Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

is now fixed at the rate of 191,515 miles per second. Other observations would lead us to suppose that the velocity of light is uniform, for it has been found that the light from the sun, the planets, and all the fixed stars, travels with one and the same velocity, though these bodies are at different and variable distances from us; hence we may conclude, that the velocity of light is independent of the particular source from which it emanates, and the distance over which it has travelled before reaching our eye.

Some idea may be formed of the astonishing velocity of light, when it is considered that a cannon-ball would require seventeen years, at least, to reach the sun, supposing its velocity to continue uniform from the moment of its discharge. Yet light travels over the same space in seven minutes and a half. The swiftest bird, at its utmost speed, would require nearly three weeks to make the tour of the earth. Light performs the same distance in much less time than it required for a single stroke of his wing. Astronomers have demonstrated that light cannot possibly arrive at our earth from the nearest of the fixed stars in less than five years, and telescopes disclose to us objects probably many thousand times more remote.

When a ray of light proceeds through empty space, or in a perfectly homogeneous medium, its course, as has been mentioned above, is rectilinear, and its velocity uniform; but when it encounters an obstacle, or a different medium, it undergoes changes; and is separated into several parts, which pursue different courses, or are otherwise differently modified.

These changes are termed, reflexion, refraction, absorption, dispersion, and polarization.

Reflection is when a ray of light falling upon a polished surface is repelled by it, and pursues its course in a right line wholly exterior to the reflecting medium. The intensity and regularity of reflexion at the external surface of a medium, is found to depend not merely on the nature of the medium, but very essentially on the degree of smoothness and polish of its surface.

Refraction is where a ray of light passes obliquely through media of different den. sity, and is thus bent or attracted out of its course: it is from this property of light that a stick partly immersed in water, appears

broken.

Some portions of rays of light become scattered in all directions, one part being intermitted into the medium, and distributed over the hemisphere interior to it, while the other is in like manner scattered over the exterior hemisphere. These two

portions are those which render visible the surfaces of bodies to eyes situated any how with respect to them, and are therefore of the utmost importance to vision. Of those portions which enter the medium, a part more or less is absorbed, stifled, or lost, without any further change of direction; and that not at once, but progressively, as they penetrate deeper and deeper into its substance. In perfectly opaque media, such as the metals, this absorption is total, and takes place within a space less than we can appreciate; still there are good reasons for supposing that it is gradual.

Transparent bodies, on the contrary, allow the rays of light to pass freely through their substance, or, it may be, between their particles; and the transparency is said to be more or less perfect, according as a greater or less portion of the light which enters them, finds its way through. Among pon. derable bodies, we know of none whose transparency is perfect. Whether it be that some of the rays in their passage encounter bodily the particles of the media, and are thereby reflected; or, whether they are stopped or turned aside by the forces which reside in the molecules, or ultimate atoms of bodies, without actual encounter, or otherwise detained or neutralized by them; certain it is, that even in the most rare or transparent media, such as air, water, and glass, a beam of light intromitted, is gradually extinguished, and becomes more and more feeble as it penetrates to a greater depth within them, and ultimately becomes too faint to affect our organs. Thus, on the tops of very high mountains, a much greater multitude of stars is visible to the naked eye than in the plains at their feet; the weak light of the smallest of them being too much reduced in its passage through the lower atmospheric strata, to affect the sight. Dr. Olbers has even supposed the same to hold good with the imponderable media (if any) of the celestial spaces, and conceives this to be the reason why so few stars (not more than about ten millions) can be seen with the most powerful telescopes.

(To be concluded in our next.)

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

THE mean temperature, from November 20th to December 31st, 1831, was 44 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. The maximum, which was 56 degrees, took place on November 23d and December 9th, when the direction of the wind on both days was south-westerly; the maximum, which was 30 degrees, took place on December 25th, when the direction of the wind was

[ocr errors]

south-easterly. The range of the thermometer, during the above period, was 26 degrees; and the prevailing wind southwest. The direction of the wind has been south-westerly, fifteen days; westerly, nine; north-westerly, six; north-easterly, five; southerly, three; south-easterly, two; and northerly, two.

The mean temperature of November was 42 degrees, and of December 44 degrees; the prevailing wind being west during the former month, and south-west during the latter.

