Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

The SUMMER MORNING.

The cocks have now the morn foretold,
The sun again begins to peep,
The shepherd, whistling to his fold,
Unpens and frees the captive sheep.
O'er pathless plains at early hours
The sleepy rustie sloomy goes;

The dews, brushed off from grass and flowers,
Bemoistening sop his hardened shoes ;
While every leaf that formis a shade,
And every floweret's silken top,
And every shivering bent and blade,
Stoops, bowing with a diamond drop.
But soon shall fly those diamond drops,
The red round sun advances higher,
And, stretching o'er the mountain tops,
Is gilding sweet the village-spire.
'Tis sweet to meet the morning breeze,
Or list the giggling of the brook;
Or, stretched beneath the shade of trees,
Peruse and pause on Nature's book,
When Nature every sweet prepares
To entertain our wished delay,-
The images which morning wears,
The wakening charms of early day!

Now let me tread the meadow paths
While glittering dew the ground illumes,
As, sprinkled o'er the withering swaths,
Their moisture shrinks in sweet perfumes;
And hear the beetle sound his horn;

And hear the skylark whistling nigh,
Sprung from his bed of tufted corn,
A hailing minstrel in the sky.

CLARE.

Astronomical Occurrences

In JULY 1821.

SOLAR PHENOMENA.

THE Sun enters Leo at 32 m. after 6 in the morning of the 23d of this month; and he rises and sets during the same period as in the following

[ocr errors]

TABLE

Of the Sun's Rising and Setting for every fifth Day.

July 1st, Sun rises 46 m. after 3. Sets 14 m. after 8

6th,

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

49
53

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]

57

[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Equation of Time.

When it is required to find the true time from apparent, the numbers in the following table must be added to the apparent time, and the result will be that required.

[blocks in formation]

Sunday, July 1st, to the time by the dial add 3 21

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

LUNAR PHENOMENA.

Phases of the Moon.

First Quarter 7th day, at 48 m. after 8 morning

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

Moon's Passage over the Meridian.

The Moon may be seen to pass the meridian of the Royal Observatory at the following times this month, if the weather prove favourable, viz.

July 10th, at 13 m. after 8 in the evening

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

There will be two eclipses of the first and one of the second satellite this month, visible in London and its neighbourhood. These will happen as follow:→

Immersions.

1st Satellite, 11th day, at 35 m. after 1 in the morning

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Mercury will attain his greatest elongation on the 4th of this month. The Moon will be in conjunction with in Leo at 31 m. after 10 in the morning of the 3d; with a in Virgo at 10 m. in the evening of the 7th; and with a in Scorpio at 10 m. past 5 in the afternoon of the 11th. Mercury will be stationary on the 18th; and Saturn will be in quadrature at a quarter past 11 in the morning of the 19th. Jupiter will also be in quadrature at 45 m. after 1 in the morning of the 22d. The Moon will be in conjunction with 6 in Taurus at 16 m. after 5 in the afternoon of the 25th; and with a in Leo at 59 m. after 6 in the evening of the 30th.

α

The Naturalist's Diary

For JULY 1821.

Such odours as the rose

Wastes on the summer air, or such as rise
From beds of hyacinths, or from jasmine flowers,
Or when the blue-eyed violet weeps upon
Some sloping bank remote, while the young sun
(Creeping within her sheltering bower of leaves)
Dries up her tears.

B. CORNWALL.

[ocr errors]

To all who are warmly engaged in the pursuits of the world, rural sights, and sounds and smells,'and, indeed, all the pleasures of innocence and simplicity, are perfectly insipid. The odour of flowers, the purling of streams, the song and plumage of birds, the sportive innocence of the lamb, the fidelity of the dog, are incapable of attracting, for one moment, the notice of him whose conscience is uneasy and passions unsubdued. Invite him to a morning walk through a neighbouring wood, and he begs to be excused; for he loves his pillow, and can see no charms in trees. Endeavour to allure him on a vernal evening, when, after a shower, every leaf breathes fragrance and freshness, to saunter with you in the garden; and he pleads an engagement at whist or at the bottle. Bid him listen to the thrush, the blackbird, the nightingale, the woodlark, and he interrupts you by asking the price of stocks, and inquiring whether the West India fleet is arrived. As you walk over the meadows enamelled with cowslips and daisies, he takes no other notice, but inquires who is the owner, how much the land lets for an acre, or what hay and oxen sold for at the last market.

As a preservative of innocence, and as the means of a most agreeable pastime, the love of birds, flowers, plants, trees, gardens, animals, when it appears in boys, as indeed it usually does, should be encouraged, and in a subordinate degree cultivated. Farewel innocence, when such things cease to be capable of affording pleasure! The heart gradually becomes hardened and corrupted, when its objects are changed to those of a worldly, a sordid, and a sensual nature.

Man may, indeed, be amused in the days of health and vigour with the common pursuits of ordinary life, those of avarice and ambition; but they have too much agitation in them for the feeble powers of old age. Amusements are then required

which are gentle, yet healthy; capable of engaging the thoughts, yet requiring no painful or continued exertion. Happy he who has acquired and preserved to that age a taste for simple pleasures. A fine day, a beautiful garden, a flowery field, are to him enjoyments similar in species and degree to the bliss of Elysium'

[ocr errors]

NATURE never did betray
The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege
Through all the years of this our life, to lead
From joy to joy; for she can so inform
The mind that is within us, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb

Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings.

WORDSWORTH.

In consequence of the excessive heat usual in this month, an evaporation takes place from the surface of the earth and waters, and large clouds are formed, which pour down their watery stores, and deluge the country with floods, frequently laying the 'fullgrown corn.

A rainy day in the country, must, undoubtedly, be a day of great suffering to those who have no mental resources; and quite insupportable to the votaries of the beau monde, who cannot exist without their diurnal whirl of frivolities. See an excellent sketch in the Hermit in London, vol. ii, p. 123.

The preparation for a rainy day in town is certainly not the pleasantest thing in the world, especially for those who have neither health nor imagination to make their own sunshine. The comparative silence in the streets, which is made dull by our knowing the cause of it,-the window-panes drenched and ever-streaming, like so many helpless cheeks, -the darkened rooms,—and, at this season of the

I Knox's Essays, vol. iii, p. 208.

« ElőzőTovább »