up with party politics; and Papists, with jesuitical subtlety, avail themselves of this. They are always liberal where power is in the hands of Protestants. In Spain they are allied with absolute monarchy; in Britain with the sovereignty of the people: anything to establish the rule of the Roman See, and put liberty of conscience and the universal Christian right to read the Bible under interdict. Now, many love their party so well, that their love for truth is damped. They are afraid to offend their allies. They thus weaken the assailing power of Protestantism, and strengthen that of Popery. Romanists never put what they consider as the truth in the second place. They leave that to Protestants; and often must they be confirmed in their attachment to their own system when they see Protestants holding back from defending theirs, lest some secular object should be endangered. may speak strong things against the bigots, as they term them; but in their hearts they must respect those men most who put religious verity above all other considerations. To the Popish controversy, therefore, decided attention should be given. Our Protestant youth should study it, as far as they have opportunity.

Romanists

Now, here are two books, of first-rate character, and, because of their cheapness and size, easy of access. Our reading youth should, if possible, place them in their own libraries: at all events, Sabbath-school, and such-like libraries, should take care to have

them.

He

Mr. Townsend's volume (for which, in this very accessible form, we are much obliged to the Protestant Association) is a master-piece of controversy. In style, it is courteous, manly, and Christian. In matter,-particularly as including the Rejoinder to Mr. Butler's Reply,-absolutely crushing. Mr. Butler was amiable and gentlemanly; but Popery spoils even a man like him. That he would knowingly say what was untrue, or even quibble, we do not for a moment suppose. But look at this instance. says that Protestants ought only to take the absolutely standard works of his Church, such as the Creed of Pope Pius. He gives this, omitting that part of the form of profession which binds on oath those who make it to use their best endeavours to cause the Creed to be received by all their subjects, &c.; binds them on oath to an earnestly aggressive war against the principles of Protestantism. Well, he is called to task for thus giving, as a standard document, a paper with a most important omission. And what was his reply? Why, that the form of profession was not a portion of what was strictly the creed, the belief! In any indifferent matter he would have scorned to act thus. If this be not quibbling, nay, low shuffling, what is? No theological library should be without Mr. Townsend's book.

No; nor without Mr. Osburn's. Mr. Townsend goes all over history, as far as the previous rambles of Mr. Butler required. Mr. Osburn takes one portion,-the movements of the Jesuits, first, as to their establishment, and then as to their doings in England. He traces them clearly and powerfully. It is a portion of British ecclesiastical history, this, which has not been sufficiently studied,

making the history itself often very obscure. So far as could be done in so small a volume,-and our wonder is that he has managed to do so much, he has cleared up the subject, and properly exposed it to view. We hope, aided by the guide-posts he has erected and marked, it will now be thoroughly explored.

NOTICES OF ANIMATED AND VEGETABLE

NATURE,

FOR MARCH, 1847.

BY MR. WILLIAM ROGERSON, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

"EMERGED from Winter's gloomy scenes,

The infant Spring appears;

The meadow strewn with mingled greens,
An early beauty wears.

"The bulbous winter-sleeping root,
That late its honours shed,
Proud to display the earliest shoot,
Peeps from the genial bed.

"On mossy banks, in shelter'd bowers,
By mazy-wandering streams,

The sweet-blown primrose spreads her flowers,
To Phoebus' vernal beams.

"Groves, woodlands, hedge-rows, budding scene!
By warning preludes ring;
All nature breathes a joy serene,

And hails the new-born Spring.

"Blow soft, ye winds! thou spiteful frost,

The youthful season spare!

Lest all our pleasing hopes be lost,

And every pleasing care."

"FICKLENESS is said to be the chief feature of the month of March. It often storms, smiles, snows, hails, shines, and rains, all in one day. But it may certainly be known from its north-east winds which always prevail, sooner or later, in some part or other. Often are they felt more severely than the cold of mid-winter, yet they are of great utility. As Thomson says,

"Those cruel-seeming winds

Blow not in vain. For hence they keep repress'd

Those deepening clouds on clouds, surcharged with rain
That o'er the vast Atlantic hither borne,

In endless train, would quench the summer blaze,
And, cheerless, drown the crude unripen'd year.'

"At length, however, the whistling of the air, its rushing, and those gusts which are by no means unusual, pause for a time.

The winds seem to have done their work; and if rains come, they do not so saturate the ground as to prevent the sun drying it quickly. The change in this respect is often surprising. Were the heavy rains of the preceding month continued throughout the present, the seeds committed to the earth, and already germinating, would perish, and the industry of man be frustrated. March is sometimes called a trying month in our climate; but on it greatly depends the fulness of summer, and the riches of autumn. How wisely and benevolently are all things ordered! He who 'tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,' controls the power of the elements, for the welfare of his creatures."-Sights in Spring.

The first half of the month.-Young otters are produced, and young lambs are yeaned, at this time. This latter is one of the prettiest yet most pathetic sights that the animal world presents: the early lambs dropped in their tottering and bleating helplessness upon the cold skirts of winter, and hiding their frail forms from the March winds, by crouching down on the sheltered side of their dams; their constant enemy, the raven, keeping a sharp look-out for them,-this bird, about this time, frequenting sheeppastures, and watching for any young lambs that may be dropped, feeble or dead.

