But the worst violation of this rule, and one, if possible, more inexcusable than those already noticed, is the dropping a syllable, and thereby making the line too short by half a foot: as, Indeed the whole was leafy, and it had A winding stream about clear and glad. As the author of Rimini has attributed to some of the first masters of the art, which he has attempted in vain to improve, an insensibility to the musical rythm of poetry, and denounced their verses as entirely deficient in the true harmony of numbers; I shall here adduce a few instances from his own versification, as a proof of his entire inability to give a correct judgment on this subject, and of his utter want of ear (to use a received expression) for the music of poetry. Some tied about their arm, some at the breast, Young hearts betroth'd used to go there to pray. The marked syHables in these lines, according to the general rule of scanning the English heroic verse, would be naturally long: for in this, as in most kinds of English verse, short and long syllables succeed each other alternately, and the accents should therefore rest on every second syllable. This is the general rule which has been observed by all the best English masters of the poetical art, and a deviation from which, unless it be only occasional, (and there are occasions, when, for the sake of giving variety or expression to the verse, it may be introduced even with advantage,) must be destructive of all harmony and rythm. This is particularly the case wth the heroic verse, the movement of which should ever be grave and solemn when the subject to which it is applied is of this nature-such as the tragic story of Rimini. But instead of maintaining its natural and dignified march, in the page of Mr. Hunt, this verse rambles about in all the licentious wildness of an unbroken colt, whom no bridle can restrain nor fences confine. Such are the defects of Rimini-so many and so radical, that but for the vanity of the author, (so strikingly exhibited in the preface to his poem,) it might have been supposed that he had intended, by the composition and publication of it, to have ridiculed under the pretext of defending those had principles and that false taste of which his work, from the first page to the last, is only one long and continued example: Assuring you, Mr. Editor, that in making the preceding animadversions on the poem of Rimini, I have been influenced by no personal enmity to the author, (who is entirely unknown to me,) but only by my full conviction of the injustice of his claim to be considered as the founder of a new school of poetry superior to that which was established by Pope; and reminding you that in attempting to point out the faults of Mr. Hunt's "freer spirit of versification" I have acted on that celebrated maxim, laid down by one of the first masters of the art, and of which the justice is generally al THE custom of singing before a corpse on its way to the place of sepulture, as well as at the grave's side, after the conclusion of the burial-service, appears to be of frequent usage in this and the neighbouring counties; yet, though generally established, it does not seem to be well undertook from whence this custom takes its rise; I therefore send you what I have been able to collect respecting its original institution, hoping that as subjects of this nature are calculated to excite a degree of local interest, my remarks, imperfect as they are, may occupy a corner in your next month's magazine. The Roman funerals, which were always conducted with great pomp and splendour, appear to have had one part of their attendants for the purpose of discharging an office similar to that of singers at modern burials. At the head of these processions went trumpeters, playing solemn airs, (a custom which, if I am rightly informed, is now in use among that respectable body of Christians, the Moravians, at the burial of their dead;) after these came a band of women, called Præficæ, a sort of hired mourners, one principal part of whose duty was to sing funeral songs, the subjects of which were the praises of the deceased, and lamentations for his loss. The Greeks also, as will be found by referring to any work on the antiquities of that people, had the same sort of persons attendant on their funeral ceremonies; these, who were called Aodel, by putting on the semblance of grief, endeavoured to excite a real feeling of that sort in the breasts of the spectators: thus at the funeral of Hector, Three different songs were sung on these occasions, one during the procéssion, another at the funeral pile, and a third at the grave. We also find from the authority of various travellers, that a similar cus 284 An Account of an Aurora Borealis, seen in full Sunshine. tom prevailed amongst the eastern nations, and in several parts of the Scrip, tures this ceremony is evidently alluded to, as for instance, in the second book of Chronicles, "And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day. Having once established as a fact, that the ceremony I have described existed amongst the nations of antiquity, it may safely be asserted, that the modern usage of singing before the body on its way to the last terrestrial habitation, derives its origin from this ancient practice, for, though the two customs do not in every particular coincide, yet there is still sufficient resemblance to prove the dependence of the one upon the other. It is pleasing to remark how many rites, which originated in error, are at the present day converted to the purposes of true religion, and few instances are more striking than the one here noticed, in which we find what once formed a conspicuous feature of an empty pageantry, now adopted as a solemn and impressive mode of testifying our resignation to, and reliance on the will of Him in whom we live and move and have our being. Wakefield, Oct. 1818. S. I. LAW. AN ACCOUNT OF AN