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specially dwells on the reception they received from Lady Muskerry, whose husband was then from home, either with the army of the Confederates, or in Dublin discussing Lord Ormonde's peace. "The women," he says, are exceedingly beautiful, and heighten their attractions by their matchless modesty and piety. They converse freely with every one, and are devoid of suspicion and jealousy. Their style of dress differs from ours, and rather resembles the French; all wear cloaks with long fringes; they have also a hood sewn to the cloak, and they go abroad without any covering for the head; some wearing a kerchief, as the Greek women do, which, being gracefully arranged, adds, if possible, to their native comeliness." 1

There may seem to have been but little relation between the position of a chieftainess in ancient times and that of the mistress of an Irish Catholic household in the eighteenth century; and yet, even during the penal days, the spirit of the earlier time survived, the old ideal was not supplanted by anything less worthy. The houses of the reduced gentry were still the center of a generous hospitality, and charity was dispensed from the gentleman's door with a liberality wholly incommensurate with the revenues of a fallen estate. The careful mother, who could not grace her home with the presence of the learned, sent forth her sons to encounter the risks of a perilous voyage and the dangers of foreign travel, that so they might escape the dreaded doom of ignorance; she lent her best efforts to the fostering of that magnanimous loyalty so requisite for the preservation of the ancient faith. The mother's lessons proved a stay and conscience to her sons when, in after-life, temptations rudely pressed upon them. The mother's ex

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1 The Dean of Fermo does equal justice to the men of Ireland, who are, he says, good-looking, incredibly strong, fleet runners, equal to any hardship, and indescribably patient. They are given to arms; and those who apply themselves to learning become highly distinguished in every domain of science." Of the people in general he speaks in high terms. "I have not words," he continues, "to describe to you the kindness and politeness which we experienced at the hands of this Irish people, whose devotion to the Holy See is beyond all praise, and I assure you that I was often moved to tears when I saw them, wholly forgetful of self, kneeling in the very mire in order to kiss the nuncio's robe and hands as if they were holy relics. At almost every stage of our journey, the nuncio was escorted by strong squadrons of horse to protect him from the enemy. We are in Ireland! we are in Ireland! praise to God."

ample taught her daughters how to unite a virile courage with womanly modesty and grace.

Nor was it among the higher classes alone that these characteristics remained distinctly marked during the days of the nation's trial; they were noticeable in the farmer's cottage and the peasant's hut. The poor man's wife did not turn the weary and the hungry from her door; she received the poor scholar with a motherly welcome; she accustomed her children to think nothing of a run of two or three miles to the hedge-school. By precept and by example she taught them fidelity to the faith, love for the old land, reverence for God's ministers, and respect for learning. The high moral tone pervading the social life of the humbler classes in Ireland was at once the cause and consequence of the important position which the women maintained at the domestic hearth, and of the beneficial sway which they exercised among their neighbors of the same degree.

The circumstances of the time were favorable to the growth of this influence. As a rule the women did not work in the fields: their occupations were of an indoor character; and the habits of the people, both men and women, were domestic. The latter half of the eighteenth century being happily free from such famines which had laid waste the country during the previous two hundred years, and were fated to reappear at a later period, there was plenty of food for the people. The staff of life-the potato -was then in its prime, as to quality and quantity. Each little holding produced a crop sufficient for the support of a numerous family, with a large surplus for the poultry that crowded round the door, and the pigs, which even the poorest cotter reared; while a paddock was reserved from tillage as pasture for the high-boned native cow, which formed an important item of the live stock. In the

1 In Ireland it is a custom, immemorially established, for those petty schoolmasters who teach in chapels, or temporary huts, freely to instruct such poor boys as come from remote places, and are unable to pay. The poor scholar, while he remains at the school, goes home, night and night about, with his school-fellows, whose parents that can afford it occasionally supply him with a few old clothes, as well as food and lodging. This appears to be a faint emanation of the ancient custom in Ireland, so celebrated by historians, of supplying, at the national expense, all foreign students with meat, drink, clothes, lodging, books, etc.

farmers' families linen and woolen stuffs were spun, woven, knitted, bleached, and dyed, and made into wearing apparel by the women. A spinning-wheel was as necessary a part of the furniture as a pot for cooking the stirabout. Public-houses were few and far between, facilities for locomotion were not abundant, and the men did not range to any great distance from home.

