Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

I never thought that any rules could be devised liable to so few exceptions. When, on those maxims, I have been able to give to my neighbours and friends, directions relative to their field-operations, even in fickle and dangerous times, I have often been led to glorify God for the discovery of the principle on which this Table is constructed; and frequently said, "If DR. HERSCHEL had lived for no other purpose than this, posterity would have reason to bless his memory.' But how was I surprised, when, some time ago, I was informed that his son had come forward and disclaimed the Table as any work of his late father; and as being unworthy of him! Well great most certainly was DR. HERSCHEL, and honourable to himself, and his adopted country, were the discoveries which he made; and had the above principle and its application been among them, he would, in my sight, have had yet greater honour. However the thing may be, the Table. judiciously observed, may be of great public benefit. I have made a little alteration in the arrangement, given it a significant name, illustrated it with further observations, and have sent it that you may insert it in the Magazine, as it has hitherto been confined generally to a few Almanacks. TABULA EUDICHEIMONICA,

OR THE

FAIR AND FOUL WEATHER PROGNOSTICATOR:

BEING

A Table for foretelling the Weather through all the Lunations of each Year for ever.

THIS Table, and the accompanying Remarks, are the result of many years' actual observation; the whole being constructed on a due consideration of the attraction of the Sun and Moon in their several positions respecting the earth; and will, by simple inspection, show the observer what kind of weather will most probably follow the entrance of the Moon into any of her Quarters, and that so near the truth as to be seldom or never found to fail.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

OBSERVATIONS.

1. The nearer the time of the Moon's Change, First Quarter, Full, and Last Quarter, are to MIDNIGHT, the fairer will the weather be during the seven days following.

2. The space for this calculation occupies from ten at night till two next morning.

3. The nearer to MIDDAY, or NOON, these phases of the Moon happen, the more foul or wet the weather may be expected during the next seven days.

4. The space for this calculation occupies from ten in the forenoon to two in the afternoon. These observations refer principally to Summer, though they affect Spring and Autumn nearly in the same ratio.

5. The Moon's Change,—First Quarter,-Full,—and Last Quarter, happening during six of the afternoon hours, i. e. from four to ten, may be followed by fair weather but this is mostly dependant on the WIND, as it is noted in the Table.

6. Though the weather, from a variety of irregular causes, is more uncertain in the latter part of Autumn, the whole of Winter, and the beginning of Spring; yet, in the main, the above observations will apply to those periods also.

7. To prognosticate correctly, especially in those cases where the wind is concerned, the Observer should be within sight of a good vane, where the four cardinal points of the heavens are correctly placed. With this precaution he will scarcely ever be deceived in depending on the Table.

8. It need scarcely be added, that to know the exact time of the Moon's Changes, Quarters, &c., a correct Almanack, such as the Nautical,-WHITE'S Ephemeris,or the one called Temporis Calendarium, [Compiled by MR. W. ROGERSON, and published by MR. KERSHAW, 14, City-Road,]-must be procured.*

With this Table, and a good Barometer, to what a certainty may we arrive in prognostications concerning the weather! By these the prudent man, foreseeing the evil, will hide himself, and will feel the weight of the proverb, Make hay while the sun shines. By not paying attention to the signs and the seasons, many have suffered and charged GoD foolishly, because he did not change the laws of nature to accommodate their indolence and caprice. It is said, that the late DR. DARWIN, having made an appointment to take a country jaunt with some friends on the ensuing day, but perceiving that the weather would be unfavourable, sent, as an excuse for not keeping his promise, a poetical epistle containing an enumeration of most of the signs of approaching ill-weather. I have enlarged these by adding several new ones, and remodelling others; and subjoin it as very useful, and a thing easy to be remembered.

Signs of approaching FOUL WEAther,
The hollow winds begin to blow;
The clouds look black, the glass is low;
The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep;
And spiders from their cobwebs peep.
Last night the sun went pale to bed;
The moon in halos hid her head.

The boding shepherd heaves a sigh,
For, see, a rainbow spans the sky.

*Our readers will recollect that the above "Table" and "Observations," were designed for England. They are inserted here with the view of showing the principles on which their excellent author conceives that such a table may be constructed with great advantage to the agricultural interest particularly; and with the hope of exciting the attention of scientífick and practical observers of the weather in our own country. AM, EDITORS.

