at midnight; and rises on the 7th at a quarter after five in the evening she rises on the 10th at half-past seven, and on the 13th at twenty minutes after eleven, at night. The Moon enters on her last quarter on the 14th; and changes on the 21st, at nine minutes past five in the morning: she sets on the 23d at five minutes before seven, and on the 26th at half-past ten, at night: she is half-full on the 28th; and sets on the 31st at three o'clock in the morning.

The surface of the Moon, when examined with a telescope, presents a wonderful variety of aspects, being diversified with mountains, valleys, rocks, and plains: the bright spots on the Moon are the mountainous regions, the dark spots are the plains. Among the most remarkable of the bright spots are those which bear the following names:-Aristarchus, Hevelius, Kepler, Copernicus, Gassendus, and Tycho. The most considerable of the less bright regions are thus denominated :-Mare Imbrium, Mare Humorum, Mare Vaporum, Mare Serenitatis, Mare Tranquilitatis, and Mare Crisium.

Aristarchus is a very brilliant portion of the Moon, situated in the north-west quadrant: it has been seen sometimes with great distinctness during an eclipse; also, when this part of the disc has not been illuminated by the direct rays of the Sun. Hevelius is south of Aristarchus, and near the eastern edge of the disc: it consists of an annular ridge of mountains, within which is an oval cavity, and a broken elevation resembling an egg. Kepler, southwest of Aristarchus, is a bright spot, apparently an annular mountain, on the summit of which is a circular range of small rocks, having in their centre another mountain. Copernicus is nearly due west of Kepler: this spot is of an annular form, with a central mountain, and broad margin, very luminous all round, with numerous rocks and mountains scattered to the north-east of it. Gassendus is south of Copernicus, and near a dark part of the Moon, called Mare Humorum: this spot is seen best when the boundary of light and darkness passes near it: the shadow of the ridges, and the central mountain, will then appear very conspicuous. The central mountain has three tops, one of which appears like a bright spot in the shadow of the other, when the Sun is in its horizon. The height of this mountain is about a quarter of a mile, and its base rather more than fourteen miles. From this chain of mountains there extends another in a diagonal direction, the summits of which are distinctly visible on the unenlightened limb of the Moon. The most remarkable bright spot is Tycho, situated in the southern hemisphere, and west of Gassendus: it is of considerable magnitude, and of a circular form, in the centre of which is an insulated mountain. From this conspicuous spot proceed in every direction ranges of mountains, which extend through vast regions, and, when the Moon is at the full, appear like brilliant radiations.

The dark spots, called seas, are not now in general believed to

be such, as, instead of being level, like a fluid surface, they present every appearance of inequality: there may be rivers or small lakes, but not any large collections of water. Mare Humorum is a dark well-defined spot in the south-east quadrant, and bounded with rocks and ridges on its north-east extremity. Mare Crisium is a conspicuous dark spot on the western limb of the Moon: it is bounded on its north and east margin by a ridge of mountains ; within its boundaries are two volcanoes.

MERCURY may be seen about the last day of this month, if the air prove very clear, approaching the western horizon, about three quarters of an hour after sunset.

VENUS is now an evening star, and, towards the end of this month, becomes a somewhat conspicuous object in the evening sky: on the evening of the 22d she appears in the neighbourhood of the crescent Moon.

MARS is due south on the 1st at two minutes before five, and on the 26th at half-past four in the evening, when he will appear not far from the Moon.

JUPITER appears very beautiful throughout the evenings of this month; at the beginning of which he is very near the planet Mars.

SATURN is to be seen in the evenings: on the 26th he is in conjunction with Venus: on the 22d and 23d he is in the neighbourhood of the bright crescent of the Moon.

Note.-The Moon is visibly eclipsed in the night of Wednesday the 6th of this month: the eclipse begins, at Greenwich, at eighteen minutes past eleven; the middle at eleven minutes past twelve, when about two parts out of ten of the Moon's diameter is eclipsed: the eclipse ends at four minutes past one in the morning of the 7th.

My young friends! We are now come to the conclusion of another year. With me you have contemplated the astronomical phenomena, as well as those of the animated and vegetative creation, which have been unfolded to our view during the preceding twelve months, that form the circle of the year 1843. These, I trust, have expanded our ideas of the wisdom and goodness of God, and inspired our gratitude to Him; and consequently we are ready to say, with the poet,

"Hail! Thou great Author of the' extended whole!
Revolving seasons bless thee as they roll:
By thee, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, rise;
Thou giv'st the smiling, thou the frowning, skies:
We see the product of returning Spring,
With joy the woods, with joy the valleys, ring!
Thy parent bounty swells the golden ear,
And bids the harvest crown the fruitful year:
The Winter hoard supplies the winnowing-floor,
The beast with fodder, and with bread the poor:
Each from thy hand his destined boon receives,
Feeds at thy board, and on thy bounty lives."

