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self; pay them amply for their labour; and often feed them at his own table '.'

Of debts and taxes, wife and children clear,
This man possessed five hundred pounds a-year.

Blush, grandeur, blush! proud courts withdraw your blaze ;
Ye little stars, hide your diminished rays.

Astronomical Occurrences

In DECEMBER 1821.

SOLAR PHENOMENA.

THE Sun enters Capricornus at 39 m. after 2 in the morning of the 22d of this month; during which period he rises and sets as in the following

TABLE

Of the Sun's Rising and Setting for every fifth Day.

Dec. 1st, Sun rises at 57 m. after 7.

Sets 3m. after 4

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Equation of Time.

The apparent time, when corrected by the following numbers, will give the mean or true time, viz.

TABLE.

m. S.

Saturday, Dec. 1st, from the time by the dial subtract 10 43

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6th, 11th,

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1 Spence's Anecdotes, ed. Singer, pp. 437, 438.

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The Moon's Passage over the Meridian.

The Moon will pass the meridian of the Royal Observatory at the following times during this month, which will afford opportunities for observation, if the atmosphere be free from clouds in that direction, viz.

December 1st, at 35 m, after 5 in the evening

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Eclipses of Jupiter's Satellites.

The following eclipses of these small bodies will be visible in the course of this month, viz.

Emersions.

First Satellite 5th day, at 17 m. after 1 in the morning

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7 in the evening

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Form of Saturn's Ring.

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Mercury will attain his greatest elongation on the 7th of this month. The Moon will be in conjunction with ẞ in Taurus at 20 m. after 9 in the morning of the 9th; and with a in Leo at 13m. after 5 in the morning of the 14th. On the 13th, Mercury will be in conjunction with 6 in Scorpio, when the planet will be 444 north of the star. Jupiter will be stationary on the 16th. The Moon will be in conjunction with

in Scorpio at 53 m. after 11 in the morning of the 22d. Saturn will also be stationary on the same day. Georgium Sidus will be in conjunction at 45 m. after 6 in the morning of the 25th; and, on that day, Venus will attain her greatest elongation. The Moon will also be in conjunction with this planet at 2m. after 1 in the afternoon of the 28th.

The Naturalist's Diary

For DECEMBER 1821.

I love to listen when the year grows old
And noisy, like some weak life-wrinkled thing
That vents his splenetic humours, murmuring
At ills he shares in common with the bold.
Then from my quiet room the Winter cold
Is barred out like a thief; but should one bring
A frozen hand, the which DECEMBER'S wing

Hath struck so fiercely, that he scarce can hold
The stiff'ned fingers tow'rd the grate, I lend
A double welcome to the victim, who

Comes shivering with pale looks, and lips of blue,
And through the snow and splashing rain could walk,
For some few hours of kind and social talk;
And deem him more than ever, now,-my friend.

B. CORNWALL.

THERE cannot be a more effectual mode of dissipating the reserve of an English constitution, than by subjecting it to the influence of a brisk fire during the dark evenings of December. We may venture, indeed, to remark, that, like the hoary vesture of a winter's morning, exhaling in the solar light, so vanishes this repulsive frost-work of the soul before the exhilarating illumination of the social hearth. It is also curious and pleasant to trace the effects of such relaxation on the two great classes of mankind; to compare the tranquil and elegant gratifications of the educated circles of both sexes in the middle order of society, with the hearty but too often boisterous mirth of the honest peasant in his chimney

corner.

With both, however, rest those feelings of homefelt enjoyment, which so generally shun the halls of grandeur and of wealth, and which, most assuredly, keep far aloof from the mansions of dissipation and vice. We can picture, without incurring any charge of romantic exaggeration, the cottage hind hanging over his blazing faggots, telling or listening to the tales of faithful love, or goblin fear; of recounting, with blithesome glee and reiterated peals of laughter, the frolics of his earlier days; nor heeding, unless to enhance the comforts of his warm retreat,

The storm that blows

Without, and rattles on his humble roof.

We can also paint, with equal facility and truth, the gaiety, the wit, and humour that sparkle by the fire-side of him who, with a few friends, alike distinguished for their worth, their wisdom, and their

taste, knows how to illumine the dreariest night of winter

With mirth that, after, no repenting draws.

But where, except in the abodes of rustic honesty or educated virtue, shall we find that heartfelt exhilaration, or those pure and attic pleasures, which have given to the fire-side of a Briton a character so enviably sacred'? Highly privileged as we are in this respect, let us show our gratitude to HIM who affords us these blessings, by extending our assistance to the poor cottager, who is now, perhaps, stretched on the bed of sickness, and is surrounded with a starving family. Think of his sufferings, at this inclement season, and let the perusal of the following eloquent, but not exaggerated, descriptions of them, induce you to give your mite towards their relief.

The WOODMAN.

Now driving sleets and piercing whistling wind
Through every cranny and rude entrance find,
Chilling the cottage hearth, whose stinted blaze
Half warms the urchin that around it plays.
The trying season came, and, sad to tell,
Rheumatic agonies on BASIL fell,
And with a rude, unsparing, withering hand,
Cast him a wreck on life's hard frozen strand!
No more his vigorous arm can strike the blow,
That lays the monarch of the woodland low;
No more, alas! no more his daily toils

Feed his poor babes, and wake their grateful smiles;
The hand that fed the little white-haired race

Lies motionless, in one sad resting-place,

And keen varieties of woe combined

Prey on his flesh, and lacerate his mind.

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