Fog was prevalent on the following days, November 28th, December 3d, and 24th to 27th. During the latter days, it occurred with scarcely any intermission; and was very dense on the evenings of the 24th, 25th, and 26th.

December 7th and 12th were distinguished by considerable gales of wind.

POETRY.

THE TULIP AND THE ROSE.
A FABLE.

A TULIP, which is prized by most,-
A scentless flower of lovely hue,

Which some pronounce the garden's boast,
Upon a blooming flower-bed grew,
And on its tall and slender stem
Display'd its gaudy diadem.

One morn, as she unclosed her eye,
And look'd abroad in haughty pride,
Near to her bed she did espy

A Rose, full-blown, and throwing wide
A fragrance to the morning air,
Which the proud Tulip could not bear.

Ah me! she cried, what scent is here,
Which thus pollutes the breath of morn?-
Nay, nay, dear sister Rose, forbear!

Then tossed her gaudy head in scorn;
And then, the noisome smell to stop,
She closed her crimson petal up.

The Rose, who could not brook the taunt,
Replied, while anger stung her breast,
"Thou foolish, envious thing, avaunt!

That sneer'st at merit unpossest By thee, and all thy worthless tribeGo to! I scorn thy harmless gibe. '

"Nay, nay," the Tulip straight exclaim'd, "No harm, dear sister Rose, is meant; Why is your breast with gall inflamed?

You boast some beauty! but this scent Is here a nuisance-pray attend To decency, and I'm your friend." "Some beauty!" said the Rose," yes-la! Such as the sweetest kiss insures. You boast a little, too; but, ah! What's beauty, with a breath like yours? Where, if a suitor touch your lip, The breath of poison he will sip.

"And now, good madam Tulip, list; By fairest hands I'm oft carest,

Am by the lips of beauty kiss'd,

And find a throne on Čelia's breast; While you are view'd with scornful browYour all consists in outward show."

[merged small][ocr errors]

O Pride! thou base perfidious guest,
That thou couldst from thy throne be hurl'd!
And thou, rank Envy, from thy nest

Be hooted round a clamorous world!
That jarring discord thence might cease,
And friendship live, and love increase.
So high the contest rose at length,
Between these flowers of high pretence,
That each had almost spent its strength
In ire and vaunting eloquence;
While Boreas heard each hot dispute,
And vow'd he'd strike at Envy's root.
"I'll end this warm debate," he said;

Then swell'd his ample cheeks, and blew
A sudden blast across the bed

All where the gaudy Tulip grew-
The Tulip bow'd its trembling head,
It snapt 'twas number'd with the dead!
The Rose beheld its fatal fall

With half a laugh and half a sneer;
In mockery at its fate withal,

She waved her head above its bier;
Stern Boreas saw the shameful deed,
And vow'd that she the next should bleed.

Again his ample cheeks he fill'd,

And through the rose-bush rudely pass'd; The deed was done-now he beheld

Her leaves all scatter'd in the blast,
Which to the Tulip form'd a bed
Whereon to rest its dying head.
Near Halifax.

THOS. CROSSLEY.

LINES WRITTEN IN AN ALBUM-TO
MISS B., ON HER BIRTH-DAY.

SINCE life is but a vapour, and time is on the wing, Forgive me if I take my harp, and touch a solemn string.

For while we all are hastening, each to his closing day,

I dare not waste a moment, or throw an hour away. Full well I know that albums, too often do contain Such lines as puff the heart with pride, and make the careless vain.

And many of the writers have made it all their care, To lavish empty flattery, and praises light as air: But whilst Ioccupy in thine a pure unblemish'd page, My counsels shall be serious, though not the words of age.

This day thou wilt commemorate, thy long past day of birth;

And surely, then, thy musings should tarry not on earth:

For God'the Lord invites thee, to send thy thoughts above;

And while he stoops to notice, he proffers thee his

[blocks in formation]

And then, should birth-days o'er thy head in quick succession roll,

They will but urge thee onward, to the birth-day of thy soul.

And when thine earthly birth-days shall here for ever cease,

May bands of angels waft thee to everlasting peace. Chelmsford, April 25, 1831.

THE INFANT SMILE.

THAT smile affords a transient gleam, Of purity and bliss supreme,

That once in Eden bloomed ;
Ere bright perfection fled from earth,
And sin and sorrow marked our birth,
Or death his power assumed.

