The village of Rostrevor, far famed for its beautiful and romantic scenery, and fine strand for bathers, is situated about seven miles from the town of Newry, in a little cove formed in the northern side of the widely extended bay, which is completely open in front to the waters of the Irish Sea, and is a truly rural retreat; lying at the foot of a beautiful romantic mountain of the same name, which is closely covered with full grown oaks and other trees of different heights and hues, and which forms a part of that extensive range of mountains which stretch along the shores of Mourne, it is well defended from the severity and force of those storms which frequently sweep along the coasts of Ireland. From its little quay, a delightful walk, completely covered over by trees, conducts the stranger for nearly a mile's distance along the banks of the bay, giving to view at every step, from some new point, some prospect which had not previously attracted his attention.

Nearly in the centre of the village stands the church; and, a little way up the hill, is a neat school-house-and also the Roman Catholic chapel, from the west side of which there is a delightful view of the village.

Within about a quarter of a mile of the village of Rostrevor, stands the monument erected to the late General VOL. IV. NO. 6.

Ross. It is a handsome cut-stone obelisk, standing on a very prominent situation, upon a base, which forms a number of steps, composed of the same material. On the four sides the various engagements in which the gallant general bore a conspicuous part, are recorded, especially that in which he lost his life. It stands in the middle of a field or park, which is enclosed by a deep fosse and embankment. From this point several fine views to the right and left may be taken. Not far from this is a handsome cottage, erected by the late General, and in which Mrs. Ross continues to reside during the summer season. In this direction also are the ruins of an old " ivy-mantled castle," said to have been built in "days of yore," by one of the lords of Iveagh-but at so remote a period, that even the legend concerning its lordly owner has been carried down the stream of dark oblivion.

The traveller will observe, on the summit of Rostrevor mountain, a stone of enormous size, lying immediately above the wood: it is called the Cloughmorn stone, and is generally visited by persons stopping any time at Rostrevor, as the prospect from it is most extensive and sublime. There is also an enchanting spot close by the village, called Fairy-hill--the scenery surrounding which is beautiful beyond conception.

41

MORNING ON ROSTREVOR MOUNTAINS.

'Tis morning-from their heather bed

The curling mists arise, And circling dark Slievedonard's head, Ascend the drowsy skies.

'Tis morning! and beside Cloch-mhor In solitude I stand,

A stranger on my natal shore,
And this, my father-land.

Rostrevor

each illumin'd line

Of early life's romance,
Deep in this magic page of thine,
Is mirror'd to my glance:
Clonallan's spire, Rosetta's shades,

From Classic Arno's Vale

To Ballyedmond's groves and glades,-
Land of my homage, hail!

Yon orb--the beautiful, the bold,

Hath left his ocean bride,
And from her couch of wavy gold
Comes forth in regal pride.

Fair sun-I've seen that crown of rays
As gallantly put on,

And mark'd thy robes of crimson haze
O'er other waters thrown.

Rock'd on the billowy bed that heaves

Beneath the burning line,

I've seen where the horizon weaves

Its purple threads with thine,
And hail'd in all their pride of birth,
Thy purest lustres given,

To gladden scenes more fair than earth-
The sea-the sea and heav'n!

Yes! and where Gunga's mighty streams Their sacred waters spread,

I've seen beneath thy worshipp'd beams
Ten thousands bow the head:

And by the Brahmin's funeral pile
In that far hemisphere,
Sunrise, alas! I've met thy smile,
Mocking the burning bier!

In Saugur's sickly jungle met-
Met on the arid sand,

Where the dark domes of Juggernaut's
Profane pagoda's stand-

Met in Calcutta's graveyard gloom,
Piercing the tainted air,

Thy sickʼning rays—a marble tomb
Engulfs my memory there.

