POETRY.-Campbell to a Dane, 419. Golden Prayers, 434. Perpetual Spring, 466. The North-East Wind, 466. SHORT ARTICLES.-Only a Little Child, 416. Defence of the Clergy, 419. Poor, when supported by the Clergy, 437. Monastic Reformers, 437. The Triers, 437. Cromwell to Fairfax, 470. PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY BY LITTELL, SON & Co., Boston; and STANFORD & DELISSER, 508 Broadway, New-York. For Six Dollars a year, remitted directly to either of the Publishers, the Living Age will be punctually forwarded, free of postage. Complete sets of the First Series, in thirty-six volumes, and of the Second Series, in twenty volumes, handsomely bound, packed in neat boxes, and delivered in all the principal cities, free of expense of freight, are for sale at two dollars a volume. ANY VOLUME may be had separately, at two dollars, bound, or a dollar and a half in numbers. ANY NUMBER may be had for 12 cents; and it is well worth while for subscribers or purchasers to complete any broken volumes they may have, and thus greatly enhance their value. CORRESPONDENCE. PUBLISHERS will please take notice that in accordance with an advertisement some months ago, we are preparing for separate publication the story of which a part is given in this number, "Which? or Eddies round the Rectory." We intend to do the same with all tales long enough to make a book. Even the long articles in this number are full of life: A Residence above the Clouds, is quite a novel subject; and Charles' escape after his defeat at Worcester is always interesting. How much better his character would have appeared in history, had Cromwell hanged him on the "Royal Oak"! The subject of Sisterhoods, welcomed at first by The Christian Observer, seems to have become rather alarming to that sedate magazine. Louis Napoleon will be discussed very ably in the next number. Eddies round the Rectory, will be continued, very beautifully, in the next number. If France and England choose to quarrel, the barren rock of Perim will answer the purpose : any stone will do to throw at a dog." The "nineteenth century "-the "spread of civilization" and all that, will have no effect. We are with England-although doubts attend upon the confident that the Emperor has no wish to break new minister to London. NEW BOOKS. ST. MARK. The Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, according to St. Mark. The Received Version, in Paragraph form. To which is added an Introduction by Thomas Hartwell Horne; a copious index; and Five Illustrations: The Garden of Gethsemane; Valley of Jehosaphat; Tomb of the Kings; Pool of Siloam; Mount Zion. Published by the Rev. Thomas II. Stockton, Philadelphia. Price 50 cents, Post free. RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LAST DAYS OF SHELLEY AND BYRON. By E. J. Trelawney. "No living poet ever arrived at the fullness of his fame; the jury which sits in judgment upon a poet, belonging as he does, to all time, must be composed of his peers: it must be impannelled by time from the selectest of the wise of many generations,"-Shelley's Defence of Poetry. Reprinted by Ticknor and Fields, Boston. There have been several reviews of the English Editions of this book, in the Living Age. In No. 730 we shall treat it still more fully. A WOMAN'S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN.By the author of "John Halifax, Gentle man " &c. &c. Rudd and Carleton. New York. A good book. Part of it was copied from Chambers's Journal into the Living Age. FREDERICI A. PALEY.-Another volume of ESCHYLUS, EX NOVISSIMA RECENSIONE Messrs. Deighton's very neat editions of "Cam bridge Greek and Latin Texts," worthy of ranking with the far-famed Elzevirs. To the text of the dramas, printed in a remarkably clear and legible type but not too large for the size of the book, is appended an index of the most note-worthy words, with references to their place in the text-Spectator. CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA, TARTARY AND THIBET.-By M. l'Abbé Huc, Author of "The Chinese Empire," &c. Volume III.-Completes the Abbé Huc's compilation on the progress and fortunes of Romanism in China and narrative coming down to the times of Louis the adjacent regions. The latter part of the the Fourteenth, has from its more modern character a greater general interest than the previous Volumes.-Spectators From the British Quarterly Review. 1858. of light in its passage through the air. Considering that the astronomer is placed at the bottom of a great aerial ocean, through the whole thickness of which the rays must dive before they can enter his instruments, we might almost as well despair of obtaining perfect results as a scientific merman who should come out of his coral cave in the bed of the sea, and point his tube to the surface in the hope of obtaining a steady image of the vesa sels riding on the billows. In the summer of 1856 the yacht Titania -the property of Mr. Robert Stephenson, M. P.—was tripping across the waters on her way to the island of Teneriffe. She carried little cargo of scientific instruments. She had Newton, in his Optics, asserted that telesalso an astronomer on board. Professor Piazcopes could not be so constructed as to avoid za Smyth that was his name is well known the confusion of rays arising from the "tremors as the official inspector of the Scottish Skies. of the atmosphere." He saw but one remeWhy, therefore, should a gentleman who is in dy; and that was to enter a "serene and quiet charge of the Heavens in the northern part air such as may be found on the tops of the of Her Majesty's dominions be steering for highest mountains above the grosser clouds. the Canaries with a park of barometers, tele- Bacon, in his New Atlantis, says that the noscopes, photographic cameras, and other in-ble corporation of philosophers who belonged struments suited for a philosophical campaign? to Solomon's House had lofty towers, some The reason was this. Advised by the As-half a mile in structure, which were built uptronomer-Royal, the