If thou should'st hasten to the tomb,
Sweet innocent! who'd dare to doom
Thy soul to endless wo;

When Christ declares, in words of love, "Of such consists the world above," Enough for us to know.

It would be hard indeed to part
With thee, sweet treasure of my heart!
To me so kindly given;

Yet, if that smile in death should sleep,
I would not in despondence weep,
It must awake in heaven!

R. S.

LINES ON FINDING TWO HUMAN FORE-
TEETH, IN THE CHURCH YARD, AT
BATLEY.

TIME was, when you adorn'd the coral lip,
And grac'd, perhaps, lov'd beauty's winning smile,
While some enraptur'd swain might sigh to sip
The nectar'd tribute Celia breath'd the while.
Did you employ the fair-one's daily care,
While on her toilette, tinctures' brushes lay,
Eager those fading charms still to repair,
Which time more certain sought to rend away?
And was your once possessor, haughty, proud?—
Scorn'd she the meaner forms which nature gave,
Alas! the face where beauty's radiance glow'd,
Has no attractions in the gloomy grave.
Perchance, some ghastly beggar's lips between
You stood;-the child of misery and wo,
Where want and sickness rul'd the awful scene,
And where the grinders had not much to do.

Did you to some harsh overseer belong,
Who mutter'd curses on the vagrant poor;
And have you sneer'd upon the hapless throng,
That, pinch'd by hunger, sought the parish door!
Claimed by some shrew, did you assist the tongue
In wordy warfare and the noisy strife,
While to her spouse full many a peal she rung,
The eternal rattle that disturb'd his life?

Or did some epicure once call you his,
Who lov'd the smoking board, and groaning spit,
Who ask'd no higher heaven, or nobler bliss,
Than midst the hecatombs of meats to sit ?

gay

Some Lothario might these relics bear,
The man of bows, of compliments, perfume,
With honied speech, who charm'd the list'ing fair,
And, like the siren, lur'd them to their doom.
Or have you lent the pious preacher aid,
The crowded list'ning audience to move,
While drest in smiles his face, his tongue displayed
The rich exuberance of a Saviour's love?
Whose once you were-what your possessor's lot,
Fair, plain, rich, poor, wise, or despotic he,
I cannot tell; the mortal now is not,
And you so valued, useless now I see.

From what you are, and what you once have been,
These serious lessons learnt, may I retain,
Humility becomes this fading scene,
And pride is hateful in corruption's train.

'Tis wisdom's part, since man is born to die,
The hasty sojourner of life's short day,
To seek a permanent abode on high,
That heavenly clime which smiles beyond decay.
J.W.

Carlinghow New Hall, near Leeds.

REVIEW. The Complete Works of Philip Doddridge, D.D. in two Vols. Royal 8vo. pp. 1038-1259. Westley and Davis. London. 1831.

DR. DODDRIDGE is so well known in the theological world, that to mention his name is to call forth a great variety of pleasing associations. With his valuable works, every student for the ministry, and every profound inquirer after truth, we presume to be well acquainted. Though published at different times, they have been more than half a century before the world; and so long as intrinsic worth shall prove a passport to patronage, they are in no danger of being withdrawn from circulation.

In most former editions, the writings of this eminent man were sold in an expensive form, and, as a natural consequence, were rather treasured up in the libraries of the wealthy, than dispersed among the reading community, for whose edification they were so admirably adapted. On the present occasion, this once insuperable barrier is broken down, and the entire works of this pious, learned, and indefatigable author, are presented to the public in two volumes, at a price which, in former years, would not have purchased his Family Expositor. From the number of pages which each contains, it will be seen that they are of no diminutive bulk; and we may add, that each page extending over a large surface of paper, and, without notes, containing about eighty lines, an attentive perusal of the whole will furnish employment to many days of close and unremitting application.

The first volume contains a 66 Life of the Author," his "Family Expositor,' 99 "A Dissertation on Sir Isaac Newton's Chronology," and a copious index. The “Memoir," by Job Orton, may be justly ranked among the best specimens of biography in the English language. The "Family Expositor" gives the sacred text in the margin, and then combines it with a paraphrase, in harmonious order, on all the books of the New Testament, divided into short sections, each of which is followed by a devotional improvement of the doctrines and precepts which it contains. This is a work of inestimable value, and, without any other, would have been sufficient to immortalize its author's name.

