not always and merely to be looked upon | heavens fourteen months in succession, and as optical illusions and reflections of parti- showed no parallax, and therefore presumacles of dust found in the telescope, as Göbel bly existed, at an immense distance from in Poggendorf's Annals (Bd. 14) assumes. us beyond the solar system. There is, however, one observation more It lies, in the nature of the case, that the weighty than all these, which has hitherto advocates of the cosmic hypothesis must lain concealed in the Breslau Collections. seek to approach nearer to a tracing out of It is there reported that, for three days those ambiguous bodies, which have been from the 11th to the 13th of November, observed partly as obscurations of the sun, 1725, "just at mid-day remarkable macula" partly as extraordinary comets. Especially were seen on the sun, which remained no is there need to recommend observations of longer than the time named. The remarks the sun and of its spots on the critical days are not of meteors. But the sun-spots just and a careful examination of the old desig on these critical November days must be nations of comets, the ancient meteorologregarded as an offset for the meteors. Their ical tables, and particularly of the ancient connection is, at least after so numerous Chronicles, in which there is contained so witnesses for the meteorological impor- much that is important, but which has hithtance of those November-days, undeniable. erto received so little attention, and out of The occurrence of unusual sun-spots at this which there is yet to be deduced much richperiod is of especial weight, because it ness of facts, confirmation of the critical seems to prove that the falling stars, which days, etc. Only consider all that the induswe see at night, even in the most favorable trious Chladni has collected, exclusively in cases, only as scattered and quickly-vanish- respect to meteoric stones. A similar coling lights, are interchanged with compact lection of facts, by means of which falling bodies, which by day are able to obscure the stars, abnormal comets, northern and zodisun. Are the two phenomena the same? acal lights, and other similar luminous pheAre they perhaps falling stars when in the nomena, as well as obscurations of the sun, aphelion and perigee, opaque bodies when as they have been witnessed for many cenin the perihelion and apogee? Does this turies past, should be brought under review, phenomenon appear to us in one year near is yet a desideratum in science. at hand, in another afar off? or are they two distinct phenomena ? Perhaps by further observations we shall arrive at the result, that with so very different phenomena a far more complex causality must also be adopted, than has hitherto been sought for. When, in order to carry out an exclusive hypothesis, we draw from certain inexplicable facts, which cannot yet by any possibility be compassed, we shall find ourselves on a path, which leads per out of the game, and we fail; give too little weight to the efficacy of the earth, and we fail again. May not then very different effects proceed from the conflict of the two with the ether diffused between them? Effects, which might, on the one hand, correspond more with the supra-mundane, on the other more with the atmospheric hypothesis? Perhaps we may also reckon among these mysterious bodies some so-called comets of earlier times, which were strikingly different from the ordinary comets. In Lubiniecii, Hist. Comet., under the year 1107, there is an account of a dark comet, of which only the tail was luminous; and under 1200 a round tailless comet is mention-haps aside from the truth. Leave the sun ed, from which there fell sulphurous stones offensive to the smell. The comet observed by Phranza in 1450 passed between us and the moon, and covered the moon with its shadow. A comet is said to have done the same in 1540, unless indeed the latter has been wholly confounded with the former. Recent astronomers are accustomed to take no more notice of this problematical case. But if astronomy lets it go, can- Clusters of planets move in the plain of not meteorology perhaps take it up? The the sun's equator, an evidence of the imcelebrated new star, which shone out sud- mense, overpowering influence of the sun's denly in the brow of Cassiopeia in 1572, centrifugal force, as it revolves on its axis, and indeed precisely on the critical Novem- over the whole space, in which the planets ber-days for Tycho Brache discovered it revolve. Unless now, all the primitive maton the 11th of November-and which also ter originally present in this space, or betrayed something meteor-like in its which is perhaps perpetually generated wondrous play of colors, for it was first anew within it or supplied from without, pure white, then yellow, blue, red, and lastly green, cannot however be enumerated here, because it kept the same place in the became concentrated and absorbed in the sun, the planets and comets; if some of it is yet present, sweeping freely like a vapor, above and beneath the planetary orbits, and according to the degree of external then will it probably, at least in part and by force, on which