Lords of the Admiralty on hills so as to obtain a total elevation of had resolved to despatch a scientific mission- three miles at the least. These were used for ary to some southern mountain for the purpose the "view of divers meteors, as winds, rain, of determining how far the art of obversation snow, hail, and some of the fiery meteors almight be improved if conducted at a considso;" for, upon the tops, hermit-observers, erable height. The atmosphere is good, very astronomical anchorites, were stationed to regood, in its relation to the human lungs; and port what was going on in the upper air. its clouds are excellent, very excellent, as the But Newton's suggestion was long neglectcarriers of moisture and the dispensers of fat-ed, and Bacon's towers have never yet been ness for the soil. But to the astronomer they discovered. It was not until the year 1856 are often productive of grave annoyance. that any formal attempt was made to employ How frequently, after waiting impatiently for a mountain as an observatory, and to put onethe extinction of the day, are his hopes of third of the atmosphere out of the way of the starry study frustrated by the thick mists astronomer's instruments. The Peak of Tenwhich seem to muddy the air from top to bot-eriffe was selected. Soaring to the height of tom! How easily are his telescopes spiked 10,700 feet above the sea, in its more accessiby the drops of an impertinent nimbus. When ble parts, and situated in a nearly tropical latsome fine celestial transaction-doubly pre-itude, that famous beacon was deemed an excious from its rarity-is shut out from view by cellent eyrie for an observer. An expedition a thick screen of clouds, must he not feel like a man who, after coming to witness a new drama, sees the curtain suddenly descend, and learns that the play must be performed with this impenetrable veil between? Nor is it vapor alone with which the astronomer has to contend. In such delicate matters as telescopic observation, any disturbances in the atmosphere, whether due to heat, motion, foreign ingredients, or otherwise, may seriously affect his conclusions. Phenomena like the mirage, Fata Morgana, inverted ships, and spectral castles, show what pranks of vision may be occasioned by the irregular refraction was accordingly equipped. Government gave Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot He soon arrived in the Canarian Archipelago. This little family of islands consists of seven individuals. Their physiognomy is decidedly volcanic. There is no mistaking it any more than the carbuncled visage of the drunkard. Once they were thought to be the relics of a great continent which lies | waters. Of these, eighty-three alone were drowned beneath the surges of the Atlantic. rescued from death. The gallant TrowPoets or poetical historians hailed them as bridge, having lost his mark in the gloom of the "Happy Isles "—simply, we imagine, be- the night, pulled for the shore under the citcause they wanted a site for a pretty fiction, adel, and effected a landing. They waited and thought it would be safest from disturb- in the Great Square expecting every moment ance if carried out to a considerable dis- to be joined by the Admiral and his Contintance at sea. But to plain men of prose, gent; but day broke and no Admiral apthese rocky pimples look marvellously like a peared. Then, perceiving that he had only number of volcanic cones which have been a small force of some 340 men to oppose to elevated from the bed of the ocean. You many thousands of the enemy, Trowbridge might fancy they had forced their way to the sent a messenger to the Governor, declaring surface, panting and struggling, to breathe that he would burn the town unless he were the free air of heaven, and give vent to the allowed to retire unmolested. To this bold fires which were consuming their interior. proposition Don Juan Antonio Gutierrez Tallest and largest of these Plutonic excres- thought it most prudent to assent, and the cences in the Archipelago, is the Island of British withdrew to their ships, with a loss Teneriffe. Its Peak, which voyagers assert of 250 men. Where was Nelson? Whilst they have seen at a distance of a hundred landing on the mole, an early bullet pierced miles and upwards, was hidden from the eyes his elbow, and he was removed to the nearest of the new visitors by drifting masses of ship in order that the limb might be ampucloud, but suddenly there was a rent in the tated. He became a "left-handed Admiral," veil of vapor, and through that opening they deemed himself a disabled trunk, and asked beheld the monarch mountain of the group for a frigate "to convey the remains of his gleaming in the glorious sunshine as if to carcass to England" that he might make tempt them to land and do homage at his room for a "sounder man to serve the feet. It was but for a few moments however. State." England should have answered him The mists soon filled up the fissure, the dra- as the spirited maiden replied to her lover pery was drawn again around his form, and who was so dreadfully mutilated in a battle on the vision was "taken up into heaven as if one of the American lakes, that he offered to it were too precious for a lengthened look. release her from her engagement-"Tell They landed at Santa Cruz, where the pro- him if he has but body enough left to hold digious heaving of the ocean under the pres- his soul, I will have him." sure of the trade winds sometimes hid the tops of the highest steeples in the town, and compelled the vessels in the roadstead to perform the most preposterous gymnastics. Other and very different expeditions have entered the same bay and been tossed on the same breakers. It was here that Nelson came in the month of July, 1797, to crown his head with "laurel or cypress." In the darkness of the night six divisions of boats set out for the mole, and on nearing it, the assailants gave a right lusty huzza which drew upon them a storm of fire from the cannon and muskets of the Spaniards. Some