ly welcome came-but it was only to gild with one ray of comfort his expiring hour. He arrived in America-breathed his native air, and reposed for a moment in the bosom of conjugal and filial love. That moment was his last.-The tears of afflicted friends, and the universal grief of his grateful and admiring countrymen proclaim his eulogy.

THE publisher has been favoured with the article which he has inserted in the preceding pages, by a respectable friend of Mr. Bayard's, and a warm advocate of the political party to which that illustrious and lamented patriot was attached. In writing the biography of a statesman, so distinguished among the leaders of a party as Mr. Bayard, the introduction of subjects of party politics was in some measure unavoidable. This consideration will account, and the publisher trusts satisfactorily, for the admission, in this instance, of topics which he is always desirous of excluding, as far as possible, from the pages of his journal.

SELECT REVIEW.

Researches about Atmospheric Phenomena: together with Meteorological Journals, &c. by Thomas Forster, F. L. S. 8vo.

[From the Monthly Review.]

NOTWITHSTANDING the great number of literary men, and of learned societies, who have for a long time been employing themselves in keeping registers of the weather, and in observing atmospherical phenomena, it must be confessed that neither the science of meteorology nor the practice of it has yet made any considerable progress. We can account in a satis factory manner for very few of the changes which are daily exhibited before our eyes, and we are still unable to predict those changes with any degree of certainty. This deficiency, perhaps, has proceeded from the circumstance, that the attention has been almost exclusively directed to the instruments by which we judge of the weight, temperature, and moisture of the air; in which way we do not become acquainted with the alterations in the atmosphere till after they have taken place. When any other remarks have been made, they are expressed in language not so precise as to convey accurate ideas, and have indeed been so incorrect as to deserve little notice. Lately, however, some individuals have followed a plan of observation which seems much more likely to promote the acquisition of this species of knowledge, and which can scarcely fail to answer some useful purpose. They have carefully watched the different appearances which the clouds assume, have formed a nomenclature to record those appearances, have noticed also the state of the barometer, thermometer, &c. and have compared all these particulars with the subsequent changes of the weather. This plan was first adopted, at least in a regular and systematic manner, by Mr. Howard, and has been extended still farther by the author of the volume now before us. He has been for some time in the habit of publishing his reports in the different scientific journals, and he has now thrown into a more connected form the general principles which he has deduced from his observations.

Mr. Forster divides his work into ten chapters. The first is entitled introductory, and consists principally of Mr. Howard's hypothesis of the origin and modification of clouds. Mr. Howard's opinions on this subject have been some time before the public, and it would lead us beyond our limits to enter on a minute examination of them in this place: we have only to state that they are adopted by the present author, with little or no alteration, except that he subdivides the species of Mr. Howard into varieties, and gives them also specific characters and appellations, which appear to us in general very appropriate. The extension of the original arrangement occupies the second chapter, consisting of seventeen sections; in which, besides the account of the modifications of the clouds, derived from their form, we have remarks on thunder-storms, rain, snow, and hail-on the colour and elevation of cloudson their structure-on the luminous appearances called halos, parhelia, &c.—and, lastly, on the process of evaporation.

The most original and interesting of these sections relates to halos, which are arranged and defined in a much more scientific manner than any which had previously been allotted to them; the essential differences between them are pointed out; and a nomenclature is formed, which will probably be sufficient to enable the meteorologist to note down the phenomena with the requisite accuracy. Falling stars and meteors occupy the third chapter: but it contains rather an imperfect account of them; and we think that the author has been unfortunate in adopting Mr. De Luc's hypotheses of their phosphorescent nature, which appears to us to be without foundation. The subsequent chapters are less strictly scientific, and, on the whole, of less value than the first three. The indications of future changes in the weather, as deduced from the particular motions of animals, from the observation of the usual meteorological instruments, and the effects on the vital functions of organized bodies, each constitute the subject of a short chapter; and we have also some scanty remarks on winds. The account of atmospherical electricity is more ample and interesting. Mr. F. appears to regard electricity as the source of all the changes of the atmosphere, as the cause on which they depend, and as the immediate agent by which they are produced. The various forms which the clouds assume, the different changes which they undergo, the manner in which the modifications are converted into each other, the occurrence of rain and of fair weather, not to mention the more obvious phenomena of thunder and lightning, are all to be traced to the action of the electric fluid.

