the head of the grand staircase, one on each side of it, stood two oblong buildings, their façades adorned with colossal figures and ornaments in stucco, seemingly intended as a portal to the structure on the top. In ascending the grand staircase, cacique, priest, or stranger, had before him this gorgeously ornamented portal, and passed through it to enter the centre apartment of the upper story.

This apartment, however, does not correspond with the grandeur of the approach. It is 23 feet long, only five feet six inches wide, and perfectly plain, without painting or ornament of any kind. But in this lofty chamber were strange memorials, tokens of recent occupation, indicating, amid the desolation and solitude around, that within a few years, this ruined edifice, from which the owners had perhaps fled in terror, or been driven by the sword, had been the refuge and abode of man. In the holes of the archway were poles for the support of hammocks, and at each end were swinging shelves made of twigs and rods. When the cholera swept like a scourge over this isolated country, the inhabitants of the villages fled for safety to the mountains and the wilderness. This desolate dwelling was repeopled, this lofty chamber was the abode of some scared and stricken family, and here, amid hardships and privations, they waited till the angel of death passed by.

As at those of Kabah, Mr. Stevens' party was prevented by illness from finishing their survey of the ruins of Labphak. It remains a rich and almost unbroken field for the future explorer. In another Supplement, in a future number of the Magazine, this account of the ruined cities of Yucatan will be concluded.

fect, his account would have seemed more fanciful than in Eastern story.

any

RUINS OF LABPHAK. Labphak is situated about one degree to the east of Campeachy. The first glance obtained of the ruins by Mr. Stevens, was the white front of a lofty building, which seemed one of the grandest edifices in the country. The whole structure, with all its terraces, was overgrown with gigantic trees. The Indians cut a path along the front which enabled the travellers to wander through the desolate chambers. For the first time they found interior staircases, one of which was entire, every step being in its place. The stones were worn, and the stranger looked unconsciously for the foot-prints of the former occupants. The top commanded an extensive view over a great wooded and desolate plain, to which the appearance of the heavens gave, at the time of Mr. Stevens' visit, an air of additional Ioneliness. The sky was overcast. The wind swept violently over the ruined building. An eagle stayed his flight in the air and hovered overhead. It seemed almost sacrilege to disturb the repose in which this building lay, and to remove its burial shroud of vegetation: but the ringing of the axe, and the crash of falling trees, soon wore away the feeling of regret.

This structure consisted of three stories, the uppermost appearing to be a dead bare wall, without any doorways, and called by the Indians, "the closed room." It was the intention of the proprietors of the land on which the ruins stand, to lay open this closed room with a blast of gunpowder. The lowest range is 145 feet in length. The roof and portion of the façade had fallen, and almost buried the centre doorways. Each staircase consists of two flights, with a platform at the head of the first, which forms the foot of the second. They lead out upon the roof, under a projection which stands like a watch-tower in the wall of the second range, and from this range two interior staircases lead out in the same way to the platform of the third.

The so-called "closed room," proved to be only the back wall of a range of apartments opening in the opposite aspect. This was, in fact, the rear of the building. The front facing the east, presented the tumbling remains of the grandest structure that now raises its ruined head in the forests of Yucatan. In front was a grand court-yard, with ranges of ruined buildings, forming a hollow square, and in the centre a gigantic staircase, 40 feet wide, rose from the court-yard to the platform of the third story. On the platform of the second terrace, at each end, stood a high square building like a tower, with the remains of rich ornaments in stucco; and on the platform of the third, at

chres for the secrets of an unwritten history. Feelings of admiration and wonder at the gorgeous remains of their constructive arts, (which were unassisted by the progressive discoveries upon the eastern continents,) soon passes into regret for the destruction of the national existence of the authors. But there is one undoubted test of the stability of any given people. Do they, or do they not, assist in the civilization of the world? If their literature, their religious belief, their social morals, are more or less identified with the improvement of mankind, they may be afflicted with civil strife, or punished with foreign slavery, but their memory will never perish. The names of their masterspirits will become household words in the civilized home of every age and country. If a nation, on the contrary, as was the case with the Mayas, and almost every early people, be enslaved to a dark and cruel superstition, they may struggle through a short period of political power, but can never possess the freedom of thought and action which is necessary for the discovery of truth.