The walls are damp, the ditches smell,
Clos'd is the pink-ey'd pimpernell.
Hark! how the chairs and tables crack,
Old BETTY's joints are on the rack;
Her corns with shooting pains torment her,
And to her bed untimely sent her.
Loud quack the ducks, the sea-fowl cry,
The distant hills are looking nigh.
How restless are the snorting swine!
The busy flies disturb the kine.
Low o'er the grass the swallow wings,
The cricket too, how sharps he sings!
Puss on the hearth, with velvet paws,
Sits wiping o'er her whisker'd jaws.
The smoke from chimneys right ascends;
Then spreading, back to earth it bends.
The wind unsteady veers around,
Or settling in the South is found.
Through the clear stream the fishes rise,
And nimbly catch th' incautious flies.

The glow-worms, num'rous, clear, and bright,
Illum'd the dewy hill last night.

At dusk the squalid toad was seen,
Like quadruped, stalk o'er the green.
The whirling wind the dust obeys,
And in the rapid eddy plays.
The frog has chang'd his yellow vest,
And in a russet coat is drest.
The sky is green, the air is still;

The mellow blackbird's voice is shrill.
The dog, so alter'd is his taste,

Quits mutton-bones, on grass to feast.

Behold the rooks, how odd their flight,
They imitate the gliding kite,
And seem precipitate to fall,
As if they felt the piercing ball.

The tender colts on back do lie,

Nor heed the traveller passing by.

In fiery red the sun doth rise,

Then wades through clouds to mount the skies.

"Twill surely rain, we see't with sorrow,

No working in the fields to-morrow.

Hoping that this Paper will be of some use to your country readers, I am, dear Sir, yours, truly,

From Carr's Northern Summer.

ADAM CLARKE.

Russian Hymn generally recited over a corpse previous to its interment.-O! what is life! a vapour or dew of the morning! Approach and contemplate the grave. Where is now the graceful form, where the organs of sight, and where the beauty of complexion?

What lamentation and wailing and mourning and struggling when the soul is separated from the body! Human life seems altogether vanity; a transient shadow; the sleep of error; the labour of imagined existence; let us therefore fly from every corruption of the world that we may inherit the kingdom of Heaven.

Religious and Missionary Intelligence.

ANNUAL MEETING of the WESLEYAN-METHODIST MISSIONARY

SOCIETY.

(Concluded from page 359.)

This Resolution was seconded by the stance, cast it into the furnace, and pour REV. E IRVING, Minister of the Cale- it forth; and then let the statesman and donian Church, who addressed the meeting as follows::

"I wish I could say that I had seen with my own eyes what my worthy friend who preceded me has just stated in support of the Resolution have in my hand; for then I likewise could speak with that calm assurance of truth which made his words tell with the conviction of undoubted facts to this audience. I wish also I possessed my natural strength, instead of being fatigued by the labours of the Sabbath, in order that I might bring whatever influence of mind, and feeling, and speech I possess to the support of a cause, than which there is none greater, and none more excellent, with reference to the soul of man. I wish, finally, and still more earnestly, that I had that unction, that present sense of the Spirit of God, which our blessed Saviour encouraged his disciples to trust in, when they were called to testify in his name before the people. But with what strength I possess, with what knowledge I have acquired, and with what grace it may please the Almighty to confer on me, I most cheerfully offer to this Christian Meeting of brethren of every denomination whatever I am able to present. I feel that in speaking to you, the supporters of this Mission, and to this Committee who manage it, I am speaking in the radical and fundamental court of Christianity. It is by your endeavours, and the endeavours of your Missionaries, that the facts are to be made out, that the propositions are to be demonstrated, upon which statesmen can act, and without which it were improper that statesmen should act. I propose to direct my at tention especially to one quarter which has occupied the public mind of late; and to confine myself to this point, that it is by the labours of your Missionaries in the West-Indies, that the people are to be made ripe for Legislative conside ration. You may depend upon it, that the Christians must work out the gold; they must take the ore from the earth; they must clear it from the earthly subVOL. VII.

the politician of the world shape it to the convenience of the state. It has been so, and it will always be so-not that you will be able to make men of the world perceive that it is so. They, in every such instance, take the credit to themselves; but surely as CHRIST has spoken, and as his disciples, in the first instance, overthrew the thrones of darkness, you must, by the labours of your mean, and despised, and insignificant Missionaries, do the work. At long intervals will the fruit be manifested, in the alterations which are produced in the policy and legislation of Society.— The first Christians laboured for three centuries, and shed their blood like water upon the earth; were spoiled of their goods, and continued patiently to labour, till, in the end, they brought the powers that were, to acknowledge their value, and to set up Christianity instead of the pagan superstitions which had been formerly practised; and then it began to colour the laws and affect the customs of society; and to bring men into that state of Christian feeling throughout Europe, the value of which no one can estimate, unless, like the preceding Speaker, he have travelled into lands where heathenism still exists. Your Missionaries must be encouraged to labour, heedless of what opposition they meet with, and the persecutions they may endure; whereby in them the marks of an Apostle will be exhibited; and without which they would not bear them. The more wrath they encounter, the more honour they often deserve; the more you are honoured in having made choice of such men; and the more is the Almighty manifesting to the world that it is his cause in which you are engaged. The labours of your Missionaries have been most successful; for you have gone far to convince men that the African has a soul, as well as the European; you have convinced them that the African is capable of lettered instruction as well as the European; you have convinced them that the African can submit to the restraints, I should say, can 50

