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Moore, and Scott. Partly connected with this, and partly with Scripture exposition, will be a few articles on what, to ourselves, is every way a delightful subject,-Hebrew poetry, the poetry of the book of books. Looking over our own note-book, we find we have made, at different times, notes from the old Grecian dramatists, illustrating sometimes the language of Scripture, sometimes the workings of the heathen mind, at others, of the human mind in all ages. A few extracts from these loci communes we shall occasionally insert. With these also will be connected some articles in extension of our account of Socrates, illustrative of the thinkings of the old philosophers. Our way is cleared, likewise, for travelling with the Crusaders, and conversing with the chemists; while books of voyage and travel promise us a numerously-furnished cosmorama, with plenty of miscellaneous sights by sea and land. As we have room, our "Miniature Christian Library," and "Sayings of great Men," will not be forgotten, with "Anecdotes," suggesting "Facts and Observations." We have also several books on the table calling for notice; and the sight of the works of Edmund Burke and Sir James Mackintosh on the shelf, reminds us that we have talked about some parison of two of the most able men of their respective classes. We have no lack of materials; and we can promise our readers a good will to endeavour to make the best use of them; always, we trust, keeping this in view, that in the knowledge of God is the only true wisdom; in the service of God the only true freedom; in the love of God the only true felicity; and these are all so vast, that, though they have their seed-time on earth, room for the harvest can only be found in heaven and eternity. We trust we can sincerely say, that all our arrangements have this for their object, that, in the profit of our readers, God may be glorified. His blessing we implore on the labours of the now-concluding year and in reference to those which are opening before us, and on which we cannot look without very solemn feelings, we hope we shall begin them by saying,-and will not our readers join us?" Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings, with thy most gracious favour, and further us with thy continual help.”

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NOTICES OF ANIMATED AND VEGETABLE

NATURE,

FOR DECEMBER, 1847.

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

"HARK! winter comes on hoarse resounding wings,

Gloomy dejection marks his furious way,
Rushing from frigid northern climes, he flings
A cloudy mantle o'er the short-lived day.

The tempest howls along the roof high rear'd,

Then through the woodland leads its furious train;

Tears the few leafy honours autumn spared,

And madly strews them o'er the' adjacent plain :
Since summer suns no more their influence lend,
The blazing hearth high, high, with fuel pile;
The pleasing volume, or the social friend,

Can best the dull, the slow-paced hours beguile."

THE withered leaf, the deserted field, the icy atmosphere, and the grateful fire, all proclaim the coming winter, which may now be considered as having set in; and we have often violent winds about this time, which sweep off the few remaining leaves from the trees, and, with the exception of a few oaks and beeches, leave the woods and forests nothing but a naked assemblage of bare boughs. These afford but poor shelter to the feathered tribe that remain with us through this season; among the most conspicuous of which are the chirping-sparrow, and timid gentle robin, who, in the dreary gloominess of winter, still cheers us with his song:

"Autumn's sere leaf is on the ground,
And chilly dews are spread around;
The winds beget a harsher sound,

And say bright autumn 's gone:

The rose hath lost its sweet perfume,

And those, once bright, have ceased to bloom;
All beauty wanes to its dreary tomb,
The frosted hills among."

The first half of the month.—The black rat, mouse, and brown rat become more troublesome in houses, from provender failing out of doors. The bank-swallow, chimney-swallow, the windowswallow, the swift and cuckoo, are never, as has been asserted, found torpid amongst mud at the bottom of ponds and rivers, nor the holes of sand-banks, hollow trees, or under house-eaves, but are in regions south of us, at this time, enjoying the warm beams of the sun. The grey lapwing departs southward; while the snow-fleck, haw finch, scaup-duck, the wild swan, the lumme, the goosander, &c., arrive on our coast, more or less regularly, according to the severity or mildness of the weather.