We look in vain amongst the few records of the ancient inhabitants of Yucatan for anything worthy of imitation, if we except the elegant cornice of the First Casa of Kabah, and some ingenious methods for economising their scanty supply of water. A few other traces of utility and taste may be still buried in the forest; but the nationality of the Mayas has deservedly passed away. Broken down by the unjustifiable cruelties of their so-called Christian conquerors, and wanting the purifying influences of genuine Christianity, the remnants of the tribe have yet to receive the true elements of civilization. We consider the traveller, Mr. Stevens, to have been an excellent pioneer for their better-being. Translations of his works at once find their way to Merida, and afford the Yucatecos, for the first time, an intelligible map of their own country. The mere curiosity of future investigators will add to our knowledge of the people, and keep open a more frequent source of communication with the East. Not a steam-ship can pass the Atlantic without carrying with it some portion of the social morality, the commercial energy, and intellectual power of Europe to the West. And as these continental interchanges become more frequent, year after year, so may we expect to see ignorance, superstition, and injustice lessened. The lot of the humblest modern Maya, will then be superior, morally and intellectually, to that of the proudest cacique of ancient times, and a fresh nation will arise more stable, because more Christian.

JOHN W. PARKER, PUBLISHER, WEST STRAND, LONDON.

YORKSHIRE contains a great variety of interesting objects: noble mansions, rich with works of art; castles, formidable even in decay; abbeys and monasteries, that once flourished in strength and splendour, but now present only a heap of ruins, to which the creeping ivy clings, and about whose dilapidated walls the lank grass waves. These, in connexion with the hills and vales, woods, streams, lakes, and rivers that surround them, constitute an assemblage of objects, amongst which those who truly love the beauties of nature, and the elegancies of art, may wander with grateful and exalted feelings.

One of the objects of interest in this interesting county is the subject of the present notice. Helmsley, called by Bede Ulmetum, is a small town situate on the east side of Hambleton Hills, or Hambleton Blackmoor, and is frequently called Helmsley Black-moor, on RHODES, Yorkshire Scenery

VOL. XXIV.

account of the dark heathy moors in the parish. It was formerly noted for stately elms, in the midst of which the Druids, on the hill still bearing their name, performed their mystic rites. The town is situated on the declivity of a small eminence gently sloping towards the banks of the Rye. The parish is one of the most extensive in the kingdom. It extends more than sixteen miles from north to south, and comprises six distinct villages with the valley of Bilsdale, which stretches out to the hills in Cleveland. The adjacent country is exceedingly fertile, and is interspersed with extensive woods and rich valleys. A rivulet, running through the town of Helmsley, still retains the old Saxon name of Boro' Beck; and Camden remarks of it, that, in his time, the water disappeared at about a mile from the town, and rose again at Harum, a few miles below, an event which still occurs.

744

In the reigns of Edward the First and Second, Helmsley belonged to the family of Ross. Robert de Ross built here a strong castle, and called it Castle Fursam. During the parliamentary war, this castle being garrisoned for the king, was besieged, in 1644, by Sir Thomas Fairfax, and surrendered on the 21st of November. It was soon afterwards, in common with other castles in Yorkshire, dismantled by order of the Parliament. The remains of this structure consist partly of detached portions of the state apartments and offices, and part of the keep and gateway from the south, situated on an eminence surrounded with a double moat. The surrounding scenery is extremely beautiful and picturesque. The scattered masses of building seen through the rich foliage of the stately trees, and the still more stately double gateway, have long formed a favourite subject for the painter's pencil.

This manor, which formerly belonged to the earls of Westmoreland, was forfeited. Tradition says, that Charles, earl of Westmoreland, by whose rebellion the estate was forfeited in the reign of Elizabeth, made his escape from hence into Scotland in the time of a deep snow, and eluded his pursuers by having the shoes of his horse reversed; and that the descendants of the blacksmith who turned the shoes enjoy at this day a house, as a reward for their ancestor's service, at a rent of a farthing a-year. The manor remained with the crown till the reign of James the First, when the favourite Duke of Buckingham, having obtained Helmsley by his marriage with the heiress of the Earl of Rutland, is said to have begged the manor of the king as a garden to that famous mansion. After his death, it came into the possession of his son, the well-known George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, who made it the favourite scene of his sports and revelries after he had retired from the court and cabinet of Charles the Second. The neighbouring town of Kirby Moor was also the scene of his humiliation; for after having dissipated his fortune, and ruined his health, here, "in the worst inn's worst room," he breathed his last. In what part of the burial-ground this fallen companion of princes was interred is not known; but in the parish register of Kirkby it is recorded, that on the 17th of April, 1687, "George Villarrs lord dooke of bookingham" was buried here. The duke before his death sold Helmsley, together with the whole of his estates in the parishes of Helmsley and Kirkdale, to Sir Charles Duncombe, ancestor of the present Lord Faversham, of Duncombe Park.

