Creation smiles through all her tears,

(Ten thousand sparkling drops of dew,) His head the lofty mountain rears

To meet the earliest sunbeam true."

"In October, the approach of a bleaker season becomes more and more apparent. The ruddy glow of foliage among many of the larger trees, gives a character of interest to the rural scene, and vegetation is gazed on with a feeling persuasion that it is about to pass away. It is so also with plants and flowers, and even with the grass of the field. How frail must man be, for his life to be comHow necessary, then, that we

pared to the grass that withereth! should prepare for eternity!"-Visitor.

The first half of the month.-Those summer warblers that have not yet left our coasts must now speedily remove; the songs of the redstart and willow-wren, which used to enliven our mornings, are now no longer heard; the merry notes of the whitethroat and sedge-warbler no more arrest our attention; the sweet music of the garden-warbler and blackcap has ceased to charm our ears; and the inimitable and melodious strains of Philomela, queen of the woodland songsters, have long since ceased: therefore we may say, with a certain writer,

"Sweet poet of the woods, a long adieu!

Farewell, soft minstrel of the early year!
Ah! 'twill be long ere thou shalt sing anew,
And pour thy music on the night's dull ear."

Speaking of this interesting bird in "The Youth's Instructer" for June last, I noticed that it was the opinion of naturalists that the nightingale never visits Ireland. However, respecting this there appears to be a mistake, as the following letter which I have received, and deem proper to acknowledge in this place, exhibits :

"SIR,

"Derryadd, Verner's Bridge, Mog, July 5th, 1843.

"I HAVE read in the Youth's Instructer for the present year, page 208, that the nightingale never visits Ireland. Now I beg leave to inform you that I have heard it repeatedly pour forth its melodious notes on the banks of the Bann river, county Armagh. I have been charmed with its music through the day, and sometimes through the whole course of the night. I have heard three or four sing within my hearing, which has satisfied me that they are very numerous here. I have also heard and seen them in different parts of this neighbourhood, especially near lakes or rivers, the banks of which I am convinced the nightingale chiefly frequents. As I have been many years a subscriber to The Youth's Instructer,' I take the liberty of sending you these remarks, hoping you will notice the same in some future Number of the above-mentioned periodical. For the authenticity of what I have said, you may rest assured. "JOHN WILKINSON."

Hooded crows and redwings arrive; rooks sport about, and are very noisy, especially at sunset. The soft cooing of the woodpigeon is heard through the whispering of the trees: the snipe arrives, and the wild-goose leaves the fens for dry land.

The beautiful strawberry-tree (arbutus unedo) is covered with its waxen-tinted blossoms, and its delicate pulpy fruit, at once hidden and displayed by the deep green glossy leaves.

The garden is gay with the hollyhock and the china-aster. The little clusters of the barberry, now ruddy and ripe, arrest the attention, and put us in mind of autumn.

The last half of the month.-The blackbird occasionally sings: the robin is musical all the day long. The woodlark and skylark sing a farewell to the warm sunshine of the summer, and the fading leaves of the trees. The long-tailed titmouse is seen flitting about. The air is filled with the network of the gossamer, and spiders' webs abound all over the country.

The sunflower, which is yet a conspicuous favourite of the cottage garden, is a native of South America, but hardy enough to stand our climate.

"Where varied flowers the garden grace,
The sunflower holds its pride of place;
With giant form, and face of gold,

It stands, the boldest of the bold."

"the

The dandelion continues to exhibit its large golden yellow blossom in the fields. Its leaves are long, toothed, and jagged; whence its name, which is from the French, dent de lion, tooth of the lion." The leaves may be blanched, and used in salad, like endive. The root is used medicinally, as an excellent bitter for affections of the stomach and liver.

Among the various plants that deck the gardens and fields during the declining days of October, we cannot forget to notice the daisy.

"The prouder beauties of the field

In gay but quick succession shine,
Race after race their honours yield,
They flourish and decline.

"But this small flower, to nature dear,

While moons and stars their courses run,
Wreathes the whole circle of the year,
Companion of the sun.

"It smiles upon the lap of May,

To sultry August spreads its charms,
Lights pale October on his way,
And twines December's arms.

"Within the garden's cultured round,
It shares the sweet carnation's bed;
And blooms on consecrated ground,
In honour of the dead.

During this month we should take advantage of every fine day: they are the last fine days to be expected for a long time; such days, at least, as will admit of any out-of-door enjoyment. We may have fine days in the depth of winter; but the fields and green lanes are seldom passable after the fogs, rains, and mists of November. October is robed in russet; and amid the fading trees we here and there see gaps that show nothing but bare branches. The country at this season is beautifully picturesque : but we are compelled to remember that its very beauties are symptoms of decay.

BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES,

FOR OCTOBER, 1843.

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

"I LOVE to gaze, at the midnight hour,
On the heavens, where all is shining;
I feel as if some enchanting power
Around my heart were twining:

To see the moon, like a beacon fair,
When the clouds sail swiftly by ;

And the stars, like watch-lights in the air,
Illumine the northern sky.

"I love to look at the silvery light

Of the sparkling gem at the pole,

And view the others, so fair and bright,
That round it continually roll:

I love to picture each well-known sign
Where planets their courses urge,

And watch to see them more brightly shine,
Arrived at their topmost verge."

