BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES,

FOR AUGUST, 1847.

BY MR. WILLIAM ROGERSON, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
"HAIL, King supreme! of power immense abyss !
Father of light! exhaustless source of bliss!
Thou uncreated, self-existent Cause,
Controll'd by no superior being's laws:
Ere infant light essay'd to dart the ray,

Smiled heavenly sweet, and tried to kindle day;
Ere the wide fields of æther were display'd,

Or silver stars cerulean spheres inlaid;
Ere yet the eldest child of time was born,
Or verdant pride young nature did adorn,
Thou art; and didst eternity employ
In unmolested peace, in plenitude of joy."

BLACKMORE.

THE SUN rises at London or Greenwich on the 1st at twenty-five minutes past four, and at Edinburgh at five minutes after four: he rises at London on the 13th at forty-four minutes past four, and at Edinburgh at twenty-nine minutes after four. This bright luminary appears in the eastern horizon at London on the 25th at three minutes past five, and at Edinburgh at fifty-two minutes after four. "The Sun comes forth deckt in his purple robe

From the dark chambers of the tranquil night;
The smiles of morning gild the gladden'd globe,
And all the world is bathed in liquid light:
As fresh as if the' intelligent Former's hand
Had waked its earliest smile of bliss to-day,
Bright as if even now the' enamell'd land

First sprung to being 'neath his living lay."

The Sun sets at Greenwich or London on the 7th at thirty-six minutes past seven, and at Edinburgh at fifty-four minutes after seven: on the 19th he descends below the western verge at London at thirteen minutes past seven, and at Edinburgh at twenty-seven minutes after seven.

The Moon rises on the 1st at four minutes before ten at night, and on the 3d enters on her last quarter: she rises on the 4th at half-past eleven at night, and on the 7th at a quarter after one in the morning. The Moon rises on the 8th at nine minutes past two, and on the 9th an hour later: she changes on the 11th, at thirty-two minutes before one in the morning; and sets in the evening of the 14th at half-past eight on the 16th she sets at a quarter after nine, and on the 18th at a quarter past ten. The moon is half-full on the 19th, and on the 20th descends below the western horizon at half-past eleven at night: she is on the meridian, or due south, on the 22d at seven minutes before nine, and on the 25th at forty-three minutes after eleven, at night. The Moon is full on the 26th, at nine minutes past six in the morning; and rises on the 27th at twenty-five minutes after seven: she rises on the 29th at half-past eight, and on the 31st at twenty-two minutes before ten, at night.

MERCURY is visible at the end of the month, when the mornings are very clear, rising about an hour and a half before the Sun.

VENUS continues to gild the western skies with her refulgent beams after the splendid orb of day has descended below the horizon this lovely planet sets on the 1st at eleven minutes past nine, and on the 20th at four minutes after eight: at the end of the month she becomes obscured in the solar blaze, but is still visible through a good telescope, appearing a beautiful crescent, like the Moon when one or two days old.

MARS rises on the 1st at twenty-four minutes past one, and on the 20th at half-past nine at night: on the 2d, and also on the 30th, he is in conjunction with the Moon.

JUPITER is now a morning star, and towards the end of the month appears a conspicuous object at the break of day: he rises on the 1st at half-past one, and on the 20th at a quarter before one: on the 8th he is in the vicinity of the Moon.

SATURN is to be seen in the south-eastern part of the heavens towards the middle of the night: he rises on the 2d at five minutes before nine, and on the 21st at a quarter before eight on the 26th he appears not far from the Moon.

URANUS is now visible by means of a telescope: on the 20th he is due south at sixteen minutes past three, and on the 31st at thirtytwo minutes after two, when his right ascension is one hour and six minutes, and his declination six degrees and twenty minutes north on the 2d and 29th he is near the Moon.

THE ECLIPSES OF JUPITER'S SATELLITES.-On the 20th the first satellite immerges into the shadow of the planet at thirty-one minutes past two in the morning. The third satellite immerges on the 28th at thirty-four minutes past one; and the fourth satellite immerges on the 31st at three minutes before four in the morning. Note.-August 13th, 1596, David Fabricius discovered Stella Mira, in the neck of the Whale (Cetus).

August 18th, 1822. De Lambre died. This eminent astronomer has rendered the most essential services to the noble science of which he was a professor. He freed it from the confined limits of arithmetic, and united instead the various elements which concur in the result of observation, by the laws of their algebraic dependence, thus giving to Mayer's "Tables a degree of perfection before considered ideal; and he has also placed the past history of astronomy in a clear point of view, giving its due praise to each discovery.

POETRY.

BASKET OF SPECIMENS FROM ROBERT HERRICK.

FAREWELL FROST; OR, WELCOME THE SPRING.

FLED are the frosts, and now the fields appear
Re-clothed in fresh and verdant diaper;

Thaw'd are the snows, and now the lusty spring
Gives to each mead a neat enamelling:
The palms put forth their gems, and every tree
Now swaggers in her leafy gallantry.

The while the Daulian minstrel sweetly sings
With warbling notes her Terrean sufferings,
What gentle winds perspire; as if here
Never had been the northern plunderer,
To strip the fields and trees to their distress,
Leaving them to a pitied nakedness:

And look, how when a frantic storm doth tear
A stubborn oak, or elm, long growing there;
But lull'd to calmness, and then sounds a breeze,
That scarcely stirs the nodding leaves of trees:
So when this war, which, tempest-like, doth spoil
Our salt, our corn, our honey, wine, and oil,
Falls as a tempest, and doth mildly cast

His inconsiderate frenzy off at last:

The gentle dove may, when these turmoils cease, Bring in her bill once more the branch of peace.

PRAY AND PROSPER.

FIRST offer incense, then thy fields and meads
Shall smile and smell the better by thy beads.
The spangling dew dredged o'er the dross shall be
Turn'd all to meal and manna there for thee.
Butter of amber, cream, and wine, and oil,
Shall run as rivers all throughout thy soil.
Wouldst be sincere, to silver turn thy mould?
Pray once, pray twice, and turn thy ground to gold.

SPRING IS NEAR.

(From "The Lake and Poetic Musings.")

THE landscape lies entomb'd in snow,

The cold grows more and more severe;
Yet do my spirits briskly glow,

For spring is near.

It was not thus some months ago,

When darkly droop'd the dying year;

I could not then rejoice to know
That spring was near.

* The Civil wars, in the time of Charles I.

O yes, O yes! the season gay

Of song and bloom will soon be here ;
When these rude hours, the bright warm day
Will more endear.

Ah! sad one: does this death-like scene

A picture of thy life appear?

Has thy life's sky, once all serene,

Become as drear?

Suppose not 'twill be always so:

For, surely as the sunbeams clear

Entice the flowers from crypts of snow,

Thy spring is near.

THERE'S AN END OF ALL THINGS HERE.

(From "The Lake and Poetic Musings.")

AN end of all things here:

An end of grief, anxiety, and pain:
A rust is nurtured by the captive's tear,
That eateth through his chain.

There is an end of joy :

Ah! what is earth's felicity? Alas!
A star that perforates a darkling sky,
And then away doth pass!

There is an end of toil:

The weary hind, the' exhausted artisan,
Shall cease to labour: by the midnight oil
Health's cheek no more grow wan.

There is an end of wrong;

Of power abused to persecute and harm:
Vengeance shall wither up, however strong
Oppression's tyrant arm.

And then there comes an end

Of all, or bliss or sorrow, time can share :
But, O! in those bright heavens whereto we tend,
All is eternal there!

Roche, Printer, 25, Hoxton-square, London.