In this park is a noble terrace, terminated by two handsoine circular temples, which commands a beautiful view of Helmsley Castle; and near it occasionally peeps forth part of the town; while deep beneath is seen a beautiful valley, with the river Rye winding among hanging woods. Nothing can be more truly beautiful, remarks Baines, than the assemblage of objects seen in a bird's-eye view from this spot. This view is beheld with delightful variation in walking along the terrace to the Tuscan temple, as fresh scenery breaks upon the eye at almost every step. The temple, situate at the point of a bold promontory, ornamented with stately plantations, and projected into a winding valley, commands the most sublime and beautiful scenes. The valley, the river, and the cascades, are seen beneath; and in the front the prospect extends, and becomes beautifully variegated. The Castle, Helmsley Church, and the tower, appear in the midst; and the valley, here forming into a rich sequestered lawn, is well contrasted with the rougher visage of the hilly moors which are seen in the distance.

WHILST We teach children many tongues, and enable them to understand many books, shall we leave them in ignorance of the great Book of Nature, which, to use the impressive language of Lord Bacon," is written in the only language that hath gone forth to all the ends of the earth, unaffected by the confusion of Babel?"

ON THE HARMONY OF THE SPHERES.

Mystical dance which yonder starry sphere
Of planets, and of fixed, in all her wheels
Resembles nearest; mazes intricate,
Eccentric, intervolved, yet regular

Then most, when most irregular they seem;
And in their motions harmony divine

So smooths her charming tones, that God's own ear
Listens delighted.- -MILTON.

THE harmony of the spheres has been a favourite theme with the poets; and though the Pythagorean doctrine, on which it is founded, of a supposed musical proportion in the distances and magnitudes of the planetary bodies, be merely fanciful, yet the representation of joy and gladness in the motions of the celestial worlds may be admitted as illustrative of the wisdom and goodness manifested in their construction and order.

Milton has most happily availed himself of this ancient opinion, in his description of the creation, particularly at the close of it, when the Almighty returns from His great work attended by the heavenly hosts. up he rode,

Followed with acclamation and the sound
Symphonious of ten thousand harps that tuned
Angelic harmonies: the earth, the air
Resounding (thou rememberedst, for thou heardst,)
The heavens and all the constellations rung,
The planets in their stations list'ning stood,
While the bright pomp ascended jubilant.

The poet has adopted the same analogy, and with equal, if not superior effect, when he compares the festivity of the angels in the immediate presence of the Omnipotent, to the "harmony of the starry sphere,"

which

So smooths her charming tones, that God's own ear
Listens delighted.

Inspiration has ascribed a voice to the celestial orbs, and made them, what they truly are, the universal preachers of righteousness, proclaiming to all rational creatures a great First Cause, and continual preserver of all things. (Psalm xix.) So forcibly indeed do the heavens declare the glory of God, that the intelligent and virtuous part of mankind in all ages has been drawn thereby into a devotional admiration of His power and goodness.

It is not so much the splendour of the scene, when the vast concave is bespangled with innumerable lights of different degrees of magnitude, that produces this sentiment, as the consideration of the regularity observed in the periods of their risings and settings, and the harmony of their respective motions. This led one of the greatest philosophers of antiquity to frame the following elegant and striking argument in support of the existence of a Supreme Being, and of His active agency in the creation and superintendence of the uni

verse:

If (says Aristotle) there were men, whose habitations houses, adorned with pictures and statues, furnished with had been always underground, in large and commodious every article of utility, convenience, and comfort; and if, without stirring from that subterraneous habitation, they should be informed of a certain divine power and majesty, and after some time the earth should open, and they should quit their dark abode to come upon the surface, where they might behold the earth, sea, and the heavens; consider the vast extent of the clouds, and the prodigious force of the winds; should behold the sun and observe his grandeur, and perceive that the day is occasioned by the diffusion of his light through the atmosphere; and when night has obscured the earth, these persons should contemplate the heavens bespangled with stars; the various appearances of the moon in her increase and wane; the rising and setting of the other luminaries, and the inviolable regularity of their courses; when, I say, they should behold all these wonders, and meditate upon them, it is impossible but that they would draw the conclusion, that there is an infinitely wise and powerful Creator, and that these are His mighty works.

Let us imagine (says he, in the person of the Stoic) as great a darkness as was formerly occasioned by the irrup: tions of Mount Etna, and which are said to have obscured the adjacent countries for two days, so that one man could not know another; but on the third, when the sun appeared, they seemed as persons risen from the grave. Now, if we should be suddenly brought from a state of dismal darkness to see the light, how beautiful would the heavens appear to us! But because we are accustomed to the spectacle, our minds are not affected, nor disposed to search into the principles of what always appear in view; as if the novelty, rather than the importance of things, ought to excite our curiosity.