M. H. BARKER.

THE SUN rises at London on the 1st at two minutes past six, and sets at thirty-eight minutes after five: on the same day he rises at Edinburgh at five minutes past six, and sets at thirty-three minutes after five. The Sun rises at London on the 20th at thirty-four minutes past six, and sets at fifty-six minutes after four: on the same day he rises at Edinburgh at forty-three minutes past six, and sets at forty-six minutes after four. He enters the sign Scorpio on the 24th, when he is vertical, or directly over-head, in latitude eleven degrees south.

The Moon sets on the 1st at twenty-one minutes past eleven at night, and on the 4th at a quarter before two in the morning: she is full on the 8th, at sixteen minutes past eleven in the forenoon; and rises on the 9th at a quarter after five: she rises on the 12th at a quarter before seven, and on the 15th at half-past nine. The

Moon enters on her last quarter on the 16th, and rises on the 17th at midnight: she changes on the 23d, at thirty-six minutes past seven in the morning; and sets on the 27th at eight o'clock in the evening she is half-full on the 30th, and sets about half-an-hour after eleven at night; and on the 31st is due south, at a quarter after seven in the evening.

MERCURY is visible at the end of the month in the mornings, rising nearly two hours before the Sun.

VENUS is now too much in the immediate rays of the Sun to be seen by the naked eye: through a good telescope she appears like a little bright full moon.

MARS is due south on the 1st day at six o'clock in the evening, and on the last day at half-past five: he is in the neighbourhood of the Moon on the 29th.

JUPITER is a beautiful object every clear evening: his belts and satellites may now be seen to advantage through a proper telescope. This planet is due south on the 1st at a quarter before nine, and on the 20th at half-past seven: on the 3d and 31st days he is in conjunction with the Moon.

SATURN, during this month, appears near Mars, and on the 17th he is in conjunction with that ruddy-looking planet: on the 1st and 28th he is in the vicinity of the Moon. His double ring, at this time, is a fine object for telescopic observation.

Uranus, or the Georgium Sidus, is favourably situated for those who are desirous of viewing him through a good telescope. He is due south on the 1st at twenty-one minutes past eleven at night, and on the 16th at twenty minutes after ten: being now on the equator, his meridian altitude is about thirty-eight degrees.

Eclipses of Jupiter's Satellites.-The first satellite emerges from the planet's shadow on the 7th, at four minutes past seven in the evening: the second satellite emerges on the 8th, at thirteen minutes after seven in the evening: again, the first satellite emerges on the 14th, about one minute past nine, and the second on the 15th, at eleven minutes before ten o'clock, at night.

The Fixed Stars.-Markab, in Pegasus, is due south on the 12th at half-past nine; and Algenib, in the same constellation, is on the meridian about an hour afterwards: at the end of the month Markab souths about a quarter past eight, and Algenib, of course, about a quarter after nine. In the evenings of this month the Pleiades and Aldebaran appear in the east; and above them is to be seen the bright star, Capella.

The Zodiacal Light.-This phenomenon now appears in the mornings, about two hours before sunrise, or before the twilight has become too bright to obscure it. It appears of a pyramidical form. As this delicate light always accompanies the Sun, it has been generally ascribed to an atmosphere of immense extent surrounding that luminary, and extending beyond the orbit of Mercury.

357

JUVENILE OBITUARY.

[INSTEAD of the Memoirs which we usually place in this department of "The Youth's Instructer," we this month insert a communication which we received some time ago from one of the Wesleyan Missionaries in Van Diemen's Land. The insertion will answer a two-fold purpose: first, the illustration of at least one branch of the labours of our esteemed Missionaries in a foreign land; and, second, the conveyance of important admonition to youth.-ED. Y. I.]

To the Editor of "The Youth's Instructer."

IN the course of my ministry in the New-Norfolk Circuit, in the year 1840, I one Sabbath evening took for my text Isaiah xii. 1: "In that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee," &c. In the application of my sermon my own mind experienced a blessed freedom in urging upon a large and attentive congregation the necessity of an immediate return to God; and I was led especially to address the young. It was observed to them, that, young as they were, it was possible that some of them were receiving their last invitation to come to Christ; that before the return of another Sabbath, their eyes might be closed in death. It was a solemn hour; the power of God rested upon us; and as the people retired from the house of prayer, the ardent wish of each one seemed to be, "O that His anger were turned away, and I were comforted." On Monday morning, about nine o'clock, I received information that two young men who had formed part of my congregation on the preceding evening, had just then been hurried into an eternal world: one had fallen into the river, and the other, who could swim well, had plunged in to save him, when the drowning man caught hold on the clothes of his companion, and both sank to rise no more.

A few days after this I was preaching at one of my country stations, when, in closing my discourse, I again besought the young to make a full surrender of their hearts to God. The above alarming dispensation was mentioned; and once more it was observed that it might prove to be the last opportunity some then present would enjoy of worshipping God in his house. And so it came to pass. There was present that evening a young lady, just twentytwo years of age; the rose bloomed upon her cheek, and

"Youth its pride of beauty show'd."

But that rose was soon to wither and die; for in the course of the next week, or ten days, through a sudden attack of fever, she passed into eternity.

My mind being deeply affected by these afflictive visitations of Divine Providence, I became more than ever concerned for the salvation of immortal souls, and particularly for the conversion of the young, by a great number of whom, of a most promising and interesting character, I was surrounded in that neighbourhood. On a subsequent occasion I was led to call their attention to the fore