they strike, become vadegrees, in the revolution of these orbs, beriously modified by physical and chemical drawn along with them; and could we see processes. Between fireballs and falling it, this vapor revolving with them would stars there exists a difference not yet excorrespond with the zodiacal light. It would plained. Even so between the meteoric also be apprehensible, that it might, at least masses which fall to the earth. They are to some extent, run together and form new metal or stone, of two principal species; planetary or cometary bodies, which would they are jelly, paste or dust. And this then revolve round the sun; and could we dust swarms with microscopic organisms. see them, they would either obscure the We are far yet from knowing the course of sun by day, or shine by night. In this way nature so exactly, as to be able to determight the sun stand related to the meteors, mine the origin of these organisms. Through of which we speak. Ehrenberg's immortal discoveries with the microscope, the geography of organism has been widely extended. We are almost ready to believe in a law of nature, according to which the glorious extension of the species is in inverse proportion to the size of the individual. If whole mountains consist of only shales of ante-mundane infusoria, if every drop of water contains thousands of living creatures, then the idea is, perhaps, not too far-fetched, that organisms may be formed in certain regions above us. A portion of space, whose heterogeneous forms vary from the magnitude of a body obscuring the sun to the microscopic diminutiveness of the protococcus in the red snow, allows not itself to be conquered by an hypothesis. We must study it with patient and toilsome industry. But the earth has, on a small scale, just the same centrifugal motion as the sun. It also draws into the plain of its equator every thing it meets on its way, that is weaker than itself. Its atmosphere comes in contact with the ether, through which it passes. Resistances, reactions may take place between the two, or comminglings. The thinner and weaker the ether, the less severe will the conflict be; there will perhaps only be flashes emitted. The more concentrated the force which meets the earth, the more severe will the conflict be, and explosions will occur. Who shall affirm whence always comes the material requisite for the processes themselves and their precipitation? Whether only out of the ether, which the earth catches up on its way? Whether only from the evaporations of the earth itself? or whether from We must yet advert to one circumstance, both together-now principally from these, for it is necessary here to proceed like a then from that? If, however, not merely circumspect general, who, on coming into ether, but also solid bodies, in any way an unknown country, stations his videttes whatever formed out of it, like small pla- in all directions. Grant, that meteors are nets or comets, come in the way of the of cosmic origin, and belong, like comearth, they also, inasmuch as their gravity ets, to the solar system, revolving round is much less, must be forcibly drawn by the the sun between us and it, then must the centrifugal motion of the earth, into the di-path lie either between that of Mercury and rection of its equator. And hence it seems to be, that the plentiful showers of falling stars, which have been witnessed in the northern hemisphere, take their course towards the south. But it does not follow as a necessary consequence, that these falling stars which appear to us are the same bodies that sometimes obscure the sun by day. Even if large trains of meteoric bodies come periodically in contact with our earth's orbit, yet there may perhaps be an essential difference between those, which approach near to us, are caught up and ignited by our planet, and those which remain at a distance from us. For the space between us and the sun is immense, and very diverse bodies may be formed and move therein. Bodies of very different sizes and qualities may be there orginated; the sun, or between that of Venus and Mercury, or that of the earth and Venus. In either case must the two inferior planets exercise some influence on the meteors, at least when in perigee. Hence it seems fit, by future observations, to look into the state of these planets, as well as of the moon, to which Mayer has already directed his attention. From all hitherto developed, a sound and satisfactory conclusion of the present treatise is not to be expected. It could only be sought in an hypothesis at the expense of sound reason. Science here does not yet see into the clear daylight, but only into a dusky region, fearfully yet beautifully illuminated by manifold and mysterious strokes of light. GOLDSMITH'S AUBURN. From the Britannia. THE County of Longford contains the birth-place of Oliver Goldsmith; he was born at Pallas, on the 10th of November, 1728. The village of Pallas, Pallice, or Pallasmore, about two miles from the small village of Ballymahon, is now a collection of mere cabins; the house in which the poet was ushered into life has been long since levelled with the ground; we could discover no traces of it, nor