AURORA BOREALIS, SEEN IN FULL SUNSHINE. BY THE REV. HENRY USHER, D.D. M.R.I.A. (Extracted from the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy.) THE following phenomenon being very uncommon, if not entirely new, I think it worth communicating to the academy, principally with a view to learn whether any other person has observed a similar one at any time. "On Saturday night, May 24, 1788, there was a very bright Aurora Borealis, the corruscating rays of which united, as usual, in the pole of the dipping needle. I have always observed, that an Aurora Borealis renders the stars remarkably unsteady in the telescope, The next morning, about eleven, finding the stars flutter much, I examined the state of the sky, and saw whitish rays ascending from every part of the horizon, all tending to the pole of the dipping needle, where, at their union, they formed a small thin and white canopy, similar to the luminous one exhibited by an Aurora in the night. These rays corruscated or shivered from the horizon to their point of union. "These effects were distinctly seen by three different people, and their point of union marked separately by each of them," "There is certainly no reason for confining the effects of Aurora Borealis to the night, although it then makes its most magnificent display, contrasted by the darkness of the sky. "The tremulous motion of the stars at certain times in serene skies has been taken notice of by the Abbe de la Caille at the Cape of Good Hope; and M. de la Lande remarks, that sometimes, when a south-wes wind prevails at Paris, the same effect is produced. An Aurora Borealis, in this country is generally succeeded by a south west-wind, and frequently the wind veers round to that point during its appearance; now if this phenomenon, as suggested by a member of this academy, should be inflammable air in a state of inflammation, the water so produced by such inflammation might satisfactorily account for this unsteadiness of the rays, whether we suppose it either in the act of absorption, or in the state of vesicular vapour descending from the upper regions of the atmosphere. "That inflammable air, at least some species of it, contains iron, cannot well be disputed, as its effect on an infusion or tincture of galls shows the presence of iron. That there is some connection, hitherto unexplored, between the magnetism and the Aurora Borealis, seems highly probable. The unsteadiness of the magnetic needle during the appearance of this phenomenon is known to every one, and indicates such connection; the union of the radii of a strong Aurora Borealis in the pole of the dipping needle strengthens the same conjecture, which is still further confirmed by the situation of the luminous northern arch, generally the first sympton of a strong Aurora, and from whence, in all probability, the name was taken; for the highest point of this arch is always found in the magnetic meridian. "This phenomenon is certainly more common now than a century, or half a century ago; this I find most people, even the most illiterate, agreed in. Upon examining the accounts of the authenticated appearances of the Aurora Borealis, so carefully collected by the celebrated De Mairan, I perceive a chasm in the list of observations for about forty years in the last century, in the middle of which chasm, nearly, is the year 1661, in which year we are told the variation of the needle at Paris was zero. We e seem also to collect from the same author's researches, that the frequency of this appearance seems to have decreased with the diminution of the eastern variation, and it now seems to increase with the increasing western variation. What real connection there may be between the variation of the needle and the Aurora Borealis, or the cause of it, I acknowledge myself entirely ignorant; but perhaps this trifling hint may engage the attention of others, who have both more leisure and abilities for such an interesting disquisition." CHAPEL ON WAKEFIELD-BRIDGE. To the Editor of the Northern Star. IT has much surprised me that none of your antiquarian correspondents have yet favoured the readers of the Northern Star with a description of the beautiful Chapel on Wakefield-bridge, as well as with an account of the circumstances which led to its erection. That a building of such beauty, and one with which so many interesting events in our history are connected, should be allowed to moulder away unnoticed, affords little proof of their correctness, who have styled the present the Augustan age of antiquarian research. I am, however, in hopes, that amongst the increasing number of your contributors, some one will not think it too much trouble to furnish your subscribers with information respecting this venerable pile, and a view of its picturesque remains. PUT 2a 286 Mathematical Repository. SOLUTIONS TO THE QUERIES. Solution to Question 1. By Mr. Baines. the height of the spire, and the distance from its bottom where the upper half subtends the greatest angle possible; then, by Trig. as the tang. of the angle subtended by the whole spire; radius: 2a: 2a hence, the tangent of the diff. of these angles, or 2a X - 2ax2x must be a maximum. In fluxionsa x.(x2+2a2) 0, from which we obtain x = a√2, the answer. Solution to Question 1, by Mr. T. S. Davies. Imagine a circle described through the vertex and middle of the spire touching the horizontal plane of its base; then the angle subtended by the chord or upper half at the point of contact will evidently be a maximum. Hence if h height of the spire, we shall, by the property of the circle, have the distance of the point of contact from the foot of the spire Here a and b being the sines of the two arcs, their tangents will be = also by transposition and adding a2 to both sides, we have b2-a2 a2b2 +a2 m2 — a2b2 m2 a2. Therefore by evolution /___a2 = a √/m2 — ] bcosine of the greater angle. Consequently × √1-b2: but |