of the boats were swamped in the surf; some reached the landing-place and the men swept it clear of its defenders; but the crushing discharges from the fortress mowed them down in turn and made it impossible to proceed. One hapless cutter, the Fox, with 180 souls on board, was struck by a shot, and went down, scattering her crew upon the Far more brilliant, or, at least, far less disastrous in its results, was the scene which took place in the year 1657, when Robert Blake rode into the harbor of Santa Cruz The silver fleet, freighted with the produce of the Peruvian mines, was there. For this precious flotilla the bold sea-general had long been on the watch; but, wearied with the delay, he came to seek it in the Canaries. It was bravely protected: forts with powerful ordnance, earthworks manned by swarms of marksmen, great ships of war waiting the signal to pour forth their shattering broadsides, were all prepared to rain death upon the expected Englishmen. To enter that harbor with his battered vessels seemed to be an act of heroic lunacy on the part of the British commander; for if once in, how could he withdraw from the fire of the land batteries, in the teeth of the steady "Trades,” even if he should succeed in annihilating the naval force of the Spaniards? But the Nel son of the Commonwealth, springing from | letter they received from the lower world, his sick bed, dashed into the bay, and, before" or your tents will be torn to ribbons." The night, every ship which belonged to the enemy was burnt or sunk! No sooner was the terrible work completed than a rare, but fortunate turn in the wind occurred; and his vessels were carried out to sea by this "protestant" breeze, as the contrary current had carried them in. Well might the Spaniards console themselves, as Lord Clarendon remarks, by asserting that they had been beaten by devils, and not by men. advice was good, for the party were often visited with tremendous blasts. These wild coursers of the sky came rushing up the mountain like horsemen to the charge; they hurled themselves against the face of the precipice below, and then poured over the brow of the cliffs, raging and roaring as they advanced. The sand was lifted up and launched in clouds. It was not their only missile, for even little pebbles were snatched Very different was the reception accorded from the earth, and showered around in a to Professor Smythe's pacific expedition. miniature mitraille. As the enemy bowled The Spanish authorities witnessed the inva- along to the station, you might almost have sion of their territory without distrust, though, expected the Professor to give the word, when an excursion is undertaken purely in "Prepare to receive cavalry." And when the interests of science, we are scarcely dis- the airy squadrons broke upon the tents, and posed to look upon the mere permission to the poles began to rock to and fro like the traverse the island at will as an act of con- masts of a vessel in a gusty day, it really apspicuous liberality." The first duty, how-peared as if they were bent upon sweeping ever, was to fix upon a suitable station for a the invaders from the hill. Still there mountain observatory. It must not be lower seemed to be a touch of good-nature in the than 4000 feet above the sea, for if it were, young hurricanes which dashed over the the clouds of the region would drown the camp. One of these pirouetting visitors astronomer's vision as effectually as a London seized a heavy piece of canvas, ten feet square, fog. Nor must it be too high, for then access which was spread out on the rock, "whirled would be laborious, and communication with it round and round in a horizontal plane, and the nether world unpleasantly interrupted. then deposited it again as flat as before, alTo drag their astronomical artillery up to most in its former position." On another octhe summit of the true Peak, more than casion, a box containing a roll of blue cotton 12,000 feet in all, appeared as formidable an cloth forty yards long, was lying open with undertaking as it was to transport cannon one extremity of the garment protruding. across the pass of St. Bernard; and even if A mischievous little whirlwind spied its opthat could be accomplished, the hot vapors portunity whilst the Professor was busy with discharged from the crater would probably his instruments, and rushing up, grasped the vitiate the observations they intended to end of the cloth, whipped it out of its case, make. A hill called Guajara was finally se- and carried it high into the air with its full lected. Its height was nearly 9000 feet. length unfurled. "So high was it that it Next in stature to the Peak, it was not, like looked like a mere piece of ribbon. Three that, a chimney for volcanic smoke and steam. times completely did it sail slowly round in Accordingly, on the fourteenth of July, a long a circle, accompanied by some hats, caps, and cavalcade of men, horses, and mules, with a other small matters, that looked like swallows quantity of philosophical baggage, wound its beside it, and then descending leisurely, it way up the side of the mountain. Setting fell about four hundred yards to the S.W. of out at daybreak, the expedition reached our position." We do not know whether cloud-land in due time, passing through one most to admire the fine illustration thus afbotanical zone after another; and, before the forded of the revolving principles on which sun had well gone down, the Professor and hurricanes are conducted, or the pleasant, his followers stood safely upon the summit of windy waggery which these particular cases Guajara. Next morning they opened their present. Gentlemen," these rough chil"aerial campaign." Tents were pitched, and dren of Æolus appeared to say, "you know fortified against the winds by enclosures of you have no right here. This is our mounrugged masonry. "Build your walls high tain; it is no place for you. Why should and strong towards the S.W.," said the first you intrude into our domain? The world 66 |