mass of fraud and of crime which no one could have supposed to have existed before. For, however great a rogue a man may be in his own life, calling, or department, he does not know that of others. Here they are all of them exposed. His treatises on Indigence and on Education are most valuable. *28. 1630.-CHARLES COTTON BORN. The RETIREMENT. Farewell, thou busie world, and may Here I can eat, and sleep, and pray, Good God! how sweet are all things here! How cleanly do we feed and lie! Lord! what good hours do we keep! What peace! what unanimity! How innocent from the lewd fashion Oh how happy here's our leisure! By turn to come and visit ye! O Solitude, the soul's best friend, With thee I here converse at will, And would be glad to do so still; For it is thou alone that keep'st the soul awake. How calm and quiet a delight It is alone To read, and meditate, and write, To walk, ride, sit, or sleep at one's own ease, *—. 1642.—COLONEL LOVELACE IMPRISONED in the Gatehouse, at Westminster, by order of the House of Commons, for presenting a petition from the county of Kent, requesting them to restore the King to his rights, and to settle the government. See Wood's Athena, vol. ii, p. 228; where may be seen, at large, the affecting story of this elegant writer, who, after having been distinguished for every gallant and polite accomplishment, the pattern of his own sex, and the darling of the ladies, died in the lowest wretchedness, obscurity, and want, in 1658. The following beautiful sonnet was written by Colonel Lovelace while in prison;— When love with unconfined wings Hovers within my gates, To whisper at my grates; And fettered with her eye, When flowing cups ran swiftly round Our carelesse heads with roses crowned, When thirsty griefe in wine we steepe, When healths and draughts goe free, Fishes, that tipple in the deepe, When, linnet-like, confined I With shriller note shall sing When I shall voyce aloud how good He is, how great should be, Th' enlarged winds, that curl the flood, Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor iron barres a cage, Mindes, innocent and quiet, take That for an hermitage: If I have freedom in my love, 29,-LOW SUNDAY. It was a custom among the primitive Christians, on the first Sunday after Easter-day, to repeat some part of the solemnity of that grand festival; whence this Sunday took the name of Low Sunday, being celebrated as a feast, though in a lower degree. Astronomical Occurrences In APRIL 1821. SOLAR PHENOMENA. THE Sun enters Taurus at 40 m. past 10 in the morning of the 20th of this month; and he rises and sets at the times specified below during the same period. TABLE Of the Sun's Rising and Setting for every fifth Day. April 1st, Sun rises 33 m. after 5. Sets 27 m. after 6 26th, 5 23 14 46 Equation of Time. Various instances occur, both in practical astronomy and the common concerns of life, in which it is, necessary to reduce the apparent to mean time; to accomplish which add the quantities in the following table to their respective times as indicated by a good sun-dial, or subtract them as directed, and the results will be the mean time required. Sunday April 1st, to the time by the dial add 4 0 Friday 6th, Moon's Passage over the Meridian. The Moon's centre will pass the meridian of the Royal Observatory at the following times during this month: viz. April 9th, at 34 m. after 6 in the evening 10th, 25 Eclipses of Jupiter's Satellites. This planet is still too near the Sun to allow these small bodies to be visible from our globe. The Moon will be in conjunction with Mercury at 16 m. after 6 in the evening of the 1st of this month. Mercury will be stationary on the 9th, and attain his greatest elongation on the 22d. Georgium Sidus will be stationary on the 6th. Saturn will be in conjunction at 30 m. after 3 in the afternoon of the same day. The Moon will be in conjunction with in Taurus at 3m. after 5 in the morning of the 7th. Venus and Jupiter will be in conjunction on the 10th, when Venus will be 20' south of Jupiter. The Moon will be in conjunction with in Leo at 20 m. after 11 in the morning of the 12th; and with a in Virgo at 48 m. past midnight of the 16th. Venus and Saturn will be in conjunction on the 17th, Venus being 53' north of Saturn at the time. At 19 m. after 8 in the evening of the 20th, the Moon will be in conjunction with a in Scorpio; and on the 26th, Mars and Jupiter will be in conjunction, the former being 14′ north of the latter. α The Naturalist's Diary For APRIL 1821. Now laughing SPRING comes on, and birds, in pairs, That, as it flows through Nature's swelling veins, AT this time of general renovation among the various tribes of plants and trees, the swelling buds 'spring from their coverts,' And push away the withered leaves that hung Whispering through many a shivering, wintry blast, To fall in the first breath of Spring at last. In April the weather is mild, with gentle showers, affording to vegetables an abundant supply of water, which is so indispensably necessary to their existence. This is the general character of April; yet we have sometimes very sharp frosts in this month, as well as in its successor, MAY: |