out engaging sympathy. We are interested in Conrad, because his fierce and gloomy spirit is mastered by the passion which masters all;-because in him it is deep and overwhelming, yet refined and pure-like the token, which restored the repenting Peri to Edenthe redeeming and expiatory virtue, which shows that the light of the soul, however darkened, is not extinguished altogether-and we do not ask, how purity and love can find their refuge in a pirate's bosom-we do not remember, that they could as hardly dwell there as Abdiel among the rebel host. Not so the ruined Archangel. In him all may be grand and imposing, but all is dark, stern and relentless. If there be aught to admire, there is at least nothing to imitate. Through all the writings of Milton, there reign a loftiness and grandeur which seem to raise the soul to the standard of his own elevation. The finest minds have resorted to them for the rich treasures of eloquence and wisdom; and they might also find in them the more enduring treasures of piety and virtue.

THOMSON AND COWPER.

THERE are few who do not love to contemplate the two great masters of descriptive English poetry, Thomson and Cowper; with whom we seem to converse with the intimacy of familiar friends, and almost to forget our veneration for the poets, in our love and admiration of the virtues of the men. Both had minds and hearts which were touched with the feelings of the beauty, and fitted to enjoy the influences of nature; and the poetry of both was elevated, if not inspired, by religious veneration of the great Author of the grand and beautiful. The view of Thomson was bold and wide; it comprehended the whole landscape; he delighted to wander by the mountain torrent, and in the winter's storm; and it seemed as if the volume of nature was open and present before him. It is not so with Cowper. His lowly spirit did not disdain the humblest thing that bore the impress of his Maker's hands; he looked with as keen an eye of curiosity and

admiration upon the meanest flower of the valley as upon the wide expanse, glittering in the pure brilliancy of winter's evening, or bright with the dazzling glory of the summer noon. He made the voice of instruction issue from the most familiar things, and invested them with beauty, hourly seen, but never felt before ; and he painted them all with the pure and delightful colouring of simplicity and truth.

CIRCLE OF THE SCIENCES WITH SUITABLE REFLECTIONS.

ASTRONOMICAL SKETCHES.-NO. XI.-THE MOON.

THE Moon has an apparent daily motion from east to west, like all the other-heavenly bodies; (this apparent motion is caused by the rotation of the earth from west to east) a progressive motion from west to east, advancing through the twelve signs of the zodiac in about 29 days, 12 hours; and a rotation upon her axis, which is completed in the same time as her revolution round the Earth.

The motion of the Moon in her orbit is very unequal. Sometimes she moves faster than the Earth, at other times slower. In some parts of her orbit she is behind the Earth, at other times she is before the earth; but at the conjunction and opposition she is in the same part of the heavens as seen from the Sun.

The Moon's absolute motion from her change to the first quarter is so much slower than the Earth's, that she falls 24,000 miles behind the Earth at her first quarter. From her first quarter to her opposition, her motion is gradually increased, having regained what she lost in her first quarter. From her opposition to the beginning of her last quarter, her motion continues accelerated, so that she is advanced as far before the Earth, as she was behind it at her first quarter, namely, 24,000 miles, which is equal to the semi-diameter of her orbit. But from the beginning of her last quarter to her conjunc tion with the Sun, her motion is so retarded, that she loses as much with respect to the Earth, as is equal to her distance from it. From these remarks it appears

that the absolute motion of the Moon is slower than the motion of the Earth, from the beginning of her last quarter to the end of her first, and swifter than the Earth's, from the beginning of her second quarter to the end of the third, her path being less curved than the Earth's in the former case, and more in the latter. The curve, in both cases, is always bent, or concave, toward the Sun.

Although the Moon moves round the Earth upwards of twelve times in one year, and round the Sun in the same time, yet her real path in the heavens differs very little from the path of the Earth. Both paths, indeed, are so very similar in their curve towards the Sun, that the difference in their form, to an eye which could view both orbits, could not be noticed. The distance of the Earth from the Sun is 95,000,000 miles, and of the Moon from the Earth 24,000, which is only in the proportion of one mile to 3,900, or one inch to 110 yards: a difference too minute to be perceived.

The Moon is invisible at her conjunction with the Sun, having her whole enlightened disk turned from the Earth. A few days after her conjunction, she is seen in the west in the form of a beautiful crescent. In this stage of her revolution, she appears the most beautiful object in the heavens when viewed through a telescope. During seven or eight days she increases in size, until she reaches her first quarter; and continuing still more to increase, she at length comes in opposition to the Sun; when, her whole illuminated hemisphere being turned towards the Earth, she is called the full Moon. From the full she gradually decreases, and daily rises later after sunset; and in the course of seven or eight days she finishes her third quarter, when she is seen with her convex side toward the east, and her dark limb towards the west; the line which separates between the bright and dark parts being without any curve.

After

this she continues to decrease in brightness until her conjunction with the Sun; when she is again invisible, having her whole illuminated disk again turned from the Earth.

Besides the apparent diurnal motion of the Moon

from east to west, she has an absolute motion from west to east, at the rate of thirtcen degrees in twenty-four hours. If the moon is seen on any night in conjunction with any fixed star, she will appear the following night to have receded from that star thirteen degrees eastward, on the second night twenty-six degrees, and on the third night thirty-nine degrees; and at the end of twenty-seven days, seven hours, forty-three minutes, eleven seconds, she will have returned to the same point of the heavens, or will be in conjunction with the same star. Since the Moon, while she appears to move daily round the earth from east to west, advances in reality through thirteen degrees in her orbit, from west to east, the time of her rising, southing, and setting, must be later every rotation of the Earth upon its axis, or every day or night. This difference is nearly fifty minutes every day, at or near the equator. The greatest difference observed between the time of the rising and setting of the Moon at London, upon any two successive nights, amounts to one hour and seventeen minutes, which happens at the period of the vernal full Moon; and the least difference is seventeen minutes, which happens at the period of the autumnal full Moon.

PHILIP GARRETT.

REFLECTED HAPPINESS.

To a man who possesses a good heart there can be nothing more pleasing than the consciousness of giving pleasure to others. The luxury of doing good is a most exquisite as well as a most innocent luxury to him whose feelings and affections are such as make a man capable of enjoying as well as bestowing happi

ness.

FEMALE MODESTY.

MODESTY, in a young female is the flower of a tender shrub, which is the promise of excellent fruits. To destroy it, is to destroy the germ of a thousand virtues, to destroy the hope of society, to commit an outrage against nature. The air of the world is a burning breath that every day blasts this precious flower.

CARAVAN IN THE DESERT.

CARAVAN OF KARAVAN-A Persian word used to denote large companies which travel together in the Levant and in Africa, for the sake of security from robbers having in view principally, trade or pilgrimages. Such a company often has more than a thousand camels to carry their baggage and their goods. These walk in single file, so that the line is often a mile long. On account of the excessive heat, they travel, mostly, in the morning. As every Mahomedan is obliged to visit the tomb of Mahommed, once at least, during his life, caravans of pilgrims go to Mecca, every year from various places of meeting. The leader of such a caravan to Mecca, who carries with him some cannon, for protection, is called Emir Adge. Trading caravans choose VOL. I.

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