Their amusement was to sit by the fire in the winter evenings, or smoke their pipes at the door in summer, listening to the story-teller or the singer, while their wives and daughters knitted or spun: all, young and old, being ready to break out into a dance the moment a piper or fiddler appeared on the scene. Perhaps the greatest testimony borne to the genuine worth of the poor Irish Catholics was that afforded by the custom which prevailed among the Protestant and respectable classes, of sending their children to be nursed or fostered by the peasantry. Sons and heirs destined to fill prominent and honorable posts, and daughters born to grace luxurious homes, were in all trust committed to the care of peasant women, and grew from tender infancy to hardy childhood in the mountain cabins, sharing the homely fare and joining in the simple sports of their foster brothers and sisters. One thing was certain: the nurse's fidelity and affection could be implicitly relied on, and the gentleman's child would have no vice to unlearn when transferred from the peas. ant's guardianship to the protection of the parental roof.

SIR ROBERT STAWELL BALL.

(1840)

ROBERT STAWELL BALL, LL.D., F.R.S., was born in Dublin, July 1, 1840. He is the son of Robert Ball, LL.D., of Dublin (the well-known naturalist). He married in 1863 Frances Elizabeth, the daughter of W. E. Steele, the director of the Science and Art Museum, Dublin. He was educated at Abbott's Grange, Chester; and at Trinity College, Dublin. He is an Honorary M.A. of Cambridge, 1892, and an LL.D. of Dublin. He was Royal Astronomer of Ireland from 1874 to 1892, and Scientific Adviser to the Commissioners of Irish Lights from 1884. He has been President of the Royal Astronomical Society, President of the Mathematical Association, and President of the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland. His title was created in 1886. He was Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry at Cambridge. He is a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and he has been Director of the Cambridge Observatory since 1892.

Sir Robert's publications are: 'The Theory of Screws'; many memoirs on mathematical, astronomical, and physical subjects and the following works on Astronomy: The Story of the Heavens,' 1885; Starland,' 1889; 'In Starry Realms,' 'In the High Heavens,' 'Time and Tide,' 1889; 'Atlas of Astronomy,' 1892; The Story of the Sun,' 1893; Great Astronomers,' 1895; The Earth's Beginning,' 1901.

His lectures on scientific subjects are much appreciated, and he is well known on the lecture platform in this country. He has a pleasing manner and a very happy method of presenting abstruse matters to popular audiences.

THE DISTANCES OF THE STARS.

From 'The Starry Heavens.'

Now about the distances of the stars. I shall not make the attempt to explain fully how astronomers make such measurements, but I will give you some notion of how it is done. We make the two observations from two opposite points on the earth's orbit, which are therefore at a distance of 186,000,000 miles. Imagine that on Midsummer Day, when standing on the earth here, I measured with a piece of card the angle between the star and the sun. Six

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months later on, on Midwinter Day, when the earth is at the opposite point of its orbit, I again measure the angle between the same star and the sun, and we can now determine the star's distance by making a triangle.

I draw a line a foot long, and we will take this foot to represent 186,000,000 miles, the distance between the two stations; then placing the cards at the corners, I rule the two sides and complete the triangle, and the star must be at the remaining corner; then I measure the sides of the triangle, and how many feet they contain, and recollecting that each foot corresponds to 186,000,000 miles, we discover the distance of the star. If the stars were comparatively near us, the process would be a very simple one; but, unfortunately, the stars are so extremely far off that this triangle, even with a base of only one foot, must have its sides many miles long. Indeed, astronomers will tell you that there is no more delicate or troublesome work in the whole of their science than that of discovering the distance of a star.

In all such measurements we take the distance from the earth to the sun as a conveniently long measuring-rod, whereby to express the results. The nearest stars are still hundreds of thousands of times as far off as the sun. Let us ponder for a little on the vastness of these distances. We shall first express them in miles. Taking the sun's distance to be 93,000,000 miles, then the distance of the nearest fixed star is about twenty millions of millions of miles -that is to say, we express this by putting down a 2 first, and then writing thirteen ciphers after it. It is, no doubt, easy to speak of such figures, but it is a very different matter when we endeavor to imagine the awful magnitude which such a number indicates. I must try to give some illustrations which will enable you to form a notion of it. At first I was going to ask you to try and count this number, but when I found it would require at least 300,000 years, counting day and night without stopping, before the task was over, it became necessary to adopt some other method.

When on a visit in Lancashire I was once kindly permitted to visit a cotton mill, and I learned that the cotton yarn there produced in a single day would be long enough to wind round this earth twenty-seven times at the equator.