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BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES.

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earth. About this period, heavy storms of wind and rain are experienced, as well as at the vernal equinox.

"In this month, Nature continues to pour out all her autumnal fruitery,' and to present us with a store of the most delicious fruit; plums, round, and of blooming hue'-' golden apples' glossy nuts.'

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The vine her curling tendrils shoots,

Hangs out her clusters, glowing to the south,
And scarcely wishes for a warmer sky.'

"The Persian vine-dressers do all in their power to make the vine run up the wall, and curl over on the other side, which they do by tying stones to the extremity of the tendril. May not this illustrate that beautiful passage used in Genesis xlix. 22? 'Joseph is a fruitful bough; even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall.' The vine, particularly in Turkey and Greece, is frequently made to entwine on trellises, around a well, where in the heat of the day whole families collect themselves, and sit under the shade."

BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES,

FOR SEPTEMBER, 1822.

"THE MOON is full, on the 1st, at twenty-six minutes after noon. On the 5th, she rises in the evening about eight o'clock, and is followed by SATURN, whom she will soon pass, but at some distance, as she is to the north, and he is to the south, of the ecliptic; she is directing her course above JUPITER. On the 6th, she rises with the Pleiades to the east of her, which she will have passed before sun-rise; and she forms with them, Jupiter, and Aldebaran to the east of and below her, a conspicuous groupe: the planet she will evidently have passed before her next appearance. On the 8th, Jupiter is seen near to the horizon to the west of her. On the 12th, she is seen to be directing her course under VENUS. On the 14th, she rises with Venus to the west of her; and on the 15th is New Moon at two minutes past eleven in the morning. On the 18th, the crescent of the MoON is seen at sun-set near the horizon. Above her is seen MARS, under whom, at some distance, she is directing her course.

"MERCURY is an evening star. His nearness to the Sun at first renders him invisible; and the unfavourableness of his position afterwards, and southern latitude, make him inaccessible to most observers. At the end of the month he is little more than half an hour above the horizon after sun-set.

"VENUS is a morning star.

"MARS is an evening star.

"JUPITER rises at half past nine at night on the 7th, and at half past eight on the 24tl.

"SATURN rises about three quarters past eight at night on the 1st, and at seven on the 20th.

"HERSCHEL is on the meridian at half past seven in the evening on the 2d, and about a quarter past six on the 23d." (Evening Amusements.) ·

POETRY.

LINES

Written whilst thinking on the 34th Verse of the 104th Psalm.
SAVIOUR! I love to think on thee,

And sweet the music of thy Name!-
No sound of earthly minstrelsy,
Though clear and soft the song may be,
Can equal the seraphic strain!

For when affliction bathes the soul
In sorrow's deep and awful stream,
And high its foaming billows roll,

Say, is it not the thought of Him,
That comforts 'neath the whelming wave,
And whispers He has power to save?
Yes, there is safety in that thought!
But pleasure brings another near,
That though neglected or forgot,
By all I love or value here,

By all my trembling heart holds dear;
Yet still his love remains the same,
Unchang'd, unalter'd, unsubdued;
Nor has my vile ingratitude
Quench'd for a moment the celestial flame!
Gaze on, my soul! for ever gaze,
And wonder at redeeming love!
It quite transcends thy feeble praise ;
Nor can angelic powers above,
Though form'd for harmony and love,
Attune e'en their superior lays,
To reach the mighty theme.
But He will not disdain to see
The gratitude my life shall show:

To Him my heart shall sacred be,

To Him my every thought shall flow,

No more disturb'd by life's vain dream.—
Yes! He shall reign supremely in my soul,
And every passion bow to his control!

LINES ON THE BIBLE SOCIETY.
WRITTEN BY A YOUTH TWELVE YEARS OF AGE.
(From the Cambridge Chronicle.)

O Tnou Inspirer of the Shepherd King,

P.M.

Who taught'st the Hebrew bard thy praise to sing, Grant me a portion of thy holy fire,

And give me power to sweep the sacred lyre.

:

POETRY.