The second volume comprises the "Life of Colonel Gardiner," Theological Lectures," "Sermons," "Hymns," "Letters," "Lectures on Preaching," and some miscellaneous articles. The life of the pious colonel is too well known to require any observations. On perusing it, the reader will be ready to exclaim, "Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" The lectures put on a very formal aspect, and, from the alterations in arrangement which more modern times have introduced, appear in a kind of antiquated dress. They seem to assume a mathematical character, and to aim at a species of demonstration, of which moral, ethical, and revealed subjects are not always susceptible. But notwithstanding this somewhat obsolete garb, they display the author's talents and researches to a high degree of advantage; nor is there a topic connected with the great subjects of which they treat, on which something of considerable importance may not be gathered from them. The sermons are plain, practical, and edifying, and may be surveyed as lively transcripts of their author's mind. The hymns are well known, many among them having been transplanted into almost every collection that has been published. His letters display a great diversity of talent, and an intimate acquaintance with the subjects on which they are written.

These two large octavo volumes, embodying all the works of this excellent author, appear to be correctly and neatly printed. It must have been an undertaking attended with considerable expense, which nothing but their sterling worth and long-established character could have justified. But, from the well-known literary and theological reputation of Dr. Doddridge, and the serious respect with which they have uniformly been received, the publisher can have little doubt of an honourable reimbursement. His sale may not be so rapid as ephemeral publications acquire, which blaze for a moment, and then disappear for ever-but it will be permanent; and for ages yet to come, they will be in continued requisition.

It would perhaps be going too far to place Doddridge by the side of Baxter, though the name of each is immortal; and when the "Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul" by the former, shall cease to be remembered, "The Saint's Everlasting Rest" of the latter, may be considered as trembling on the margins of oblivion. We rejoice to find the works of Dr. Doddridge thus compressed, and thus reduced in price, from a full persuasion that they will

now find their way into the hands of many readers, by whom they were previously unattainable. We scarcely know any work in which £1. 18s. can be more advantageously laid out, than in the whole works of Dr. Doddridge.

REVIEW.- Sermons, by the late Rev. Edward Payson, D.D., Pastor of the Second Church in Portland, in the United States. 8vo. pp. 508. Holdsworth. London. 1831.

It has frequently been observed, respecting the celebrated George Whitefield, that his oral discourses contained a pathos, a sublimity, and an almost superhuman corruscation of thought, which in his written şermons can no where be found. In a less eminent degree, we apprehend that similar remarks will apply to Mr. Payson, and to his discourses which appear in this volume. In both preachers there was a commanding eloquence, arising from occasions and evanescent circumstances, which manner, attitude, tone, and impassioned energy might express, but which no language can embody in life and form. A painter may catch the colour of lightning, but he cannot pencil its motion, nor communicate to his canvass the power of producing an electric shock.

We have no intention, by making these remarks, to insinuate any thing to the disadvantage of these discourses. They are evangelical in principle, practical in tendency, and, founded upon some of the fundamental truths of the gospel dispensation, enter deeply into what may be justly denominated the essence of Christianity. Without being philosophically profound, they display much intellectual acuteness, blended with a becoming zeal, and evince exemplary diligence in the Redeemer's cause.

It appears from an advertisement prefixed to this volume, that the author, who died in 1827, was among the most popular preachers of the United States, where his ministerial labours were blessed in a very remarkable manner. There was, we are told, in his delivery, " an unaffected earnestness, a glowing intensity of feeling, a peculiarity of expression and utterance, a manner wholly original and undescribable, which will not attend the perusal of his discourses. The reader will not feel the immediate influence of those prayers which disarmed criticisin, and awed the most thoughtless, which brought them directly before Infinite Majesty, and made them

feel that they had business of greater importance than to criticize or cavil."