POETRY.

POPISH PRAYER FOR THE DEAD.

PRAY not for these! they have pass'd away
To the realm of darkness and decay;

They are gone, they are gone from the smiling earth,
With their tones of joy, and their songs of mirth;
They have trod the shores of a distant clime,
Where hush'd for aye is the voice of time.

The seal is set on the brow of pride:
Who might that signet-stamp abide ?
The flashing eye in the grave is dim:
Hath it oped 'mid the star-crown'd seraphim?
The lay of love in its gush is mute :

Hath it woke to the strain of an angel's lute?

Not thine, not thine, o'er the loved, the dead,
The light of a brighter sky to shed;
Not thine to win for a parted one
The bliss of a blest, a glorious, throne;
Not thine o'er the fluttering soul to pour
The soothing balm of a heavenly shore.

Thine eye did gaze on the fearful strife,
The parting throbs of the quivering life;
The hectic bloom by the spoiler flung,
The mists o'er the pallid brow that hung;
Thine ear did list to the fleeting breath,
Ere it ceased in the solemn hush of death.

And the soul hath scaped away, away!
And vainly all dost thou weep and pray!
Its doom is fix'd, where wealth nor might,

Nor earthly love, shall avail to light

A holier, brighter, purer flame

Round the heart whose towerings nought might tame.

Then pray thou not for the loved, the dead;

They need it not, they are vanished! Lift, lift thine heart to the God above; O drink thyself of His boundless love! Alone that draught shall thy spirit meet, The loved on a brighter shore to greet. Stoney-Hill, Jamaica.

ADELINE.

THE SEA-SIDE BINDWEED.

Convolvulus pes capræ.

On the shelvy bank of the sounding shore,
Listing the billows' ceaseless roar,

'Mid the wondrous things by the wild waves flung,
On the sand by the frowning rock o'erhung;
'Mid the flashing spray of the ocean-foam,
Thou wilding flower, is thy breeze-swept home.

Binding the sea-shell's echoing lute,

As thou would'st bid its wild strain be mute;
Wreathing the coral's snow-white gems;
Twining 'mid crystal diadems;

Clasping in beauty the cliff-built steep,
Joying to listen the stern wind's sweep.

The pebbly shore hath a flush of green,
On its golden sands thy step hath been;
It hath wound with the purple sea-weed's pride,
With the drifted wreaths of the crested tide;
With the emerald hues of the garland fair,
Flung from the depths of the dark wave there.

It hath track'd the path to the crystal deep,
Where the zoophyte in long trance doth sleep;
Where the star-fish, from his wide home flung,
Gleams in the verdure that hath clung

To his lonely tomb on the pealing shore,
Where thy quivering leaves stray lightly o'er.

And brightly fair on the ocean strand
Thy meek flowers cluster, a gentle band!
Flinging soft beauty o'er rock and stone,
Bloom on the wild shore's desert lone;
Flushing with glory the rude cliff's height,
Radiant and star-like! upspringing in light!

O! whisper they not of a love that broods
O'er the wild of Nature's solitudes?
That o'er the stern wastes of ocean's shore
Sweet blossoms of beauty and light doth pour?
The wide earth bidding His praise proclaim,
The wondrous might of His glorious name?
Stoney-Hill, Jamaica.

ADELINE.

INDEX

TO

VOL. VII. OF THE SECOND SERIES.

Advertisements, curious old, 130

Alexander's Pillar, and prospect in Cabul, 341

Anecdotes. The King, the Priest, and the mason, 25-Observing
and inferring, 92-Superstition in a Spaniard, 167-Good
effected by means of a religious tract, 239-The Rev. Philip
Henry, 240-A mouse and a scorpion, 244-Queen Constance,
266-Bishop Jewel, 292-The Rev. Henry Blunt, 343
Arundel Marbles, account of the, 415

Astronomical Notices, 30, 66, 102, 139, 176, 210, 248, 283, 320,
355, 391, 428

Atmosphere, magnitude of the, adapted to other conditions of
nature, 275

Bennet, George, Esq., monument to, 163
Bible, a youth whipped for reading the, 96

Birds, ingenuity of, 281

Blunt, Rev. Henry, honourable statement respecting, 343
Booth-Bank, Cheshire, account of, 325

Borrow's "Bible in Spain," extracts from: Superstition in a
Spaniard, 167-Good principle in a young Spanish female, 168
-Interview with Mendizabal, 202-Salamanca, 234-Toledo,
276

Bray, the Vicar of, 348

Brewster, Dr., remarks by, on changes in the ecliptic, 139
Buffaloes in Pegue, fierceness of, 205

Bush's (Mrs. Forbes) "Memoirs of the Queens of France," extract
from, 266