proper source of moral excellence, while error in religion is represented as producing moral evils. If Miss Williams is at all defective, it is just where writers of fictitious narrative ought to be So. In stating results, they should never be too highly coloured: they should be within, rather than beyond, the truth. The reader of "Chillon" will have a painful impression of the terrible evils of Popery; but the impression will not be so deep as that which is made by the rigidly truthful histories of the rise and fall of the Reformation in Italy and Spain, by M'Crie. Fiction has nothing more horrible than the accounts which he gives of the extinction in blood of the enkindled radiance of truth. NOTICES OF ANIMATED AND VEGETABLE NATURE, FOR SEPTEMBER, 1845. BY MR. WILLIAM ROGERSON, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. "ALL nature owns with one accord The great and universal Lord; And God is with us,' all reply, Creatures that creep, walk, swim, or fly, 'God reigns on earth, in air, in sky,'" "SEPTEMBER is one of our most delightful months, having, like others, its peculiar characteristics. Many flowers are still in their beauty, and some plants blossom only at this season; but it is peculiarly the fruit season. Look around! The apple-trees bend beneath their load, and pears are in equal profusion. The downy peach, the shining plum, and the ruddy fragrant nectarine, adorn the sunny wall. There too, perhaps, in its full ripeness, hangs dark, 'Beneath its ampler leaf, the luscious fig: As harvest is over, the fields, lately waving as a sea of corn, are now covered only with stubble, and the precious grain is laid up in the barn. Already, too, the ploughman is at work, preparing the earth for fresh seed, to spring up in due season according to the appointment of the God of nature and providence.”—Sights in all Seasons. The first half of the month.-The char spawns, the eel descends rivers, and the star-fish is frequently cast on shore. Several of our interesting summer warblers take their departure for the south, such as the nightingale, the blackcap, the garden-warbler, and the This refers to the southern parts of the kingdom. In the northern, September generally is the principal harvest-month.-W. R. sedge-bird. The insect tribes continue to be numerous: grasshoppers and field-bugs abound, and various lepidopterous insects attract the notice of the entomologist. Among the various flowers of this month, is the evening primrose: this plant exhibits its beautiful yellow blossoms on sand-banks, and in corn-fields, on the western coast of England, and though the plant is a native of North America, it is so completely naturalized in the situations mentioned, that it is now included in our British Flora. Phillips thus describes the opening of its blossoms :-"We have frequently stood over this plant to watch the expansion of its flowers, the petals of which are confined together by means of the calyx, the ends of which meet over the corolla, and clasp each other by a hook. As the corolla swells in its confinement, the segments of the calyx separate at bottom, and discover the primrose corolla, which appears to be gradually inflating with a gaseous fluid until it acquires sufficient expansive force to burst the hooks of the calyx. When its petals are thus forced, they expand instantaneously to a cup-shape, and, in about half-an-hour, they are progressively spread until they become quite flat." Bernard Barton says of this lovely flower, "I love to watch, at silent eve, Thy scatter'd blossoms' lonely light, "I love at such an hour to mark Their beauty greet the night-breeze chill, "For such, 'tis sweet to think, the while Is friendship's animating smile, In sorrow's darkening shade. "Thus it bursts forth like thy pale cup, Vervain (verbena officinalis) which commenced blowing in July, continues still to exhibit its small blue flowers, which are set in spikes; and several together, compose a sort of panicle. The last half of the month.-The squirrel, the dormouse, the water-rat, and the hedgehog, lay up a stock of vegetable provisions for winter store. The whitethroat, the chiff-chaff, and the rest of the summer warblers, depart from our shores. The nightjar, the green plover, and the ruff also take their flight to more southern regions. The fieldfare, the gannet, the snipe, the curlew, and the bean-goose, arrive from their northern summer haunts. Herrings pay us their annual visit at this time, and afford a rich harvest to the inhabitants of the eastern and western coasts. Among insects may be found the twelve-spot ladybird, the death's-head hawkmoth, the swallow-tail butterfly, and the large green grasshopper, &c. The arbutus, or strawberry-tree, unfolds its yellowish-white or red flowers. This tree grows spontaneously on rocky limestone situations in the west of Ireland, where the peasants eat the fruit. There this beautiful evergreen grows to the height of ten or fifteen feet. China-asters, dahlias, heart's-ease, and various other flowers, ornament our gardens. In the fields we find in blow the pheasant'seye, devil's-bit scabious, harvest-bells, field gentian, viscous mouseear, ploughman's spikenard, various species of hawkweed, &c. During this month the common mushroom is found in great plenty in woods, old pastures, and at the sides of roads, in which places it generally attains great perfection. The supposed characteristics of a good mushroom are hardness and solidity, a little brownish on the top; and, when young, a thickish white skin covering the gills; the gills, for the most