That such feelings would be produced by an energetic eloquence, delivering the exalted sentiments which the following words convey, on the ascent of our Lord into heaven, we can easily conceive

"As we rise, the earth fades away from our view; now we leave worlds, suns, and systems be

hind us. Now we reach the utmost limits of creation; now the last star disappears, and no ray of created light is seen. But a new light begins to dawn and brighten upon us. It is the light of heaven, which pours in a flood of glory from its wide open gates, spreading continual meridian day, far and wide through the regions of ether and space. Passing onward through this flood of day, the songs of heaven begin to burst upon your ears, and voices of celestial sweetness, yet loud as the sound of many waters, and of mighty thunderings, are heard exclaiming, Alleluia! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.' A moment more, and you have passed the gates, you are in the midst of the city, you are before the eternal throne, you are in the immediate presence of God, and all his glories are blazing around you like a consuming fire. Flesh and blood cannot support it; your bodies dissolve into their original dust,butyour immortal souls remain, and stand naked spirits before the great Father of spirits. Nor, in losing their tenements of clay, have they lost the powers of perception. No, they are now all eye, all ear, nor can you close the eyelids of the soul, to shut out for a moment the dazzling, overpowering splendours which surround you, and which appear like light condensed, like glory which may be felt. You see, indeed, no form or shape; and yet your whole souls perceive, with instinctive clearness and certainty, the immediate, awe-inspiring presence of Jehovah. You see no countenance; and yet you feel as if a countenance of awful majesty, in which all the perfections of Divinity shone forth, were bearing upon you wherever you turn. You see no eye; and yet a piercing, heart-searching eye, an eye of omniscient purity, every glance of which goes through

your soul like a flash of lightning, seems to look upon you from every point of surrounding space. You feel as if enveloped in an atmosphere, or plunged in an ocean of existence, intelligence, perfection, and glory; an ocean of which your labouring minds can take in only a drop; an ocean, the depth of which you cannot fathom, and the breadth of which you cannot fully explore. But, while you feel utterly unable to comprehend this infinite Being, your views of him, so far as they extend, are perfectly clear and distinct. You have the most vivid perception, the most deeply-graven impressions, of an infinite, eternal, and spotless mind, in which the images of all things past, present, and to come are most harmoniously seen, arranged in the most perfect order, and defined with the nicest accuracy of a mind which wills with infinite ease, but whose volitions are attended by a power omnipotent and irresistible, and which sows worlds, suns, and systems through the fields of space, with far more facility than the husbandman scatters his seed upon the earth: a mind, whence have flowed all the streams which ever watered any portion of the universe with life, intelligence, holiness, or happiness, and which is still full, overflowing, and inexhaustible."- -P. 89.

REVIEW.-Luther's Table Talk, or some choice Fragments from the familiar Discourse of that godly and learned Man, Dr. Martin Luther. 12mo. pp. 348. Longman. London. 1832.

THE name of the author will furnish conclusive evidence, that this is a reprint of

what has been long before the world. We learn from the preface, that "Luther's Table Talk" was first published in 1571; that it was translated into English in 1651, under the sanction of a committee of parliament; and that this is an abridgment of the original work. It further appears, that the materials of which this volume is com- . posed, were taken from Luther's lips in common conversation when in company, and preserved until a sufficient quantity had been collected, to furnish out a repast for his numerous admirers and friends. "Luther," the preface observes, " seems, in short, to have had his Boswell; some humble admirer, who, like the entertaining biographer of Johnson, thought every thing of value which fell, or might have fallen, from the lips of so great a man."

From the preceding remarks, it must be obvious that this volume embodies a collection that is highly miscellaneous. The articles are very numerous, and much diversified. They have all, however, a bearing, in a greater or less degree, on the important subjects of popery and reformation, in which the author's whole soul seemed to be totally absorbed. Scattered throughout these pages, we find the sentiments of this great man on many topics of occasional occurrence, which could not with propriety be introduced into his regular Works. They appear to have been called forth by the contingencies of the moment, and to have been arrested as the fugitive emanations of a gigantic mind. In every sentence, the commanding inflexibility which appears, evinces that his character was formed for the great work which God raised him up to accomplish.

The reader is not, however, to suppose that these extemporaneous and momentary effusions are to be all measured by one common standard. They rise or sink in value, as the occasion was more or less imperious, and as the mind of this christian Hercules was either animated or depressed with his subject. Few passages, however, appear, that we could wish the selector had suppressed, all being instructive, spirited, and full of vigour.

Stern and inexorable as Luther was, when viewed as a reformer, in the society of his friends he was capable of unbending, and of entertaining them with anecdotes which through life, and of mingling pleasantries he had picked up in his turbulent journey of his own, when occasions allowed their introduction. Luther's Table Talk, is therefore, a book, which instruction, information, and rational entertainment combine to render interesting.

« ForrigeFortsæt »