For greater themes than HoмER ever sung,
Or ever dropt from VIRGIL'S flowing tongue,
I sing. Ye Sisters Aine, that haunt the hill
Of fair Parnassus, by the murmuring rill,
Your aid I need not: for the sacred song
Does not to heathen melodies belong.
Ye who devote your lives to serve the LORD,
And spread the knowledge of his holy word,
May rich success attend your virtuous toil,
May you be cheer'd by heaven's approving smile;
May he who sits upon his heavenly throne,
Guard you through life, and take you for his own.
Columbia's shores have heard the joyous sound;
The waves have borne it to fair India's ground:
No more the Hindoo devotee shall fling
His naked body into Ganges' spring;
No more shall writhe in agony of pain,
In hope immortal happiness to gain ;

Or 'neath the wheels of Juggernaut shall die,
And rush uncall'd into eternity:

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No more on her departed husband's tomb,
The widow now shall dare the fearful gloom
Of unknown ages,-ages yet to come.
And China, too, has heard the holy law,
To the bright light of Gov her sons to draw.
That realm, where half of Asia's swarthy line,
To stocks and stones ascribe the power divine,
And boast a kingdom of an ancient date,
Shall now be shown her dark and wretched state.
And when ye shall disperse Mahomet's gloom,
And place the Bible in the Koran's room,
The Turks shall then unite in praising GoD,
And the wild Arab cease from shedding blood.
No more the wand'ring tribes of Ishmael's race,
Arabia's burning desert shall disgrace.
The savage Indian, torturing his foe,
And dealing death in every furious blow,
When he is taken, with his latest breath
Chanting his death-song, still unmov'd in death,
Breathing revenge and curses, he expires,
While in his breath he holds the fiercest fires
Of malice and of hate :-he shall not long
Wield the keen tomahawk, and sing the song
Of war. That Book shall teach them better things,
Shall show that war from worst of passions springs;
Their murderous battle shall for ever cease,
And each wild Indian smoke the pipe of peace.
And Africa, immur'd in mental night,
Shall soon receive the Gospel's holy light;

The LORD shall break the' oppressor's iron rod, And Ethiop's sons * shall stretch their hands to God. Siberia's deserts, and the torrid zone,

Shall then unite and mingle into one.

Kings from afar shall bless the great design,
And Potentates protect the cause divine:

Peace, undisturb'd, shall o'er the earth be spread,
And war's black train shall mingle with the dead.
As the broad waves o'er ocean's billows roll,
The knowlege of the LORD shall spread from pole to pole.

* Psalm lxviii. 31.

A SICK MAN'S ADDRESS TO HIS CANDLE.

Tay size, bright taper, doth so quickly waste,
1t bids me think the present day my last!
Though narrow limits thy short date confine,
Compar'd to Infinite, what more is mine?
This day must end thy being; and before
To-morrow's dawn, myself may be no more!
Both in life's morn with gayest Instre shine,
And as the night advances both decline:
Both by one common fate seem closely link'd,
And after one short blaze shall be extinct :
Our lives the same, our periods both agree;
So where's the difference 'twixt thee and me?t

The difference (thanks be to Him who by the Gospel brings life and immortality to light) is infinitely important. The extinction of the burnt candle, and that of the earthly existence of a being made for eternity, whatever analogy there may be be tween them in some points, are, in other respects, and those the most interesting, by no means parallel cases. The deathless spirit is never extinct; and even the flesh of a good man rests in sure and certain hope, that though he die he shall live again. EDITOR.

AGAINST CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

A MAN of kindness to his beast is kind,
But brutal actions show a brutal mind.

Remember, He who made Thee made the brute;
Who gave thee speech and reason, form'd him mute.
He can't complain, but God's all-seeing eye
Beholds thy cruelty; he hears his cry:
He was design'd thy servant and thy drudge,
But know that his CREATOR is thy JUDGE.

Hinted by T.Cordeux, 14, City-Road, Lundum.

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SUFFERINGS OF LIEUT. GEORGE SPEARING, IN A COAL-PIT.

"Greenwich-Hospital, Aug. 1, 1793.

"On Wednesday, September 13, 1769, between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, I went into a little wood called Northwoodside, (situated between two and three miles to the N.W. of Glasgow,) with a design to gather a few hazel-nuts. I think that I could not have been in the wood more than a quarter of an hour, nor have gathered more than ten nuts, before I unfortunately fell into an old csal-pit, ex-. actly seventeen yards deep, which had been made through a solid rock. I was some little time insensible. Upon recovering my recollection, I found myself sitting, (nearly as a tailor does at his work,) the blood flowing pretty fast from my mouth; and I thought that I had broken a blood-vessel, and consequently had not long to live; but, to my great comfort, I soon discovered that the blood proceeded VOL. VI. 2 F

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