part, of a pink or flesh colour; the stalk also large, in proportion to the size of the cap. There is also a peculiar smell in a good mushroom, with which those who are acquainted with them cannot be deceived. BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES, FOR SEPTEMBER, 1845. BY MR. WILLIAM ROGERSON, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. "ALL is love! Through nature's vast domain it sweetly breathes ; Celestial hosts resound that God is love! That I exist confirms the pleasing truth; 'Tis in my nature woven; 'tis display'd THE SUN rises on the 1st, at Greenwich, at fourteen minutes past five, and sets at forty-six minutes after six: on the same day he rises, at Edinburgh, at five minutes past five, and sets at fiftyfive minutes after six. On the 19th he rises, both at London and Edinburgh, at about forty-two minutes past five, and sets at six minutes after six: on the 23d he enters the equinoctial sign Libra, and the autumn quarter takes place. "The Sun, the central luminary of the system, the source of light and heat, appears to prosecute a stately procession through the heavens, owing to the rotation of the earth on its axis, ascending like an intensely brilliant ball, from the eastern horizon, and declining towards the western. Excepting the regions bordering on the poles, every part of our globe, within the interval of twentyfour hours, is brought beneath the action of the solar rays, and withdrawn from them,-' its mountains and all hills, its fruitful trees and all cedars.' The unfailing continuity and nice precision with which this has transpired, age after age, strikingly illustrate the stability of the natural laws. The navigator on a dangerous coast, watching for the morning, knows that the vision is for an appointed time, and will infallibly keep the appointment. In countries favoured with a more transparent atmosphere than our own, the day-spring, the commencement of terrestrial nature's diurnal audience with the solar presence, is a scene of great combined beauty and magnificence. Faint rosy-coloured streamers are early indications of the point of sunrise; these rapidly become more distinct, and are followed by the resplendent saffron hues, from that of burnished gold at the horizon, to the lighter shades, gradually fading upwards into the pure cerulean of the illuminated sky."-Miller's "Gallery of Nature." The MOON changes on the 1st, at thirty-five minutes past nine, in the night she sets on the 6th at a quarter after eight, and on the 8th at about a quarter before ten, in the night: she appears half-full on the 9th; and on the 10th sets about midnight. The Moon is due south on the 14th at eleven o'clock; and is full on the 15th, at thirteen minutes past ten, at night. She rises on the 16th at six in the evening; and having just passed the full, scatters considerable splendour over the face of nature. This beautiful lamp of night rises on the 21st at a quarter before nine, and on the 23d at half-past ten o'clock. "The Moon is up! how calm and slow She wheels above the hill! The weary winds forget to blow, "The way-worn travellers with delight Revealing all the paths and plains, "It glistens where the hurrying stream It falls upon the forest shade, The Moon enters on her last quarter on the 23d, at thirty-four minutes before one in the afternoon: she rises on the 24th at halfpast eleven at night, and on the 28th at a quarter before three in the morning. The following table of high water is founded chiefly on the Moon's influence on the ocean : London Bridge Hull Bristol Liverp. Dock Gravesend Day Morn. After. Morn. After. Morn. | After. Morn. After. Morn. After. 6 11 h. m. h. m. h. m. h. m. h. m. h. m.h. m. h. m. h. m. h. m. 1 45 2 2 5 38 5 55 6 53 7 10 11 17 11 33 1 8 1 25 4 31 4 46 8 24 8 39 9 39 9 54 1 46 2 1 8 52 9 37 0 45 1 15 16 1 56 2 15 5 48 6 18 7 4 7 23 11 30 11 52 21 5 7 5 26 9 0 9 19 10 15 10 35 2 22 2 41 26 9 53 10 32 1 4 354 49 2 0 6 7 6 52 8 15 9 0 1 19 1 38 4 30 4 49 1 46 2 19 3 17 8 7 47 9 16 9 55 MERCURY, during the last week, is visible to the naked eye: he appears near the eastern horizon about an hour before sunrise: on the morning of the 30th he appears a few degrees above the crescent Moon. VENUS is visible near the western horizon soon after sunset: on the 4th she is in conjunction with the Moon: she sets on the 6th at half-past seven, and on the 25th at forty-nine minutes past six. MARS appears very large and red in the southern skies every clear night; he is due south on the 8th at half-past ten, and on the 27th at a quarter past nine: on the 13th he is in the neighbourhood of the Moon. JUPITER is a splendid object in the evenings: he rises on the 2d at half-past eight, and on the 21st at a quarter past seven: on the 19th he appears in the vicinity of the Moon. His belts and satellites now afford considerable amusement to those who are in possession of proper telescopes. SATURN is to be seen to the west of Mars: his ring, as seen from the earth, appears to be closing fast, yet he is still a fine telescopic object. On the 12th and 13th he is not far from the Moon. The late Comet.-In the early part of June last this interesting body made its appearance suddenly. It was distinctly seen by several persons for a few nights, without the aid of a telescope, in the neighbourhood of the bright star Capella, not far from the northern horizon. From observations of it, the following elements were computed, which bear some resemblance to those of the Comet of 1596: Mean time of perihelion passage, at Greenwich, 9h., A.M., June 6th, 1845. |