could we perceive in the neighborhood any objects to which the poet might have been supposed to have made reference in after life. The village of Lissoy, the "Seat of his youth, when every sport could please," is in Westmeath on the high road to Edgeworthstown to Athlone, from which it is distant about six miles. Here the child stones points out the site of "the spreading tree," "The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade, For talking age and whispering lovers made." The hawthorn was flourishing within existing memories: strengthened and sus tained by this rude structure around it—a plan of preserving trees very common throughout the district-but, unhappily, about forty or fifty years ago, it was "knocked down by a cart" laden with apple trees; one of them struck against the aged and venerable thorn and levelled it with the earth. There it remained until, bit by bit, it was removed by the curious as relics; the root, however, is still preserved by a gentleman of Athlone. On the opposite side of the road, and immediately adjoining the "decent public," is a young and vigorous sycamore, upon which now hangs the sign of "the Pigeons." Upon conversing with two or three of the peasantry, old as nise their home either as Lissoy or Auburn; well as young, we found they did not recog ish and boyish days of the poet were passed, and here his brother-the Rev. Henry Gold. smith-continued to reside after his father's but, on asking them plainly how they called death, and was residing when the poet ded-it, we were answered, "The Pigeons, to be icated to him his poem of "The Tra veller." The village of Lissoy, now and for nearly a century known as Auburn, stands on the summit of a hill. We left our car to ascend it, previously, however, visiting at its base "the busy mill," the wheel of which is still turned by the water of a small rivulet, converted now and then by rains into a sufficient stream. It is a mere country cottage, used in grinding the corn of the neighboring peasantry, and retains many tokens of age. Parts of the machinery are no doubt above a century old, and probably are the very same that left their impress on the poet's memory. As we advanced, other and more convincing testimony was afforded by the localities. A tall and slender steeple, distant a mile, perhaps, even to-day indi cates "The decent church that tops the neighboring hill," and is seen from every part of the adjacent scenery. To the right, in a miniature dell, the pond exists; and while we stood upon its bank, as if to confirm the testimony of tradition, we heard the very sounds which the poet describes,— "The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool." On the summit of the ascent, close beside the village ale-house, where "nut-brown draughts inspired," a heap of cemented sure." Nevertheless, it was pleasant to be reminded, even by a modern successor to the "spreading tree," that we stood "Near yonder thorn that lifts its head on high, Where once the sign-post caught the passing eye." "The public" differs little from the generality of way-side inns in Ireland. The แ kitchen," "if so we must term the apartment first entered, contained the usual furniture: a deal table, a few chairs, a "settle," and the potato pot beside the hob, adjacent to which were a couple of bosses, or rush seats. There was a parlor adjoining, and a floor above; but we may quote and apply, literally, a passage from the "Deserted Village:" "Imagination fondly stoops to trace The varnish'd clock that click'd behind the door❞— objects that, we suspect, never existed at any period, except in the imagination of the poet, being as foreign to the locality as "the nightingale," to which he alludes in a subsequent passage-a bird unknown in Ire. land. The old inn, however, was removed long ago; and the present building, although sufficiently "decent," gave ample evidence that it was not "a house of call." The remains of the Parsonage House stand about a hundred yards from "The Pigeons." It is a complete ruin. The roof fell about twenty-five years ago, if our in formant, a neighboring peasant, stated the following dialogue, which has been correctly; it was always thatched, accord- written and forwarded to us by an inge ing to his account, and up to that period "a nious correspondent, whose good sense gentleman had lived in it." It must have shines through the rude versification of the been a modest mansion" of no great size. [piece: At the back of the building the remains of an orchard are still clearly discernible; there are no "garden flowers" "growing wild" about it; but there exists" a few torn shrubs," that even now "disclose" the place where SCENE-A Cottage. Richard Warlow standing watching the rain, which is falling in torrents; his wife Molly, with her children, are near the fire preparing supper. MOLLY. I tell thee what, Richard-'tis better for thee, "The village preacher's modest mansion rose." soy for a school at Athlone, and subsequently for another at Edgeworthstown, from which he removed to the University. The circumstances under which he pictured "Sweet Auburn" as a "deserted" village remain in almost total obscurity. If his picture was in