shone

Through thick white clouds, that flew tumultuous on,

Passing beneath her with an eagle's speed, That her soft light imprison'd and then freed; The fitful glimmering through the hedgerow green

Gave a strange beauty to the changing scene; And roaring winds and rushing waters lent Their mingled voice that to the spirit went. "To these she listen'd; but new sounds were heard,

And sight more startling to her soul appear'd; There were low lengthen'd tones with sobs between,

And near at hand, but nothing yet was seen: She hurried on, and Who is there?' she cried ;

A dying wretch!' was from the earth replied. It was her lover, was the man she gave, The price she paid, himself from death to save; With whom, expiring, she must kneel and

pray,

While the soul flitted from the shivering clay That press'd the dewy ground, and bled its life away!

"This was the part that duty bade her take, Instant and ere her feelings were awake; But now they waked to anguish; there came

then,

Hurrying with lights, loud-speaking, eager

See, here her husband's body-but she knows That other dead! and that her action shows."

The poet makes some moral reflections on this terrible story, and then concludes it in the same calm and subdued strain of melancholy with which he commenced the narration.

"So Rachel thinks, the pure, the good, the meek,

Whose outward acts the inward purpose speak ;

As men will children at their sports behold, And smile to see them, though unmoved and cold,

Smile at the recollected games, and then
Depart and mix in the affairs of men :
So Rachel looks upon the world, and sees
It cannot longer pain her, longer please,
But just detain the passing thought, or cause
A gentle smile of pity or applause;
And then the recollected soul repairs
Her slumbering hope, and heeds her own

affairs.

We had much more to say of Mr Crabbe and his genius, but we must wait till another opportunity. We cannot, however, bid farewell to him, for the present, without observing, with real delight, that while old age has not at all impaired the vigour of his intellect, or blunted the acuteness of his observation, it seems to have mellowed and softened his feelings just to the degree that his best friends may have once thought desirable-and that while he still looks on human life with the same philosophic eye, and spares none of its follies or its vices, he thinks of it with somewhat of a gentler and more pitying spirit, as of one who has well understood it all, and who looks back upon its agitations and its guilt as on a troubled and unintelligible scene, from which, in the course of nature, he may soon be removed in the strength of that trust which can only be inspired by that religion of which he has so long been a conscientious minister.

VOL. V.

3 Q

Letter of the Royal Society of London to Thomas Edmonston, Esq. of Buness, in Shetland. We feel much pleasure in laying before the public the following letter from the Secretary of the Royal Society, to Mr Edmondston of Buness, Shetland, as a flattering testimony of the approbation of his conduct entertained by that learned body. In 1817, when M. Biot, Colonel Mudge, and the other gentlemen engaged in the trigonometrical survey, were about to leave Edinburgh for the Shetland Islands, Professor Jameson gave them a letter of introduction to Dr Edmondston at Lerwick. As the island of Unst, the most northerly of the group, was fixed upon as the scene of their operations, the Doctor recommended them to the attention of his brother, who resides there. M. Biot, in the report of his operations presented to the Institute of France, has, with that warmth of feeling and amiability so natural to him, expressed the sense he had of the attention which he received from Mr Edmondston on that occasion. In July 1818, Captain Kater arrived at Lerwick, and brought a letter of introduction from Sir James M'Gregor to Dr Edmondston; and as Captain Kater's de sign was to make his experiments with the pendulum as near as possible to the spot on which M. Biot had operated, Dr Edmondston introduced him also to his brother in Unst. Some time after Captain Kater's return to England, Mr Ed. mondston received the letter from the Royal Society above alluded to, which may be considered as the result of the manner in which Captain Kater had expressed his opinion to its members of the services rendered him by Mr Edmond.

ston.

Somerset House, March 1st, 1819. SIR, I am directed by the President and Council of the Royal Society, to express their thanks for the attentions which Captain Kater received from you during his visit to Unst.

By your assistance he was enabled to complete those experiments on the length of the pendulum, which, at the desire of his Majesty's Government, the Royal Society had requested him to undertake; and the President and Council feel much pleasure in acknowledging the sense they entertain of your zeal for the advance. ment of science-I am, Sir,

Your obedient servant,
WILLIAM THOMAS BRANDE,
Sec. R. S.

To Thomas Edmondston; Esq. Unst.

To perpetuate the memory of these interesting events in his own neighbourhood, by exhibiting a local history of them, Mr Edmondston has built into a wall in the court in the front of his house, the large stone brought there by M. Biot, and to which the pendulum employed by him was attached, and placed under it the stone on which the repeating circles of both the philosophers stood, with the following inscription engraved on it:

To this Stone Were attached the Clock and Pendulum employed by the celebrated French Philosopher BIOT;

And on the one on which it rests, Stood his Repeating Circle. The distinguished English Philosopher KATER, Placed his Repeating Circle on this Stone

also.

