great benefit by one class of the young. We refer to the older Teachers in our Sabbath-schools. Their labours are very important; and the more fully they are imbued with the Christian spirit, and act on Christian principles, the more efficient will be their labours, and the greater their usefulness. This "Portrait of St. Paul" should be a Sabbath-school library book, and all the older of the young Teachers should read it. It will send them to their knees, not only in deep self-abasement, but in earnest desire and lively faith. If holiness be exemplified in the character of Mr. Fletcher, it is likewise shown to be attractive. And who can estimate the amount of the blessing to the children, which would be occasioned by that deeper holiness of the Teachers, to which we do think the perusal of this volume would be likely to conduct them?

(3.) Prayers for the use of Christian Families: with an Essay on Family Religion; and a Table of Lessons for Family Worship. By several Ministers. Third Edition. 12mo. pp. 335. John Mason.

THIS volume was composed for the sake of such persons as might desire to conduct family prayer regularly, and yet, through timidity, or other reasons, wish, at the same time, for the aid of a form. We here mention it for this reason, that the gift of prayer is not exactly the same as the grace; and for public prayer, both are generally necessary. At all events, the last will be more likely to be useful when combined with the first. For personal and private approach to God, if we have the spirit of prayer, we shall acceptably pour out our heart before God; but when we have to pray publicly, for others as well as ourselves, we should be prepared to pray with the understanding also. We have no wish to encourage formality; but we do think that the occasional perusal of such a volume as this, would be very serviceable to young persons, who have not, perhaps, been long in the possession of religion, and who are called by circumstances occasionally to pray in public. We do not mean that they should get prayers by heart, for formal repetition. Far from it. But they should make themselves acquainted with the various subjects proper for public prayer, and also, with clear and weighty expressions, expressions which really mean something, and all merely customary phrases, used over and over again with no definite meaning whatever, should be carefully avoided,that so their public exercises may be marked with the propriety of thought and phrase which the honour of religion calls for, and give no just occasion to any one of offence or ridicule. There are many volumes of this sort; but they who sincerely believe in the scripturalness of Wesleyan doctrine, will often find these prayers, as constructed on a different system, in various points defective, or, as they think, mistaken. These prayers were drawn up by Wesleyan Ministers, and are based on what we may be allowed to term Wesleyan theology. They refer to Wesleyan views of doctrine, experience, and duty; and these are suited to the circumstances of young Wesleyans, and calculated to assist them in acquiring an

acceptable, useful gift of prayer, by suggesting proper subjects, and proper expressions. Need we add, let the reader, whatever he does, keep his heart right with God. Let him read the Bible,

meditate on it, and pray much privately. The abundant grace of prayer shall then dwell in him.

NOTICES OF ANIMATED AND VEGETABLE

NATURE,

FOR JANUARY, 1845.

BY MR. WILLIAM ROGERSON, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

"LAST falls the snow, with stilly silence falls,
And Nature has her virgin robe put on.
Here, from the casement of this gothic pile,
'Tis sweet to gaze on the descending cloud.
Yonder the woodman, with his shoulder'd axe,
Clothed in a purer robe than Monarchs wear,
Hastes him to his warm cot across the moor,
Where his loved partner waits his wish'd return;
And now she trims her fire, then gazes out
Upon the storm, fearful, with moisten'd eye.
The fisherman no longer dares the main,
But tows his boat towards the sandy shore:
The night sets in, and fiercer blows the storm;
No sound is heard, save of the sweeping blast,
And deepest darkness veils the face of heaven."

REV. D. M'ALLUM, M.D.

In every revolving season, there is something capable of giving pleasure and amusement to the contemplative mind, and of exciting emotions of gratitude to the all-wise and benevolent Creator. His goodness is obvious in the spring, when vegetation puts forth its buds and blossoms, and promises future blessings to man and beast. Divine goodness is manifest in the ripening fruits of summer, and the smiling" corn-clad fields" of autumn. Nor is the Almighty's goodness less in operation for his creatures, when winter, as at present, spreads a white mantle over the face of nature, and stagnates the meandering streams with his crystallizing breath; because, it has been demonstrated, on chemical principles, that snow possesses a fertilizing power, and the earth is never more productive of vegetation than in those springs that immediately follow those winters that have been attended with deep falls of snow, which have lain long upon the ground, and afterwards gently melted away.

