PART 11.] needle, or P4 of fig. 3. That the pole is moving in this curve, or in some similar one, is proved by the experienced diminution of what is termed the VARIATION; that is to say, the angle of variation NLP, is found now to be less than it was when the pole was at P, the farthest point to which it moved in its constant course eastward. It is evident that when the pole is in the position 4 of fig. 2, it will be nearer to the surface of the earth, on the side on which Loudon is situated, than it will be at 2, the opposite part of the interior orbit. It follows from this, that in London the dip of the needle will be at its maximum when the pole is at 2, and at its minimum when it arrives at 4; and consequently that the dip will diminish while the pole, as at present, is describing the western half, 2, 5, 4, of its orbit, and increase while it is moving through the other or eastern half, 4, 6, 2, or 4, m, 2, of fig. 3, which indicates the corresponding orbit on the surface. There will be a point between 5 and 4, and between 6 and 2, where the diminishing and increasing dip will be equal. It must be also manifest, that to inhabitants who are nearer to the point 2, than to the place 4 of the orbit, the dip will be of a differing description; or in general, that it will depend on the greater or less contiguity to, or distance from, the relative extremities of the conjugate diameter, 4, 2, of fig. 2, or 4, 2, a curve of fig. 3, on the surface. From not knowing nearly the length of the conjugate diameter 4, 2, it cannot at present be determined, whether the greatest diminution of the dip will be at 4, and the greatest increase at 2 of fig. 2; but these circumstances will take place when the pole is contiguous to, or at the parts 2 and 4 relatively, in the polar orbit.

The diurnal variation minutely described by Canton, and observed first by me in the southern hemisphere, as stated in the Philosophical Transactions, is now decidedly reduced to the action of the solar heat, the great source of magnetism, and found to be a modification of, and intimately connected with, galvanic electricity. The magnetic fluid pervades all space, and all substances; is equally active in vacuo and in pleno; and is so subtle, that no test can discover in what proportion it is incorporated with atino

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spheric air. It is constantly flowing between the two poles, and occasions the action of the needle in their direction, by the inverse rule. It may be probable that it is the known principle inherent in these magnetic powers, viz. mutual attraction and repulsion, which retains them in their orbits; while, like the planets, they cannot move out farther in the description of fluid in which they manifestly move

at a certain distance from the centre of the earth. The Sacred Writings inform us that the earth is "inanis et cooperta ;" and philosophers agree, that were it solid, increasing in density to the centre, it could not float in ether, at its present distance from the Sun. The resistance offered by the ethereal fluid filling space, must be inconsiderable; as the earth, without having the globular form of its atmosphere even deranged, flies in its orbit at the stated rate of eleven miles and a fraction in a second of time. Its weight must, on received principles, be equal to the weight of the bulk of ether which it displaces. This makes exceedingly against solidity to the centre. Were such the case, it could not by any known laws of matter have assumed the form of an oblate spheroid, which must have arisen from its having yielded into that shape in consequence of the rotatory motion round its axis. If these arguments, here merely slightly touclied, apply rationally to the motion and construction of the earth, how much, à fortiori, must they bear on such a planet as Jupiter! Professor Leslie, in his recent "Elements of Natural Philosophy," writes luminously on this subject. He says that an absolute void is impossible; and that the subterraneous cavity must be filled with some diffusive medium of astonishing elasticity. From a clear train of induction, he says that "the great central concavity is not that dark and dreary abyss which the fancy of poets has pictured. On the contrary, this spacious internal vault must contain the purest ethereal essence, light, in its most concentrated state, shining with intense refulgence, and overpowering splendour." After all, I fear we must confess that

"Not deeply to discern, not much to know, Mankind is born to wonder and adore."

JOHN MACDONALD.

PART 11.]

The History and Antiquities of the Conventual Church of St. James, Great Grimsby, with Notes illustrative and explanatory. By the Rev. G. Oliver, Curate, &c. 8vo. pp. 52.

marks of the Saxon style, by what authority are they Normanized. We by no means blame Mr. Oliver; but we know the notion which has been inculcated, that every architectural re

borious research, and he only errs when he charitably adopts other people's illegitimate children. In his history of Initiation we had occasion to notice his patronage of the helio-arkite theory, and here again we have to particularize other erroneous premises, for which he is not to blame. In page 9 it is stated, "that with respect to the Saxon style it is asserted that there is not a single specimen of a complete Saxon church now in existence in this kingdom; but there are parts of religious structures, which were doubtless erected before the Conquest."

Now we know, that the church of Kilpeck in Herefordshire is affirmed, in the Anglia Sacra, to have been consecrated in the time of the Conqueror, by Herwald, Bishop of Landaff, who also consecrated, in the time of Edward the Confessor and Harold, "Henullam, Dubric, and Lantilio, in uno cemeterio," (Anglia Sacra, ii. 671.) Kilpeck we have examined, and can safely allegate, that it has a quite different aspect from other churches, and has undergone no other alterations than perhaps a wooden porch, or some such trifling thing. If investigations were made of various Welch churches, mentioned in history, we are sure that several would be found anterior to the Conquest, which have undergone little or no change; and, oddly enough, the leading difference, viz. that the commencement of mullions in the windows marks an æra, has either not been noticed or very slightly. According to such observations as we have been able to make, the striking difference of the Saxon and Norman (though the rule may not be without exceptions) is, that in the former the arch is very lofty and the pillar short; and in the Norman vice versa. If in Domesday there frequently occurs the mention of priests, the existence of churches also follows of course; and if such churches exhibit GENT. MAG. Suppl. XCIX. Part II. D

thentic history, which gives us dates of the actual edification.