The former was sent here by the Institute of France in the summer of 1817, And the latter by the Royal Society of London, in the summer of 1818, To determine, by their experiments and observations,

The figure of the Earth.

These memorials are placed here as pleas-
ing and lasting remembrances of the
splendid talents, great worth,
and amiable manners of
those eminent men,

By their friend,
THOMAS EDMONDSTON,
October 1818.

On the Magnetism of the Earth.-Hansteen, Professor of Natural Philoso❤ phy at Christiana in Norway, has proved that the earth has four magnetic poles, as Haley had conjectured. He has shewn that the polar lights, where they first appear, have the form of a luminous cross, elevated between 400 and 500 miles above the earth's surface; and that there are for such luminous crosses, viz. two in the northern, and two in the southern hemisphere, whose middle points corres pond with the four magnetic poles already mentioned. This situation of the luminous crosses, and the disturbance they occasion in the magnetic needle, prove that the polar lights are magnetical phenomena, and that they are magnetical currents which flow from one magnetic pole to that directly opposite. The opin ion, namely, that the aurora borealis are magnetical, was long ago proposed by the late Professor Robison of this University; and has since been supported by Rit

ter, Dalton, Jameson, and other philosophers.

Professor Hansteen is of opinion that the sun and moon, as well as the earth, possess magnetical powers or magnetical axes, and that the different positions of these axes, in regard to the magnetic axes of the earth, occasion several magnetical phenomena enumerated by authors.

It is certain that the magnetical needle does not every where stand due north and south. In most places it declines considerably either towards the east or the west. This deviation, known at first only to seamen who made use of the magnetic needle to direct their course at sea, was afterwards found to lead to a knowledge of the spreading and diffusion of the magnetic powers over the globe, and may, perhaps, hereafter render the compass a still more perfect means of direction to the mariner than ever it could, had it every where, without variation, pointed to the same parts of the heavens. But if we desire, in this respect, to make the wished-for progress, the science must be continually enriched with observations respecting the deviations of the needle, which is perpetually changing in every place.

In the remotest times, from which we have records of the magnetic needle, it had a declination towards the east, which gradually diminished, till about the middle of the 17th century it ceased in most parts of Europe; so that the needle stood regularly north and south, which soon was followed by a declination towards the west, that since that time has increased

till very lately, when this westward declination again seems to be diminishing. But it is a matter of greater difficulty than it appears to be at first sight to determine whether this alteration has taken

place or not. The declination of the magnetic needle is subject to incessant variations; every day is to it a period in which it increases and diminishes; every year the same alteration is repeated, but to a greater extent. As long as the daily declination is not too great in comparison with the yearly one, we may easily, after the lapse of a few years, be enabled to determine whether the deviation has increased or diminished; but when the yearly alteration, as is now the case, is but small, when compared with the daily one, many years consequently will elapse before the amount of the yearly alterations will surmount that of the daily ones. That the yearly alteration is now become small, is a circumstance which, no doubt, makes us believe that it has attained its maximum; as every progressive series obtains its maximum when the difference of the terms becomes null.

During the year, the western deviation is greatest in the month of September; and during the day it is greatest about two o'clock in the afternoon. When no considerable disturbances appear, the daily alteration does not exceed 20 minutes. In the year 1649, the deviation here in Copenhagen was 11° east. About the year 1656, it must have been 0; as in 1672, it was 3° 35′ west. The western declination afterwards continued to increase till the year 1806, when it was 18° 25'. Since that time it has diminished, however, as usual, advancing and relapsing. In the year 1817, Sept. 8, at two o'clock in the afternoon, it was 17° 56', consequently 29′ smaller than in 1806; it may therefore be supposed, that the western declination has reached its maximum. By drawing the curve that is produced when the times are regarded as abscisses, and the declinations as ordinates, it seems to be evident that if the point of return does not fall upon the year 1806, it ought rather to be inquired for before than after that year.

The inclination of the magnetic needle has lately been found by Professor Ersted 17° 26′.

Mr Bankes's interesting Discoveries in Arabia. Mr BANKES, who has visited some of the most celebrated scenes in Arabia, intends, we understand, to publish, on his return home, an account of his excursion to Wadi Moosa (the valley of Moses), with engravings of the drawings which he made of the hitherto-undescribed excavated temples there; as well as of the ruins of Jerrasch, which excel in grandeur and beauty even those of Palmyra and Balbec.

other English travellers, left Jerusalem for This gentleman, in company with several Hebron, where they viewed the mosque erected over the tomb of Abraham; an edifice constructed in the lower part of such enormous masses of stone (many of them upwards of twenty feet in length), that it must be ascribed to that remote age in which durability was the principle chiefly consulted in the formation of all edifices of the monumental kind.