*

Once, high o'er Afric's southern seas, In solitary mood,

Within the "Vale of silver trees,"

On Table-hill I stood;

The fresh free air, the morning beam,
The vapour crested brow,
Of Caffre-holland-as a dream,
All pass before me now.
Again, adown the deep ravine,
I gaze on fruit and flower-
A labyrinth maze of silky green—
A many-tinted bower:
Tall aloes crown the rocky steep;
Pomegranate blooms are spread,
And the umkoba branches sweep
Across the torrent's bed.
Blushes the crassula, as when
Its scarlet blossoms lay

In the wild fig or sumach glen,

That looks on Table Bay;

And ships bear up by Reben's Isle, From farthest in lia's shore.

*

A DESCRIPTION OF THE MORNING.
The morn is up, the dewy morn,

With breath all incense, and with cheek all bloom,
Laughing the clouds away in playful scorn,

And living as if earth contain'd no tomb.-Byron. And now the morning is dawning, the purple radiance of the rosy-fingered aurora, as leaving the bed of Tethonies, she issues from out the "fiery portal of the east," is dappling the horizon with streaks of fluid gold; the "rock, the glen, the mountain top," are now apparent; all the dew drops are glistening upon the grass, the little choristers of the grove are now commencing their matin carols, as if with early song to greet the monarch of the day, who is now entering upon his journey in the east; the hum of the distant village now strikes upon the ear; here and there may be seen the labourer issuing from his cot, and striding across the lawn to commence the toils of the day; the fields around are speckled with whitefleeced sheep, as they come forth from their folds to the morning pasture, which at a distance appear like so many little hills of snow upon a verdant landscape; the air now breathes a balmy fragrance, and the dulcet notes of the shepherd's pipe comes wafted upon the gale. Here is the sturdy ploughman driving his team before him; there the milkmaid, with light and elastic step, trips across the glade. 'Tis truly a pleasant sight: the God of nature may almost be said now to walk abroad. The rays of the sun, reflected back from the placid bosom of the silver lake which stretches in the distance, cover the whole heavens with a flood of golden light. Let the atheist gaze now. The finger of God is crayoned out in all his works, but in none more forcibly than when the "morning steals upon the night," and the darkness gradually fades away before the light of the new-born day.

He who hath marked from off some mountain brow,
The sun emerging from the realms below:
How through the opening curtains of the night
Steal scarce perceived the first faint streaks of light,
Till all the atmosphere by slow degrees

Glows with dim forms of mountains, rocks and trees;
Ocean and earth confused and dark appear,

As if new risen from that chaos where

They had their origin-but soon around

The eye with ease can trace their farthest bound;
The stars extinguished, bursts upon the view
Creation in her robes of emerald hue!
Catching new life from every rising ray,
Till all the landscape beams in brightest day.

SIMPLE SCIENCE.

THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.

Thunder and lightning were regarded with a kind of sacred awe by the Greeks and Romans. They were looked upon as the executioners of divine vengeance upon the earth. Hence persons struck dead by lightning were buried apart by themselves, lest the ashes of other men should receive pollution from them. Indeed, in some places such was the feeling on this point, that the bodies of individuals dying in this way were allowed to rot on the spot where they fell, it being deemed unlawful for any one to go near them. All places struck with lightning were carefully avoided and fenced round, under an idea that Jupiter had either taken offence at those particular spots, and fixed upon them the marks of his displeasure, or that he had by this means pitched upon them as places sacred to himself.

The phenomena of thunder and lightning were never properly accounted for, till the penetrating genius and indefatigable industry of Dr. Franklin, enabled him, in the investigation of cause and effect, to arrive at the satisfactory result. After having established the laws of positive and negative electricity, he, by means of a paper kite furnished with a metallic point at the top, clearly demonstrated that thunder and lightning are the electric snap and spark, exceeding, indeed, our puny imitations, to a degree almost beyond our finite conception. It is universally allowed, that the variation of the electric fluids in different parts of the atmosphere is the cause of thunder