The dormouse, hedge-hog, viper, and toad revive from their torpidity, and the squirrel (interesting little creature) comes abroad from its winter retreat.

"The squirrel, with aspiring mind,
Disdains to be on earth confined,
But mounts aloft in air;

The pine-tree's giddiest height he climbs,
Or scales the beech-tree's loftiest limbs,
And builds his castle there."

The widgeon, the hooded-crow, the teal, the woodcock, &c., take their departure from their winter quarters in this country. The blackbird and thrush cheer the mornings with their songs, while the skylark is heard overhead.

On clayey soils the coltsfoot is displaying its citron-coloured flowers: this, like the other early plants, pleases the botanist as being among the first harbingers of Flora. Under the shelter of hedges, the red dead-nettle displays its modest purple flowers, in company with the dandelion and the common groundsel. glossy yellow flowers of pilewort arrest attention at this time.

The

The last half of the month.-The redwing and fieldfare depart for more northern regions. The wheatear and chiff-chaff arrive from the south. The magpie, jay, jackdaw, marsh-tit, &c., utter their peculiar notes, indicative of high spirits, caused by this genial season. Our friend the robin entertains us with his sprightly

notes:

"Sweet warbler! thy song on the thorn
Inspires me each day with delight;

I hear thy mild carol at morn,

And thy minstrelsy charms me at night."

The brimstone-coloured butterfly, which lives throughout the winter is usually seen in March. It is found in the neighbourhood of woods, on fine and sunny days, enjoying the beams of the noonday sun.

"Trusting the first warm days of Spring,

When transient sunshine warms the sky,
Light on his yellow-spotted wing,
Comes forth the early butterfly.

"With wavering flight, he settles now

Where pilewort spreads its blossoms fair,
Or on the grass where daisies blow,
Pausing he rests his pinions there."

Various interesting flowers begin now to ornament our gardens. The common furze adorns our heaths with its golden blossoms. The fields are assuming a vernal greenness; the buds are swelling in the hedges; the banks are displaying, amidst the brown remains of last year's vegetation, the luxuriant weeds of this: such as arums, ground-ivy, chervil, &c.

BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES,

FOR MARCH, 1847.

BY MR. WILLIAM ROGERSON, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

"I'VE loved to watch the Sun's declining beams,
Till wholly disappear'd his faintest gleams;
But not extinguish'd; though our western sky
Reflected not his glories to the eye:

For ancient Earth upon her axis whirl'd,

And other nations of our rolling world

Their portion of his heat and light enjoy'd,

And praised the Hand those blessings which supplied.

Then prospects new my ravish'd eyes have met:
High in the firmament above were set

Innumerable gems of silvery light,

Sparkling with brilliance, yet serenely bright."

MATILDA.

ASTRONOMY," as a modern writer justly states, was undoubtedly one of the earliest of the sciences cultivated by the human race. Some of its facts and first principles must have been known from the beginning of the world. For when the shades of night have opened to view the azure firmament, diversified with a multitude of shining orbs,-the Moon walking in brightness, the planets moving in their courses, and the host of stars displaying their diversified radiance,-such a scene must have attracted the attention of every spectator, and led him to observe their apparent motions, and to inquire into their order and arrangement, and their use in measuring the exact length and proportions of days, and

months, and years. Hence our English poet, Milton, very properly represents our first progenitors, Adam and Eve, celebrating the praises of their Maker, after taking a survey of the nocturnal heaven:

"These are thy glorious works, Parent of good,
Almighty! thine this universal frame,
Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then!
Unspeakable! who sitt'st above these heavens
To us invisible, or dimly seen

In these thy lowest works; yet these declare

Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine." "

The SUN rises at Greenwich on the 1st at forty-eight minutes past six, and sets at thirty-seven minutes after five: on the 21st he enters the equinoctial sign Aries, and the Spring quarter takes place. On the 26th, the Sun rises at fifty-two minutes past five, and sets at twenty minutes after six.

Note.-The Sun's rising and setting during this month are nearly the same at Edinburgh as Greenwich: the same may be said of any other place in the island of Great Britain.

The MOON is full on the 2d, at nine minutes past three in the morning; and rises in the evening of that day at about a quarter past six she rises on the 4th at half-past eight, and on the 7th at a quarter before midnight: she enters her last quarter on the 10th, and rises on the 11th at half-past two in the morning, and on the 13th at seven minutes after four. The Moon changes on the 16th, at eleven minutes past nine at night; and exhibits her fine narrow crescent in the west on the evening of the 17th, and sets at a quarter past seven o'clock: she sets on the 19th at six minutes before ten, and on the 20th at eight minutes past eleven, at night: she sets on the 23d at a quarter past one, and on the 26th at a quarter past three, in the morning. The Moon is full on the 31st, at seventeen minutes past nine at night; but passing through the southern part of the Earth's shadow at that time, is consequently eclipsed; the eclipse beginning at Greenwich or London at twenty-four minutes past eight, and ending at thirty minutes after ten, at night.