The tenth chapter treats on "the superstitious notions which appear to have had their origin in an observance of certain meteorological phenomena." As a specimen of Mr. Forster's manner, we shall quote the commencement of this section; premising that, in our opinion, his ideas on the subject are generally well founded:

There is a natural tendency in the human mind, arising from the faculty of association, to attach ideas of good or evil to those objects which have been observed to precede or to accompany pleasurable or painful circumstances: hence the origin of many superstitious opinions.

From such association of ideas, many animals were anciently worshipped, either as good or evil spirits; and even at a later period, when their worship was rejected as superstitious, or useless, they were considered as foreboders of evil or of good. Many of these superstitions originated in the observance of facts, ascribable to atmospheric influence. Thus, certain birds being affected by peculiarities of the air, previous to thunder storms, or other terrible events, and showing signs of their affections by particular habits, were found to be foreboders of tempests, hurricanes, and other dangerous atmospheric commotions; and they were subsequently considered as evil omens in general, gaining, as it were, an ill name by their utility as monitors. So the crow, garrulous before stormy weather, was afterwards regarded as a predictor of general misfortune. Many animals too were considered by the ancients as influenced by human prayers and supplications. In this manner, the observance of many real facts laid the foundation for superstitions, which terrified the ignorant, and which the designing made use of in order to acquire respect, and to aggrandize their own power. Hence the rise of sorcerers, augurs, and other impostors, the interpreters of omens and portenta, who pretended, in the peculiar flight and song of birds, to read the destinies of monarchs and of nations. It is probable, that out of a number of such predictions, some might happen to be true, where the sagacity of the augur penetrated farther into probable events than the ignorance of the multitude; and this fortuitous coincidence enhanced the public credulity, strengthened the empire of superstition, and became a fatal impediment to the progress of science throughout succeeding ages.'

This chapter, as well as some of the preceding, is illustrated by numerous quotations from the classical writers, which are appropriate and interesting: but many of them are inaccurately transcribed. We have only farther to remark, that this tract, although it contains many errors of style, and some weak and unimportant observations, possesses considerable claims to respect, and must tend to the advantage of the science which the author has cultivated with so much assiduity.

Translation of a Romaic Love Song; by Lord Byron: not published in any American edition of his lordship's works.

AH! Love was never yet without

The pang, the agony, the doubt,

Which rends my heart with ceaseless sigh,
While day and night roll darkling by.

Without one friend to hear my wo,

I faint, I die beneath the blow.
That Love had arrows, well I knew;
Alas! I find them poisoned too.

Birds, yet in freedom, shun the net,
Which Love around your haunts hath set;
Or circled by his fatal fire,

Your hearts shall burn, your hopes expire.

A bird of free and careless wing

Was I, through many a smiling spring;

But caught within the subtle snare,

1 burn, and feebly flutter there.

Who ne'er have loved, and loved in vain,

Can neither feel nor pity pain,

The cold repulse, the look askance,
The lightning of Love's angry glance.

In flattering dreams I deemed thee mine;
Now hope, and he who hoped, decline;
Like melting wax, or withering flower,
I feel my passion, and thy power.

My light of life! ah, tell me why
That pouting lip, and altered eye?

My bird of love! my beauteous mate!

And art thou changed, and canst thou hate?

Mine eyes like wintry streams o'erflow:

What wretch with me would barter wol

My bird! relent: one note could give

A charm, to bid thy lover live.

My curdling blood, my madd’ning brain,

In silent anguish I sustain;

And still thy heart, without partaking

One pang, exults-while mine is breaking.

Pour me the poison; fear not thou!
Thou canst not murder more than now:

I've lived to curse my natal day,

And Love, that thus can lingering slay.