Of all the solar or planetary system, the earth is to us by far the most interesting. Other of the planets may be more sublime, and, in the range of creation, of greater importance; but, from their inconceivable distance from us, the impossibility, even by the utmost stretch of science, of our attaining more than a knowledge of the magnitude, and period of the revolution, of a very small number of them, and, with one or two exceptions, the benefit derived by us from any of them being only indirect; we can regard them merely as splendid displays of creative power, intended, and calculated to excite our wonder and admiration. But the earth is the place of our residence; from it we derived our being, and to it we are destined to return; all that is necessary to sustain us springs out of it; it is the theatre on which we severally perform the parts that are assigned to us; and there is not an ingredient in our happiness, nor a circumstance calculated to excite our hopes, but is, in some form or other, found in, or connected with it.