Condensed from the London Encyclopædia,

and lightning. The mere expansion and condensation of the air, and the solution and precipitation of the watery vapours which it contains, are deemed sufficient to account for the various phenomena which present themselves in the form of electricity. In the beginning of a thunder-storm the wind for the most part is gentle-or, it is calm. A low, dense cloud begins in a place previously clear; this increases fast in size; soon after appear numberless small ragged clouds, resembling flakes of cotton; these are observed to move in various directions, and frequently alter their ragged appearance, in general by increase of size. As they move about, they frequently approach, and again recede from each other. During this commotion, the small clouds approach the great one above, and when near it the lower clouds frequently coalesce before they join the upper one; but as frequently the upper cloud increases without them-its lower surface now becomes ragged, and long arms are extended towards the ground. The heavens quickly darken-the whole mass sinks down -the wind rises frequently in squalls-the small clouds move swiftly in various directions-lightning now darts from cloud to cloud. A spark is sometimes seen coexistent through a vast horizontal extent, of a crooked shape, and of different brilliancy in its different parts. Lightning strikes between the clouds and the earth frequently in two places at once; and the thunder rolls, echoed from off the inequalities of the earth. A continuation of those thunder claps rarifies the cloud, which in time is dissipated. It is sometimes accompanied by heavy rain or hail, the vapours having lost that electricity which supported them. The phenomena of lightning are always surprising, and sometimes very terrible. No two flashes are ever observed to be exactly similar to one another. In a serene sky, lightning almost always has a kind of indistinct appearance, without any determinate form, like the sudden illumination of the atmosphere; but when accompanied by thunder, it is well defined, and has very often a zigzag form. Sometimes it is like the letter V; sometimes it has many branches; and sometimes it appears to describe an are of a circle. But the most formidable and destructive form which lightning is ever known to assume, is that of balls of fire, the motion of which is cften very perceptible to the eye; but wherever they fall, much mischief is occasioned by their bursting, which they always do with a sudden explosion like that of fire arms. Sometimes they are observed to run quietly along, or rest for a short time on any thing, and then separate into several pieces, each of which will explode; or the whole ball will burst at once, and produce its dangerous effects only in one place. The next destructive form is the zigzag, for that which appears in indistinct flashes seldom or never does any injury. The palest and brightest flashes are also more destructive; such as are red, or of a darker colour, commonly doing less damage. Besides these kinds of lightning, it is not uncommon to see flashes unattended by any report. These are always of the sheet kind; they happen very frequently in windy weather, when the sky is clear, and likewise, when the sky is cloudy, immediately before a fall of rain or snow. The general reason of these appears to be, that the electric fluid is the medium by which vapours are suspended in the atmosphere; and, of consequence, every separation of vapour, whether as rain, snow, or hail, must be attended with a discharge of electrical matter. The reason why this kind of lightning is never attended with any report is, that there is no particular object against which the force of the flash is directed; but it dissipates itself among the innumerable conducting bodies with which the atmosphere always abounds. A flash of lightning, however limited its extent may appear, diffuses its effects over a great space of atmosphere; for, after one of these silent flashes, it is no uncommon thing to observe the sky become obscure, though it had been quite serene before; or, if it had been cloudy, to see rain or snow begin to fall in a very few minutes.

not only by that indistinct illumination of the atmosphere which is occasioned by fire of any kind; but the very form of the lightning itself, and every angle it makes in its course, will be as distinctly perceptible as if both had looked directly at the cloud whence it proceeded. If a person happened at that time to be looking on a book, or other object which he held in his hand, he would distinctly see the form of the lightning between him and the object at which he looked. The effects of lightning are seldom similar to those which accompany explosions of gunpowder or inflammable air. Upon one occasion, a tent in a gentleman's garden was carried to the distance of four thousand paces; and a branch torn from a large tree, struck a girl in the forehead at the distance of forty paces from the trunk of the tree, and killed her on the spot. These terrible effects seem to have been owing to the prodigious agitation in the air, occasioned by the emission of such a vast quantity of lightning at once; or, perhaps, to the agitation of the electric fluid itself, which is still more dangerous than any concussion of the atmosphere; for thunderstorms will sometimes produce most violent whirlwinds. Instances are commonly occurring where lightning, by its own proper force, without any assistance from those less common agitations of the atmosphere or electric fluid, has thrown stones of immense weight to considerable distances; torn up trees by the roots, broken them in pieces; shattered rocks; beaten down houses, and set them on fire, &c.