The first half of the month.-Blackbirds, thrushes, and fieldfares nestle together in banks, and under hedges, and frequently in the vicinity of towns. Larks find shelter in warm stubble; and tribes of small birds courageously surround our houses, and take possession of our farm-yards, in search of their precarious sustenance. The yellow-hammer, the chaffinch, but especially the audacious sparrow, beset our path, and seem to claim a share in the food with which we are so abundantly supplied; while the friendly redbreast seeks, and finds, a welcome everywhere. Redwings, fieldfares,

skylarks, &c., find a partial supply in wet meadows, and along the water's edge, while these remain unfrozen. The ringdove subsists on ivy-berries; water-fowl quit the frozen marshes for the neighbourhood of rapid streams, where the swiftly-passing current escapes its icy fetters, and leaves its richly embroidered banks to display the wonders of the mighty agent.

"The beautiful effects of hoar-frost are frequently sufficient to give animation to a landscape, which would otherwise look blank and dreary. Every branch and spray is fringed with delicate crystals, sparkling in the rays of the sun with the lustre of diamonds; and there is not a single blade of grass, or a plant, however insignificant, but may become, when adorned with these radiant gems, the object of our highest wonder and admiration. The very weeds, which we are accustomed to pass unnoticed, or to tread beneath our feet,

'Now shine

Conspicuous, and in bright apparel clad,
And fledged with icy feathers, nod superb.'

All those effects which are produced by the transient morning dew of summer are now exhibited, and still more strikingly, in the brilliant hoar-frost; and were it not that the constant recurrence of the wondrous scene has taught us to look on it with some degree of indifference, we could not fail to be struck with feelings of admiration and delight. In the remembrance that

'Nature is but a name for an effect,
Whose cause is God,'

such a scene is well calculated to inspire us with enlarged ideas of the power of that wonder-working Hand, which, whether in the vast or in the minute, is equally faultless in performance, inexhaustible in resource, infinite in variety, and unwearied in operation. The examination of a blade of grass, or even of a spider's web, laden with this frozen dew, will prove how exquisitely beautiful, and passing human art to imitate, are the least of the works of God."— Saturday Magazine.

The last half of the month.-Intense cold and deficiency of food embolden the fox, the weasel, the pole-cat, and other predatory quadrupeds, to attack the hen-roost and the farm-yard. The timid hare approaches the abodes of man to feed on the garden vegetables. Rabbits greatly injure the young trees by nibbling off the bark as high as they can reach. The titmouse seeks food in the thatched coverings of houses and walls; and the farmer keeps his early lambs and calves within doors, tending them as carefully and as gently as his own children. The little golden-crested wren is frequently seen in the hedges, and in the neighbourhood of fir-trees.

On mild days the slug, or shell-less snail, is moving about, to the injury of the young wheat and garden-plants. The bodies of these animals are covered with slime, as the whale is with blubber: this non-conducting substance enables them to withstand the cold.

At the end of the month, if the weather be tolerably open, we shall not fail to find the green runners of the little woodbine very forward.

"The first of wilding race that weaves
In Nature's loom its downy leaves,
That hang in green festoons, that creep
O'er thorny brake, or craggy steep."

But of floral ornaments a scanty supply can only be looked for at this time: these, in the garden, chiefly consist of polyanthuses, snowdrops, early crocuses, mezereon, &c.; and in the fields, of the deadnettle, daisy, coltsfoot, &c.

"The common overgrown with fern, and rough
With prickly furze, that, shapeless and deform'd,
And dangerous to the touch, has yet its bloom,
And decks itself with ornaments of gold,
Yields no unpleasing ramble."

BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES,

FOR JANUARY, 1845.

BY MR. WILLIAM ROGERSON, of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

"THE busy cares of day are done;
In yonder western cloud the sun
Now sets, in other worlds to rise,

And glad with light the nether skies:

With lingering pace the parting day retires,

And slowly leaves the mountain-tops and gilded spires.

"Yon azure cloud, enrobed with white,
Still shoots a gleam of fainter light;
At length descends a browner shade;
At length the glimmering objects fade;
Till all submit to Night's impartial reign,

And undistinguish'd darkness covers all the plain.

"Oft at this silent hour, the sage
Pores on the fair instructive page;
Or wrapt in musings deep, his soul
Mounts active to the starry pole;

And pleased to range the realms of peaceful night,
Numbers the stars, or marks the comet's devious light."

As the great Author of our existence has seen good to implant in our minds a love for novelty or change,-no science, with which we are acquainted, accommodates itself to this feeling better than that of Astronomy. The Earth, and all the planets, being in continual motion in their various orbits round the Sun, exhibit new phenomena every day, which, according to the nature of things, can never be repeated. Thus, as many of our juvenile readers will recollect, at the commencement of last year the beautiful planet Venus shone with superior lustre in the evening twilight, while ruddy Mars occupied the mid-heaven: but now we find Mars shines in the south at daybreak, and Venus now as harbinger of

morn arrests our attention. Many other particulars might be brought forward to illustrate what has been here advanced; but the above are sufficient. I shall, therefore, hasten to give the youthful reader the most interesting of the astronomical occurrences of this month.

The SUN rises at Greenwich on the 1st at nine minutes past eight, and sets at one minute before four: he rises at Edinburgh, on the same day, at thirty-six minutes past eight, and sets at thirtyone minutes after three. The Sun rises at Greenwich on the 19th at one minute before eight, and sets at twenty-three minutes past four: he rises at Edinburgh, on the same day, at twenty-one minutes past eight, and sets at two minutes after four: on the morning of the 20th he enters the southern sign, Aquarius.

The MooN enters on her last quarter on the 1st, at twenty-one minutes past three in the afternoon: she rises on the 3d at twenty minutes after two, and on the 5th at five minutes before five, in the morning. The Moon changes on the 8th, at thirteen minutes past seven in the morning; and presents her beautiful narrow crescent, near the western horizon, in the evening of the 8th, and sets at a quarter past six: she sets on the 11th at about nine o'clock, and on the 13th at about half-past eleven, at night. The Moon is halffull on the 15th; and on the 16th is due south at six minutes before seven in the evening: she souths on the 18th at half-past eight, and on the 22d at forty minutes after eleven, at night: she is full on the 23d, at twenty minutes past two in the afternoon; and rises on the 24th at six o'clock in the evening. The Moon rises on the 26th at half-past eight, and on the 28th at seven minutes before eleven, at night: she enters on her last quarter on the 31st, at four minutes before two in the morning; about half-an-hour after she presents her half-illumined disk in the eastern horizon. From the 12th to the 19th she is in a favourable position for telescopic observation.

MERCURY, at the beginning of this month, when the evenings are very clear, is to be seen very near the horizon, between the west and south-west points, about half-an-hour after sunset.

VENUS is very bright in the south-eastern part of the heavens about seven o'clock in the mornings: through a good telescope she appears like the Moon between the full and last quarter: on the 6th she is in the neighbourhood of the Moon.

MARS is to be seen to the south-west of Venus, and on the morning of the 4th is in the vicinity of the Moon.

JUPITER, the most interesting object in the evening sky during this month, is due south on the 1st at six minutes past five, and on the 20th at three minutes after four. The best time for viewing him is from five to seven o'clock. On the 12th and 13th he is near the crescent Moon, when the telescope can be easily moved from one to the other. The following phenomena will entertain the telescopic observer:-The 2d day, at thirty-four minutes past nine at night, emersion of the first satellite from the shadow of Jupiter. 5th, at eight minutes after six in the evening, emersion of the