Genre:

Miscellaneous

Subjects:

Amusement, Theology of Nature, Piety, Feeling, Beauty

    The narrator introduces a tale concerning his meeting with a gipsy girl (to whom he explains the religious significance of the rainbow) with observations on the different pleasures 'enjoyed by different persons in their walks abroad' (345). Observes of country walks: 'how abundantly increased are their gratifications who look on all things observantly as on the express workmanship of God. Who read a record of His love, / His wisdom and His power / Inscribed on all created things, / Man, beast, and herb and flower. No cloud can flit across the sky, nor insect crawl along their path; no tempest lower, nor sunbeam light up the heavens or the earth, without exciting some interest in their bosoms. Never [...] is creation so truly beautiful to our eyes, as when we not only know that they are the workmanship of God' but are also devoted to that God (346).