Among the finny tribes, we find that the turbot, the gwiniad, and torgoth are depositing their spawn. The December-moth, yellowline quaker-moth, the winter-leaf roller-moth, and the winter scorpion-fly make their appearance; but, after all, the entomologist does not expect at this dull and cold period of the year, to find much that is interesting among the insect department of nature.

If the month comes in mild, several flowers of the chrysanthemum are seen giving a cheerfulness to these short days; but so soon as severe frosts set in, they wither and die away. Evergreens at this time are highly valued.

The last half of the month.-The fox and the pole-cat often visit hen-roosts in quest of food; for the same purpose several small birds flock round our dwellings. The wren and the robin continue to be merry, though wintry winds blow cold.

The insect swarms which delighted us with their ceaseless hum, their varied tints, and beautiful forms, during the summer and autumnal months, are now retired to their winter quarters, and remain in a state of torpidity, till awakened by the enlivening warmth of spring. Spiders pass the brumal season in a dormant state, enclosed in their own webs, and placed in some concealed

corner.

Holly and mistletoe are in great request at this season. A late writer has remarked that "the singularity of the growth and form of the mistletoe brought it into repute among the Druids for the purposes of mystical superstition; and its use has thence been continued many centuries afterwards, so difficult it is to eradicate anything of this kind from the minds of the people when once it is fairly rooted. It was long thought to be impossible to propagate this plant. In the natural state, the seeds are said to be dropped by the missel-thrush, which feeds on the berries. Lately, however, it has been successfully propagated, by causing the bruised berries, which are very viscid, to adhere to the bark of such fruit-trees as have been found most congenial to their growth. Upon the bark of these the seeds readily germinate and take root."

We have now come not only to the conclusion of another month, but also another year: this, with the present exhibitions of animated and vegetable nature, lead the contemplative mind to serious reflections.

"On, on, in one unwearied round,

Old Time pursues his way;

Groves bud and blossom, and the ground

Expects in peace her yellow prey:

The oak's broad leaf, the rose's bloom,

Together fall, together lie;

And undistinguish'd in the tomb,

Howe'er they lived, are all that die;

Gold, beauty, knightly sword, and royal crown,
To the same sleep go shorn and wither'd down."

BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES,

FOR DECEMBER, 1847.

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

"WINTER.-Thou hold'st the sun

A prisoner in the yet undawning east,

Shortening his journey between morn and noon,
And hurrying him, impatient of his stay,
Down to the rosy west; but kindly still
Compensating his loss with added hours
Of social converse, and instructive ease;
And gathering, at short notice, in one group,
The family dispersed; and fixing thought,
Not less dispersed by daylight and its cares.

I crown thee King of intimate delights,
Fire-side enjoyments, home-born happiness,
And all the comforts that the lowly roof
Of undisturb'd retirement, and the hours
Of long, uninterrupted evening, know."

COWPER.

A CERTAIN writer, exhibiting the capabilities of the human mind, says, "The soul with out-spread wings travels through space, and adds yet more and more to its dimensions. With the swift-winged arrows of light, the soul visits the various regions of the vast universe far beyond, where Arcturus and his sons pursue their circling way, or where Orion stretches his stupendous form across the heavens, or where the dim-shining Pleiades shed forth their mild splendour! The soul views far beneath, in her majestic flight, all the constellations which gem the sky of this remote province of creation, and beholds other brilliant hosts of glowing firmaments, where systems roll on systems in infinite progression. While thus surveying these innumerable regions, teeming with the wonders of creative power, the soul looks abroad, and exults in her immortality."

The SUN rises at London and Greenwich on the 1st at forty-six minutes past seven, and sets at fifty-three minutes after three: he rises at Edinburgh on the same day at eleven minutes past eight, and sets at twenty-seven minutes after three. The Sun rises at London and Greenwich on the 21st at six minutes past eight, and sets at fifty-one minutes after three: he rises at Edinburgh on the same day at thirty-three minutes past eight, and sets at twenty-three minutes after three.