They then proceeded to Karrac, through a country broken into hills and pinnacles of the most fantastic form, and along the foot of mountains, where fragments of rock-salt indicated the natural origin of that intense brine, which is peculiarly descriptive of the neighbouring waters of the Dead Sea.

Karrac is a fortress situated on the top of a hill. The entrance is formed by a winding passage, cut through the living rock. It may be described, like all the other castellated works in the possession of the professors of the Mahomedan religion, as a mass of ruins. The mosque is in that state; and a church which it also contains, as well as the ancient keep or citadel, are in a similar condition. In the vicinity, the travellers saw several sepulchres hollowed out of the

rock; and they found the inhabitants of the place a mingled race of Mahomedans and, Christians, remarkably hospitable, and living together in terms of freer intercourse than at Jerusalem. The women were not veiled, nor seemed to be subject to any particular restraints.

Mr Bankes and his companions, after leaving Karrac, sojourned for a short time with a party of Bedoueen Arabs.

After quitting the tents of these Bedoueens, they passed into the valley of Ellasar, where they noticed some relics of antiquity, which they conjectured were of Roman origin. Here again they rested with a tribe of Arabs. The next day they pursued their journey, partly over a road paved with lava, and which, by its appearance, was evidently a Roman work; and stopped that evening at Shubac, a fortress in a commanding situation, but incapable, by decay, of any effectual defence against European tactics.

In the neighbourhood of this place, they encountered some difficulties from the Arabs, but which, by their spirit and firmness, they overcame; and proceeded onwards and en

tered on the wonders of Wadi Moosa.

The first object that attracted their attention, was a mausoleum, at the entrance of which stood two colossal animals, but whether lions or sphinxes they could not ascertain, as they were much defaced and mutilated. They then, advancing towards the principal ruins, entered a narrow pass, vary ing from fifteen to twenty feet in width, overhung by precipices, which rose to the general height of two hundred, sometimes reaching five hundred, feet, and darkening the path by their projecting ledges. In some places, niches were sculptured in the sides of this stupendous gallery, and here and there rude masses stood forward, that bore a remote and mysterious resemblance to the figures of living things, but over which time and oblivion had drawn an inscrutable and everlasting veil. About a mile within this pass, they rode under an arch, perhaps that of an aqueduct, which connected the two sides together; and they noticed several earthen pipes, which had formerly distributed water.

Having continued to explore the gloomy windings of this awful corridore for about two miles, the front of a superb temple burst on their view. A statue of Victory, with wings, filled the centre of an aperture in the upper part, and groups of colossal figures, representing a centaur, and a young man, stood on each side of the lofty portico. This magnificent structure is entirely excavated from the solid rock, and preserved from the ravages of the weather by the projections of the overhanging precipices. About three hundred yards beyond this temple they met with other astonishing excavations; and, on reaching the termination of the rock on their left, they found an amphitheatre, which had also been excavated, with the exception of the proscenium: and

this had fallen into ruins. On all sides the rocks were hollowed into innumerable chambers and sepulchres; and a silent waste of desolated palaces, and the remains of constructed edifices filled the area to which the pass led.

These ruins, which have acquired the name of Wadi Moosa, from that of a village in their vicinity, are the wreck of the city of Petra, which, in the time of Augustus Cæsar, was the residence of a monarch, and the capital of Arabia Petraa. The country was conquered by Trajan, and annexed by him to the province of Palestine. In more recent times, Baldwin I. king of Jerusalem, having made himself also master of Petra, gave it the name of the Royal Mountain.

The travellers having gratified their wonder with the view of these stupendous works, went forward to Mount Hor, which they ascended, and viewed a building on the top containing the tomb of Aaron; a simple stone monument, which an aged Arab shows to the pilgrims. Having remained in this spot, consecrated by such great antiquity, they returned next morning, and again explored other portions of the ruins of Petra; after which they went back to Karrac. They then turned their attention to other undescribed ruins, of which they had received some account from the Arabs; and finally, proceeded to view those of Jerrasch, which greatly exceed in magnitude and beauty those of Palmyra.