One very singular effect of lightning is, that it has been known to kill alternately; that is, supposing a number of people standing in a line; if the first person was killed, the second would be safe; the third would be killed, and the fourth safe; &c. Effects of this kind are generally produced by the most violent kind of lightning; namely, that which appears in the form of balls, which frequently divide themselves into sparks before they strike. If one of these parts of a fire-ball strike a man, another will not strike the person who stands immediately close to him; because there is always a repulsion between bodies electrified the same way. Now, as these parts into which the ball breaks, have all the same kind of electricity, it is evident that they must for that reason repel one another; and this repulsion is so strong that a person may be interposed within the stroke of two of them, without being hurt by either. Another singular effect of lightning is said to have taken place, when Julian the apostate ordered the temple of Jerusalem to be rebuilt; when those who at tempted to rebuild the temple are reported to have had the marks of crosses impressed upon their garments and bodies. This some have supposed to have arisen from the same cause to which the angular appearance of lights ning in the air is owing, namely, its violent impetus and velocity, together with the opposition of the atmosphere; and have endeavoured to account for it on electrical principles. See Warburton's Julian, where this opinion is maintained with equal learning and acuteness; and a similar fact (of crosses impressed in a thunder storm on the bodies of several persons, which happened in England in the seventeenth century, is related. The fact is unquestionable; to account for it may be difficult.

Though the zig-zag lightning is dangerous, yet the most destructive kind is that which assumes the form of balls. These are produced by an exceedingly strong power of electricity gradually accumulated till the resistance of the atmosphere is no longer able to confine it in general, the lightning breaks out from the electrified cloud by means of the approach of some conducting substance; either a cloud, or some terrestrial substance: but the fire-balls seem to be formed, not because there is any substance at hand to attract the electric matter from the cloud, but because the electricity is accumulated in such quantity that the cloud can no longer contain it. Hence such balls fly off slowly, and have no particular destina tion. Their appearance indicates a prodigious commotion and accumulation of electricity in the atmosphere, with

This disposition, however, is perpetually altered by a thousand circumstances, and the place which first becomes most capable of admitting electricity will certainly

slowly backwards and forwards in the air for a considerable time, and then suddenly falls on one or more houses according to their being more or less affected with an electricity opposite to that of the ball at the time. It will also run along the ground, break into several parts, and produce several explosions at once.

chin, over the right breast and arm; and, returning to the back, descended along the vertebral column to the sacrum. In this latter part of the course of the lightning the skin was not cut, but only a little raised, and very red. Impressions of the same nature were seen across the arms; and attested, as well as the rupture of the clothes, the zig-zag progress of the lightning, which had passed alternately from the right side of the younger brother to the

The following account of an accident which occurred in May, 1821, from Schweigger's Journal, may serve to throw some light upon the mode of action of this formidable meteor. As two carts were proceeding in a hollow way, bordered on either side by a wood, they were successively struck by a thunder-bolt. In the first cart were seated the two brothers Teele, the one aged thirty-three years, the other twenty-nine: in the second, Mr. Teele the nephew, a young man of twenty, and Mr. Decker. The lightning struck successively the horse of the first cart, the two brothers, Mr. Decker, and his companion, the latter of whom did not survive the accident. The horse was killed upon the spot; the skin of the belly was torn in all the lower part; the mouth left open; and the teeth blackened. It struck the younger Teele, passing through his umbrella, which was thrown to a distance of twenty-four paces from the cart; the cart itself was perforated with a hole of half a foot in diameter. The body, on being carried to the nearest village, was put into a tepid bath, and rubbed; blood flowed from the nose, the mouth, and ears, but no sign of life appeared. The mouth and nose were blackened; the skin and muscles of the arms and hands, which were both employed in holding the shaft of the umbrella, were furrowed to the bone; the sleeves of the coat and shirt were torn; but the lesions of the skin were not of the nature of tumors or scars, such as are produced by the application of red-hot iron the skin looked as if it had been raised by a very quick rubbing. In the same manner, the clothes bore no marks of burning, but seemed as if they had been torn by the rapid passage of a sharp point. Mr. Decker, who was in the same cart, received, at the same instant, so violent a blow in the lower belly that he was precipitated from the cart, and remained senseless for half a hour. When he was undressed, the place in which he had felt the shock was of a bright red colour, but without any open wound. He was by this time in a condition for continuing his journey.