feel the delights, of Christianity and domestic happiness. You have only to go on to show that the African can act under the fear of God, and can prefer the fear of God to the fear of man; you bave only to make this apparent, to convince the legislator on this side of the ocean, that they are men in all points like as we are; that they are men who have the same heavenly Father; that they are men capable of the same passions, and capable of the same restraints; then the question is ripe; but till then the question is not ripe for the 'decision of states and legislators, upon which such important and infallible consequences depend. Let us be thankful 'for the progress Christianity has made; let us render praise to God for manifesting himself, little as it may be. The Christian has the assurance of faith, and walks and sees by faith; but men who are not spiritual cannot see with spiritual eyes; they can only look with the moral judgment given to them, and see good and bad in that mixed and confused state, which it is the office of Christianity to rectify: separating the good from the ill; the peaceable from the warlike; the benevolent from the mischievous; and so ordering them aright. Blessed are your eyes; for they see what kings and wise men were una ble to see. Christ returned thanks that these things were revealed to babes; 'whilst the wise of this world could not perceive them, because they are spiritually discerned. But let us pity, not irritate them; let us not threaten, but commiserate the ignorance that exists; and then the problem will come sweet ly and triumphantly out, and the Lord's cause will be glorified I would, there fore, encourage the supporters of this Society, ardently and perseveringly to enlighten, so far as they are able, the public mind on this subject; and then all the feelings, and anxieties, and fears which have been felt, will be allayed, by turning them into the proper current of Christian endeavour; for, if they flow forth in violence and irritation, they serve no end, but greatly to impede the cause. Let all that feeling and zeal which has been exerted on these subjects, be directed into those channels, which are, if I may so speak, the spouts which convey the blessings from above upon the great wheel, which turns correctly, though unseen; which is regulated by the word of God; and which at length renders visible all the genuine and wholesome effects by which the peace and happiness of society are pro

moted. Though this is not a place for compliment, yet I may say that the Wesleyan Denomination has shown it. self so efficient at home, that its exer. tions in the darkest regions of heathenism are well entitled to the public support."

The Third Resolution,-" That the happy effects which have followed the pa tient and persevering labours of Missionaries in the West India Colonies, and the still neglected and uninstructed condition of the greater part of their Negro population, give to those Missions, which are specially devoted to the religious benefit of that class of our fellow subjects, a particular claim upon our affectionate and liberal encouragement,"- -was moved by the RIGHT HON. SIR GEORGE H. ROSE, M. P. He said,

"As a stranger I should apologize for appearing here, had I not been invited; and, under a sense of duty imperative upon me, I could not hesitate a moment in stating the sincere joy I felt in hearing the Report of the Wesleyan Society, and particularly as it relates to the West Indies. I am not only here, Sir, as a member of the Church of England, invited to meet with you to assist in promoting the common cause of Christi anity; but I am here because I am greatly obliged to your Society, which is the best reason I can offer I am unfortunately situated in following the footsteps of the Rev. Gentleman who has just sat down; but his speech leaves no impression upon my mind but that of delight. The eloquence of the Gospel has seldom been displayed with more wisdom and more prudence. I shall offer no observation on the duty of encouraging Missions; on this subject your practice proves you want no direction: "but in order to promote this work, we must labour under the influence of the Spirit of God; yet when I say this, I hope I shall not be understood as implying that want of success would be any justification for abandoning Missionary exertions. I have long understood the contrary truth as typically conveyed to us by one of our Lord's miracles. His disciples had laboured in vain through the night :still they persevered:-at length, the day comes, the Lord appears, and their labours are crowned with success. But the appearance of the Wesleyan Missions through the past year, I confess, by no means causes the least discouragement. Had it been an ordinary year, a year of no excitation, this would have been less remarkable; but whatever has caused that excitement, we must see in it en

« PreviousContinue »