The Moon rises on the 1st at a quarter before one in the morning she rises on the 3d about three o'clock, and on the 5th at two minutes before five: she changes on the 7th, at thirty-one minutes after eight at night; and sets on the 9th at a quarter before six in the evening: she sets on the 11th at three minutes before eight, and on the 14th at half-past eleven, at night. The Moon is half-full on the 15th; and is due south on the 17th at a quarter-past eight, and on the 19th at seven minutes after ten, at night: she is full on the 21st, at eight minutes past ten, at night; and exhibits her splendid orb in the eastern horizon on the 22d at seven minutes past five in the evening: she rises on the 25th at twenty-five minutes after eight, and on the 27th at half-past ten, at night. The Moon enters on her last quarter on the 29th, and enlightens the mornings to the end of the month; for on the 31st I find she rises at forty-three minutes after one.

MERCURY is visible in the mornings about the middle of the month: he rises on the 14th at fifty-eight minutes past five, and on the 20th at fourteen minutes after six.

VENUS, now "the morning star," is a lovely object at the break of day: she rises throughout this month between three and four o'clock on the 3d and 4th this splendid planet is in the neighbourhood of the Moon.

MARS appears high in the south-eastern skies while the evening

twilight is fading away; though apparently diminishing in size, owing to his distance from the earth increasing, he is still a conspicuous object, and his ruddy disc renders it impossible for him to be mistaken for any other star: he is due south on the 1st at a quarter-past nine, on the 12th at half-past eight, and on the 28th at forty minutes after seven in the evening; on the 17th he is in the neighbourhood of the Moon.

JUPITER appears very brilliant every evening near the eastern horizon as night advances, he mounts high in the heavens; and at the end of the month is due south soon after midnight: on the 22d and 23d he is not far from the Moon. The belts and satellites of this planet are now to be seen to advantage by those persons who are in possession of proper telescopes.

you,

I will here insert the lively and characteristic account which Kepler gives of his receiving the intelligence of the discovery of Jupiter's satellites :-"I was sitting idle at home, thinking of most excellent Galileo, and your letters, when the news was brought me of the discovery of four planets, by the help of the double eye-glass. Wacherfels stopped his carriage at my door to tell me, when such a fit of wonder seized me at a report that seemed so very absurd, that I was thrown into such agitation at seeing an old dispute between us decided in this way, that between his joy, my colouring, and the laughter of both, confounded as we were by such a novelty, we were hardly capable, he of speaking, or I of listening."

SATURN is to be seen in the south-west during the early part of the night he is due south at the beginning of the month at six o'clock, at the middle at five, and at the end of the month at four in the evening: on the 13th and 14th he is in the vicinity of the Moon.

URANUS is favourably situated for telescopic observations: his right ascension on the 1st is 0h. 54m. 38s., and his declination 5o 7m. 40s. north: on the 30th his right ascension is 0h. 53m. 52s., and his declination 5° 4m. 1's. north.

NEPTUNE Continues to be a telescopic object in the evenings: his right ascension on the 1st is 22h. Om. 33s., and his declination 12° 49m. 19s. south his right ascension on the 11th is 22h. 1m. 9s., and his declination 12° 46m. 1s. south.

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Unfavourable weather, and the low altitude of this planet, have not allowed Mr. Lassell to observe the ring of Neptune satisfactorily there is, however, no doubt in his mind as to the existence of a ring. The observations of the satellite have been more successful it has been repeatedly seen in the course of the year, and the non-existence of any star in the places successively occupied by it, frequently ascertained. From the mean of his observations, Mr. Lassell concludes that the satellite revolves about the planet in five days, twenty-one hours, nearly; and that its greatest elongation is somewhere about eighteen seconds in space. The orbit which it appears to describe has a minor axis, differing little from the diameter of the planet. The satellite is much brighter in the

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