A grand colonnade runs from the eastern to the western gates of the city, formed on both sides of marble columns of the Corinthian order, and terminating in a semi-circle of sixty pillars of the Ionic order, and crossed by another colonnade running north and south. At the western extremity stands a theatre, of which the proscenium remains so entire, that it may be described as almost in a state of undecayed beauty. Two superb amphitheatres of marble, three glorious temples, and the ruins of gorgeous palaces, with fragments of sculpture and inscriptions mingled together, form an aggregate of ancient elegance, which surpasses all that popery has spared of the former grandeur of Rome.

An Electrical Man.-Dr Hartmann, of Francfort on the Oeder, has published in a German Medical Journal, a statement, according to which he is able to produce at pleasure an efflux of electrical matter from his body towards other persons. You hear the crackling, see the sparks, and feel the electric shock. He has now acquired this faculty to so

high a degree, that it depends solely on his own pleasure to make an electric spark issue from his fingers, or to draw it from any other part of his body. Thus in this electrical man, the will has an influence on the developement of the elec tricity, which had not hitherto been ob served except in the electrical eel.

Volcano in Switzerland.-A little volcano has recently made its appearance on a mountain near Morbio, a village in the Swiss canton of Tessin. The explosion was preceded by an earthquake. The flames ascended to a considerable height above the summit of the mountain, and

masses of stone were hurled to a great distance. On the following day a large opening was observed in the mountain, from which the flames still issued with a strong smell of sulphur. Great damage was sustained by some houses in the neighbourhood, but no lives were lost. The date of this event corresponds with that of the late disasters in Sicily.

Petrified Trees in Russia. Professor Kunizyn has just published several interesting observations on the petrified trees found in Russia, the object of which is, to shew that they were not, as is generally supposed, deposited in the places where they are found, by an inundation. The situation of these trees, which separated from their stumps, are found sometimes as much as fourteen feet under ground, chiefly in marshes, proves that they were overturned by violence, and prostrated in the spots where

they formerly stood erect; besides, many of them are discovered in eminences which no inundation could have possibly affected. The bed of earth which covers them consists of sand and clay. Under dry sand, the wood is reduced to dust; but the form of the tree remains visible, if the dust be removed care

fully. Under wet sand, the wood is found colour. Only large oaks appear to have been perfectly sound, with however a blackish torn up by their roots. The trees, which are partly petrified, are found chiefly under a bed of potter's clay. The oaks, which have not been petrified, on being exposed to the air, harden considerably. It is remarkable, that these trees are frequently found in grounds where none of the sort now grow. Mr Kunizyn imagines, that these trees were thus prostrated and covered with earth by the same violent motion of nature, which, in the north of Russia, separated enormous masses of granite from their foundations, and carried them to a considerable distance. Perhaps also, the remains of mammoths, which are sometimes discovered, may be attributed to the same action. As the trees all lie in the same direction, north to south, that must have been the course of the shock.

In a few days will be published, Moral Sketches of Prevailing Opinions and Manners, Foreign and Domestic, with Reflections on Prayer; by Hannah More.

Shortly will be published, in three vols, Geraldine, or Modes of Faith and Practice, a Tale, by a Lady; price £1, 1s.

Rosamond, Memory's Musings, and other poems; by William Procter, will shortly be published.

Mr J. N. Brewer is preparing a Historical and Descriptive Account of the most interesting objects of Topography in Ireland, to accompany "The Beauties of England and Wales." This work will be published in monthly numbers, illustrated with engravings from original drawings. In the prosecution of this undertaking, every principal place in Ireland will be personally inspected by the author, and a correspondence has been established with many of the most distinguished characters in that country. Much curious novelty of intelligence will be disclosed in the historical and descriptive account of cities and towns, monastic and other antiquities, little known to the public. A similar work, to be entitled, The Beauties of Scotland," is also announced.

66

M. Bigland has in the press, Letters on Jewish History, for the use of schools and young persons.

Cornubia, a Descriptive Poem, in five cantos; by George Worldley, author of Redemption, 8vo.

Designs for Churches and Chapels of various dimensions and styles, with estimates; also some designs for altars, pulpits, and steeples; by W. F. Pocock, architect.

Narrative of the loss of the Hon. East India Company's ship Cabalva, which was wrecked on the morning of July 7, 1818, on the Cargados Garragos reef in the Indian Ocean; by C. W. Francken, sixth officer.

Fredalia, or the Dumb Recluse, a poem, by the author of the Siege of Carthage.

The Old Woman's Letter to her respected and valued friends of the parish of

Memoirs of Miss Caroline Smeet; by Moses Waddell.

Dr Pinckard has in the press, Cases of Hydophobia.

The Rev. Mark Wilks is preparing for publication, some Account of the Present State of France, and of the late Persecutions in the South.