in 1814;
the Committee, adjourning its decision, ordered,
at the same time, that the new institutions should
be printed and distributed among the people. So
stands the affair at present."

A SCOTCH MoB.-We are sorry to say that
the streets of this city exhibited last night scenes of disgraceful
' riot and violence. These took place on the North Bridge
chiefly, and on the High-street, where a mob of blackguards
assembled, and insisted that every respectable passenger should
take off his hat. Those who demurred were instantly pelted
with dead cats and such other garbage as could be found. For
some hours the streets were held possession of by this mob,
and no passenger could venture with safety along the bridges.
When these rioters were tired of mischief in this quarter, they
proceeded to the Mound, and wantonly attacked the caravans
of the wild beasts and other public exhibitions, some of which
in their brutality, they almost entirely demolished. The stage
in front of Mr. James's caravans a part of the mob seized upon,
and hurled down to Leith, where they threw it into the har-
bour. On their return they wantonly broke almost all the
public lamps on each side of Leith Walk.—We do not under-
stand how these outrages were suffered to continue for such a
length of time, or why a sufficient force of policemen did not
long before clear the streets and apprehend- some of the ring-
leaders. It is not to be borne, that in a populace city, one of
the leading streets should be kept possession of by a mob of
blackguards, for two or three hours, so that no decent person
could make his way without being exposed to insult and out-
rage. The mob were driven from the I%lound by the police-
men, after which they returned to the Bridges, and kept po •
session of them to a late hour. They were prevented, however,
by the police, from doing any farther mischief, and several of
them, we understand, are in custody.--( Caledonian Mercury.)

A monumental pillar, 65 feet high, surmounted
with a lantern, is to be erected on Queenston
Heights, to the memory of General BROCK.

COURSE OF EXCHANGE, April 27.

Amsterdam
Ditto, at Sight i 1 16
Rotterdam
12 0
Antwerp
12 4
Hamburg!' 37 5 2 Us
Altona
Paris,3 Day's eight 25 35 0 Us.
Ditto
l3ourdeaux, ditto
• Berlin 7 10
Frankforton the Main
Petersburg! 9
Vienna
Trieste ... .
Madrid
Cadiz
Bilboa 354 Effective

Barcelona
ieville
Gibraltar
Leghorn 47
Gelioa .. 4:3l—Veniec, Ital. Liv. 27 0
Malta . 45 —Naples 384
Palermo s
Lisbon
Oporto
Rio Janeiro
Bahia . 51
1)41)110 .... 9f Cork 9} pet Cent.