The two brothers Teele had suffered considerable damage from the lightning; they, however, quickly recovered, as will presently be seen. But it will be interesting, in the first place, to follow the progress of the electric fluid over the different parts of their bodies, and to observe the nature of the wounds which resulted. They were sitting by the side of one another when struck. The lightning first hit the head of the elder; it tore to pieces the velvet cap which he had on, grazed the temporal bone an inch above the left ear, and then behind the ear; after which, slightly raising the skin, it descended upon the neck, traversed the back part obliquely, and ascended towards the right ear; here it scratched the inner part of the ear, near the tragus and antihelix;

ing with some pieces of metal that were in his waistcoat pocket: here it raised the skin upon a space about the size of the hand. After this it descended upon the left part of the region of the pubis, and traversed the inner surface of the thigh, the ham, and calf of the leg. A piece of steel, which the younger of the brothers carried where a space of the size of the piece was deprived of the skin, and affected with a deep wound. The breadth of the mark left by the lightning upon the different parts of the body was in general two inches; the wounds were more extended and deeper at the intersections of this mark; several of them were very painful, and suppurated abundantly. The skin had been rolled, in close foids, to the right and left, by the rapid passage of the lightning. The wounds did not bleed; and all needful to be done was to provide for the renovation of the skin destroyed. In a word, there was no indication of any lesion of organs by fire or heat; but the effect produced might be compared to that which takes place when a ball grazes the surface of a limb.

Dr. Tilesius, having assisted at the two first dressings, had all the leisure necessary for carefully examining the form and nature of the hurts; he even took a sketch of them, which accompanies his memoir.

The brothers Teele, after having perfectly recovered themselves, were affected with violent nausea, and vomited repeatedly, when some cups of tea were given them to drink; they threw up a little blood at first, as had happened to the one who had been killed. Notwithstanding the great extent of their wounds, and their being besides of a robust habit, they had no fever. The elder was perfectly deaf on the day of the accident; but, on the following day, he recovered his hearing to a certain degree. No trace of paralysis made its appearance in the limbs struck by the lightning; the wounds were cicatrised in the space of a few weeks.

Dr. Tilesius having seen Dr. Bauer, the physician of the brothers Teele, a year after the accident (which took place in May, 1821,) received from him the following information. The elder has remained somewhat dull of hearing, more or less so, according to the season. He experiences a marked disposition to sleep, and would often remain twenty-four hours together asleep, were he not wakened. The younger has latterly had an inflammatory fever. He is subject to a periodical weakness or state of relaxation, which was before unknown to him. In general, it has had a much greater influence upon the nervous system of the two brothers than might have been presumed from the vigour of their constitution. The cicatrices of the wounds now present, in several places, the appearance of the turns of a screw.

Professor Pictet, of Geneva, communicated to the Helvetic Society an account of a singular effect produced by a stroke of lightning on the 3d of July, 1824. The house had no conductors, but its roof was covered with white iron, and had bars of the same metal communicat. ing with the ground. The stroke of lightning did no damage to the house, but the lightning perforated a piece of white iron with two holes, of an inch in diameter, and five inches distant; and, what was very remarkable, the bars at the edges of the holes were in opposite directions. Hence, as Professor Pictet remarks, it appears to follow, either that the electric fluid had passed through the white iron, forming one hole, and after moving five inches along it, had penetrated it again in an opposite direction; or that two currents of electric fluid had moved simultaneously in opposite directions, and at the distance of five inches from each other.