any degree drawn from facts, they were, in all likelihood, as slender as the materials which furnished his description of the place, surrounded by all the charms which poetry can derive from invention. Some scanty records, indeed, exist to show that about the year 1738 there was a partial "clearing" of an adjoining district "Amidst thy boughs the tyrant hand is seen;" and this circumstance might have been marked by some touching episodes which left a strong impress upon the poet's mind; but the poem bears ample evidence that, although some of the scenes depicted there had been stamped upon his memory, and had been subsequently called into requisition, it is so essentially English in all its leading characteristics-scarcely one of the persons introduced, the incidents recorded, or the objects described, being in any degree Irish-the STORY must be either assigned to some other locality, or traced entirely to the creative faculty of the poet. -Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall's Ireland. MOLLY AND RICHARD'S' DIALOGUE. From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal. In a part of Pembrokeshire, chiefly along the coasts, inhabited by the descendants of Flemish settlers, and sometimes called "Little England beyond Wales," a peculiar dialect is spoken, seemingly allied to the Lowland Scotch, and what prevails in the northeastern English counties. As a specimen of this form of speech, we present wrong, Should'st thee claver2 an talk all the livin day long: D'ya think them great folks with their heads full av larning? Can't kip3 them an us from all trouble and harmin? RICHARD. Thairsilves they will kip, thares no doubt av it, MOLLY. If some was more like 'um in some things, 't were better; Let each pay his debts, an ware is the debtor ? Thare's somethin like reasin in what But then if ya'd heard Billy Williams to-daay, come to ; "For," says he, "can they live without 'sistance MOLLY. Why, Richard, thou'rt leesing thy sinces, yindeed, RICHARD. CONQUEST OF SIBERIA, AND HISTORY From the Literary Gazette. Conquest of Siberia, and the History of the Transactions, Wars, Commerce, &c., &c., carried on between Russia and China, from the earliest Period. Translated from the Russian of G. F. Müller, Historiographer of Russia, and of P. S. Pallas, M. D., F. R. S., &c. Pp. 156. For this timely pamphlet, applicable to several of the most interesting commercial Blady,28 Molly, thou'lt beat him in talking quiat topics of the day, both as regards Russia hollaw; An but that I promised, I'ld sure to be thare, I would seat myself down in this snug yasy chair: MOLLY. An thou can'st be trapsin three miles in such weathar, Well, Molly, I thinks twinna34 scarvy35 to-night, MOLLY. Ay, I knaw'd when ya'ld think "all by leasures"36 a Ya'ld sartanly give the right nail the right hit; An go crawlin in mud like a young cutty-evat;38 It is and China, we are, we believe, indebted to the Chevalier Dillon, the enterprising discoverer of the relics of La Peyrouse. without a publisher's name; but we presume and hope it is not confined to private presentations; for its contents are of very general utility, and relate to circumstances of trade which ought to be publicly known. After describing the earliest intercourse which existed between Russia and China, M. Müller (well translated and edited by M. Dillon) comes down to the status quo of Kiachta, the frontier town of Siberia, and Maitmatschin, the adjoining frontier town of the Chinese, at which it was agreed, by a treaty, 14 June, 1728, that the barter of the two countries should be carried on. Another place was also appointed, Zuruchaitu; but its traffic has never grown into any consequence, and the great exchange of commodities has been confined to Kiachta and Maitmatschin. And here we are told: "One innovation in the mode of carrying on the trade to China, which has been introduced since the accession of the present empress, Catherine II., deserves to be mentioned in this place. Since the year 1755 no caravans have been sent to Pekin. Their first discontinuance was owing to a misunderstanding between the two courts of Petersburg and Pekin, in 1759. Their disuse, after the reconciliation had taken place, arose from the following circumstances. The exportation and importution of many principal cominodities, particularly the most valuable furs, were formerly prohibited to individuals, and solely appropriated to caravans belonging to the crown. By these restrictions 14 Sulky. the Russian trade to China was greatly shackled and circumscribed. The empress (who, amidst many excellent regulations which characterize her reign, has shown herself invariably attentive to the improvement of the Russian commerce) abolished, in 1762, the monopoly of the fur-trade. and renounced in favor of her subjects the exclusive privilege which the crown enjoyed of sending caravans to Pekin. By these concessions the profits of the trade have been considerably increased; the great expense, hazard, and delay, of transporting the merchandise occasionally from the frontiers 17 Stunted. 1 Going. 2 Dispute. 3 Keep. 4 Jovous, jovial. meat, &c. 33 Resembles. 27 White-livered. 29 Pouring heavily. |