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still remain notwithstanding the pains taken by the Burgundians for ages (all who passed that way removing a bone to their own country), and the less justifiable larcenies of the Swiss postilions, who carried them off to sell for knife-handles, a purpose for which the whiteness imbibed by the bleaching of years had rendered them in great request. Of these relics I ventured to bring away as much as may have made the quarter of a hero; for which the sole excuse is, that, if I had not, the next passer-by might have perverted them to worse uses than the careful preservation which I intend for them.'

The following lines on this subject are from the 63d and 64th stanzas of the third canto of Childe Harold:

There is a spot should not be passed in vain,—
Morat! the proud, the patriot field! where man
May gaze on ghastly trophies of the slain,
Nor blush for those who conquered on that plain:
Here Burgundy bequeathed his tombless host,
A bony heap, through ages to remain,

Themselves their monument ;-the Stygian coast Unsepulchred they roamed, and shrieked each wandering ghost.

While Waterloo with Canna's carnage vies,

Morat and Marathon twin names shall stand;

They were true Glory's stainless victories,
Won by the unambitious heart and hand
Of a proud, brotherly, and civic band,
All unbought champions in no princely cause
Of vice-entailed Corruption; they no land
Doomed to bewail the blasphemy of laws

Making kings' rights divine, by some Draconic clause.

24.-ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, and MIDSUMMER DAY. This festival is first noticed by Maximus Tauricensis, who lived about the year 400. According to Bourne, strange divinations were formerly used on the vigil of this day: Men and women were accustomed to gather together in the evening by the sea side, or in some certain houses, and there adorn a girl, who was her parent's first begotten child, after the manner of a bride. Then they feasted, and

leaped after the manner of bacchanals, and danced and shouted as they were wont to do on their holidays; after this they poured into a narrow-necked vessel some of the sea water, and put also into it certain things belonging to each of them; then, as if the devil gifted the girl with the faculty of telling future things, they would inquire with a loud voice about the good or evil fortune that should attend them: upon this the girl would take out of the vessel the first thing that came to hand, and show it, and give it to the owner, who, upon receiving it, was so foolish as to imagine himself wiser, as to the good or evil fortune that should attend him.'—See also T. T. for 1814, pp. 142-146; and our last volume, p. 164.

29.-SAINT PETER.

Peter's original name, Simon, was not abolished by Christ, but that of Cephas was added to it, which, in Syriac, the vulgar language of the Jews, signifies a stone or rock; hence the Greek IIérpos, and our Peter. The apostle's father was Jonah, probably a fisherman of Bethsaida. His brother Andrew, being first converted, was said to be an instrument of Peter's conversion, John i, 40, 41.

Astronomical Occurrences

In JUNE 1818.

THE Sun enters Cancer at 25 m. past 2 in the morning of the 22d of this month; and his rising and setting for the same period will be as stated in the following

TABLE

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

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Equation of Time.

When it is required to find mean or true time from apparent time, as marked on a good sun-dial, the quantities contained in the following table must be subtracted from or added to those given by the dial for every fifth day of the month. Find the quantities corresponding to the intermediate times by proportion.

TABLE.

m: s.

Monday, June 1st, from the time by the dial subtract 2 40

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Moon's Passage over the Meridian.

The Moon may be seen on the first meridian, if the weather be favourable, at the following suitable times for observation; viz.

June 14th, at 22 m. past 8 at night.

15th, 16
16th, - 14

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Eclipses of Jupiter's Satellites.

The eclipses of Jupiter's first and second satellites during this month will be as follow:

IMMERSIONS.

1st Satellite, 6th day, at 9 m. after 2 morning.

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Mercury will be stationary on the 4th, and attain his greatest elongation on the 17th; and Jupiter will be in opposition at 50 m. after 12 on the 30th. Saturn will be in quadrature at 45 m. after 10 in the morning of the 9th. Georgium Sidus will be in opposition at 30 m. after 5 in the morning of the 10th ; and the Moon will be in conjunction with the star marked in Libra, at 36 m. after 6 in the evening of the 15th.

On the ELEMENTS of the PLANETARY ORBITS.

The orbits of the planets are curves, whose planes pass through the centre of the Sun; and hence each of these orbits intersect the ecliptic in two opposite points, which are called its nodes; these are situated in the same right line, passing through the centre of the Sun, and called the line of the nodes. The first element of the planetary orbits to be determined by the astronomer, is the situation of these nodes on the ecliptic, and consequently the position of this line. The most favourable times for determining this by observation, are when the planet has no latitude, and is in opposition to or conjunction with the Sun; for then an observer, situated at the centre of the Sun, would see the planet and the earth on the same right line.

The situations of the nodes being thus determined by observations of the kind above indicated, and the

necessary calculations founded upon them, this element is made the foundation of the method for ascertaining the inclination of the plane of the orbit to that of the ecliptic. When the Sun arrives at the node of the planet, or the longitude of the Sun becomes the same as that of the node, the geocentric latitude of the planet, at that moment, is computed from observations, and then a simple trigonometrical calculation will give the inclination of the planetary orbit.

This method, therefore, supposes the node of the planet to be previously and accurately known, and also that the astronomer is able to observe the planet in the whole of its course. It is, however, perhaps impossible to seize the exact moment when the Sun is in the node of the planet; but this difficulty is avoided by observing the two bodies for several days in succession, before and after the epoch of the Sun's passage through the node, and then determining the exact instant in which the phenomenon happened by interpolating the results. Besides, the error in the inclination which would result from a small error in the situation of the node would be so minute, as to be nearly, if not altogether, insensible.

The supposition of the astronomer being able to observe the planet in any part of its orbit, is only applicable to the seven old planets; for the new planets and comets this position and the nature of the curve must be determined from a small part of the orbit. This renders the problem of very difficult solution, and which is accomplished by applying to it the same laws, founded upon the principle of universal gravitation, which exist with respect to the other planetary bodies. The methods of accomplishing this have been explained, in all their generality, with great learning and ingenuity, by Laplace, in his Mécanique Céleste.

Neither the nodes of the planets, nor the inclination of their orbits, are absolutely fixed; for when

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