It has been noted, that when power falls into the hands of the vulgar, it is exercised in a most violent pernicious manner. We venerate the memory of Gervase Holles, esq. more than once mayor of Grimsby, and one of its representatives in Parliament; for excellent are his collections still preserved in the British Museum.* It appears that his superior mind was intolerable to the lower orders of freemen, aud that a successor in the mayoralty, a Mr. Booth, was much influenced by him. An unfortunate fellow, named Proctor, who happened to be churchwarden, was mulcted in the enormous penalty of 201. merely for saying, "that there were two mayors." This happened in the year 1639, and

"In the same year, Mr. Proctor, the churchwarden, informed the Court, upon his oath, that Mr. Paul Willet, minister and twelveman, required him, the sayd Samuel Proctor, to present William Booth, Maior, and Gervase Holles, esq. for laughing in the Church, or else he would present him. P. 22.

We are inclined to suspect, from the ensuing ordinance, that the members of the Corporation were in the habit of attending church in their every day working dress; for, by an ordinance in 1592," the Bayliffes and Twelve are ordered to sytte where they are appoynted, and in decent apparell.” The rank of the husband also extended to the wife; for in the same ordinance it is further commanded, that "the aldrisses, the wives of the Twelve and xxiiij, do syte according to the appoyntment." p. 23.

In p. 28 Mr. Oliver quotes old Fuller's explanation of the collar of SSS,

* Mr. Oliver quotes those in the Harleian department. There are others as valuable in the Lansdown collection.

PART II.]

trees. How they have disfigured this unfortunate church, will appear from the following extract:

"In ancient times, when the roof of this church was maintained at its primitive altitude, and the aisles of the nave and chancel were of their original magnitude and deco→ ration, the structure would present the appearance of a small cathedral, and be at once the pride and ornament of the town. A tier of eight small windows in the recesses formed by the angles of the ancient roof in the lower part of the towers, are now closed up; and the turrets at each extremity of the nave and transept, which once measured the exact height of the roof, now appear to soar to the sky, when compared with its present elevation. The primitive position of the roof is designated by permanent marks; and the appearance of arches on the outside, plaistered up with mortar, which formerly stood boldly and independently in the interior of the edifice, look like muzzled giants placed as a perpetual indication of the depressed sense of religious feeling which, from motives of parsimony or avarice, as well as vitiated taste, has consigned to ruin and deformity a building which our ancestors erected in all the pride of architectural beauty to decorate the town." P. 40.

Mr. Oliver deserves every praise for his patient industry, the true principle of archæological merit.

King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon Version of Boethius de Consolatione Philosophiæ; with an English Translation and Notes. By J. S. Cardale. 8vo. pp. 425. Pickering. BOETHIUS was a noble Roman, who was born about the year 479. His talents being soon discovered, he was, after preparatory education at home, sent to Athens to study Greek and philosophy. Returning young to Rome, he was promoted to the principal dignities of the state; but by the machinations of political enemies he was banished to Ticinum, now Pavia, in Italy, where he was put to death in 526. During his exile he wrote this once famous work, which has often been a favourite study for persons in affliction, and was translated into Anglo-Saxon by King Alfred; and also by Queen Elizabeth when a Princess and prisoner. Warton, we think, says, that Boethius was the favourite author of the middle age.

Considered as a system of philosophy, it is quite common-place and general; but even Cicero was not precise; and there is more valuable and profound

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instruction in the works of Dr. Johnson than in all the moralists of antiquity. Such aphorisms as-there is no cure of grief but time,-where there are two motives, the ostensible is not the real one, &c. are not to be found among the ancients. Boethius's work consists of querulous moralizing, of grief that is merely teasing, not destroying. Of the science of philosophy he was completely ignorant; for he did not know that the love of pleasure and the love of action are the actuating prin ciples of human conduct, and that he wrote this book merely pour se desennuyer. We shall not therefore make any long extracts, because all that is substantial in Boethius is to be found in the reflections of Solomon about the vanity of all pleasures, though many think with Lord Byron, that our plea sures would do well enough if they had but duration. He was a good judge; a Lord among voluptuaries, as well as a real Lord; the prodigal son of genius, who feasted among harlots, but ate no husks with swine; the mixed deity, the Apollo Priapus of profligate young men; but, though worshipped as an idol, never consulted as an oracle. deity only; but while man has passions Duration, in fact, can be predicated of he will not extirpate his desires; nor, in Swift's phrase, cut off his feet to save the cost of shoes. Indeed no waste of time can be more conspicuous for its folly than to persuade people not to be happy if they can, because the ingredients of that happiness consist of vanities. We shall therefore turn to other parts of this book.

Dr. Hickes has made three dialects of the Anglo-Saxon, viz. (1.) the Britanno-Saxon, terminating with the Danish settlement in this country; (2.) the Dano-Saxon, subsisting till the Norman conquest; (3.) the Norman Dano-Saxon, spoken till the time of Hen. II. which might be termed SemiSaxon. Mr. Cardale contends, that Dr. Hickes has unnecessarily multiplied the dialects, and that there are only two, the pure Anglo-Saxon and the Dano-Saxon; the former being used in the southern and western parts of England, and the latter in the northern parts and the south of Scotland. Mr. Cardale therefore affirms that, although there might be intermixtures,

"The Dano-Saxon never superseded the Anglo-Saxon. In a formal dissertation on this subject, citations might be made from