Is he deserving the name of man, who attributes to chance, instead of an intelligent cause, the constant motions of the heavens, the regular courses of the stars, the wonderful proportion and connexion of things, and all conducted with so much exactness, that our reason itself is lost in the inquiry?

When we see machines move artificially, do we doubt whether they are the productions of genius and skill? In like manner, when we behold the heavens moving with a prodigious celerity, and causing an annual succession of the different seasons of the year, which vivify and preserve all things, can we entertain a doubt that this world is directed, I will not say only by reason, but by a reason the most excellent and divine? For, in short, there is no need of seeking after proofs, as we need only to contemplate the universal beauty and harmony of nature, to be satisfied that all is appointed by Divine Provinence.

Such was the conclusion drawn by the wisest of the ancient heathens, from a view of the regularity observable in the construction and motions of the heavenly bodies; but how would their minds have expanded, and with how much greater copiousness would they have treated this sublime theme, had they possessed the helps and knowledge which modern science and discoveries open to us?

If they inferred a Supreme and an Infinite Intelligence from a contemplation of His works by the naked eye; and if they reprobated with just severity those who attributed the production of all things to chance, would they not have been more enraptured with the belief of a Deity, and felt a still greater abhorrence of atheism, had they seen the provision made for the distant planets of our system, and been enabled to view innumerable worlds beyond the reach of the unassisted eye?

Sir Isaac Newton observes that, "It is the principal thing that natural philosophy ought to do, and it is indeed the end of that science, that by a regular chain of reasoning, we proceed from effects to their causes, till we at length arrive at the very first cause of all things: that we not only explain the mechanism of the world, but that we may be thereby enabled to answer the following queries, with others of a like nature: Whence it is that the sun and the planets gravitate mutually towards one another, while the spaces between them are void of matter? How it comes to pass that nature performs nothing in vain? Whence proceeds the admirable beauty of the universe? To what end were the comets made? And whence is it that they move in orbits so very eccentric, from and to all parts of the heavens; whereas the courses of the planets have the same direction, towards the same parts in concentric orbits? Again, what hinders the sun and fixed stars from rushing mutually against each other? How it happens that the bodies of animals are framed with such exquisite art and wisdom, and for what purposes their different parts are designed? Whether it be possible that the eye could be framed without any acquaintance with optics, or the ear without any knowledge of sounds? Whence it is that the motions of the body obey the direction of the will; and what it is that we term instinct in animals?" Lastly, this great man concludes, "Whether from a right solution of these queries, it does not appear that there is a Being, incorporeal, self-existent, intelligent, and omnipresent, who in infinite space, or as it were, in his own sensory, beholds accurately, and discerns thoroughly, all things themselves, and by being ever present, comprehends them all within Himself."

Such is the improvement which true philosophy

the sagacious remark of another profound inquirer into Nature. "A little philosophy," says Lord Bacon, "inclineth men's minds to atheism, but a depth in it brings them about to religion; for while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them and go no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity." [Abridged from BASELEY'S Glory of the Heavens.]

SOME good we can all do; and if we do all that is in our power, however little that power may be, we have performed our part, and may be as near perfection as those whose influence extends over kingdoms, and whose good actions are felt and applauded by thousands. But then we must be sure that we do all we can, and exert to the utmost all those powers which God has given us; and this is a point in which we are very apt to deceive ourselves, and to shelter our indolence under the pretence of inability. Let us never be discouraged by any difficulty which may attend what we know to be our duty; for, if we do our best, we are secure of an All-powerful assistance; nor let us ever think any occasion too trifling for the exertion of our best endeavours; for it is by constantly aiming at perfection, in every instance, that we may at length attain to as great a degree of it as our present state will admit of.-BOWDLER'S Essays. Is God invisible? speak worthily of Him, for who is more manifest than He? For this very reason did He make all things, that thou mightest see Him through all things. The mind is seen in thinking, but God is seen in working or creating.-Trismegistic Books.

PERSONS of cultivated minds, who are furnished with wide and various information, are often too cautious in calculating upon the exceptions to general laws; while uncultivated minds are apt to make a rude and blind use of general rules, without regard to exceptions.

OUR minds are so formed, that thoughts which have been once associated are apt afterwards to return to the mind together. The course of the thoughts, when they are left to flow without direction from the will, seems to be governed chiefly by the connections which have been accidentally formed among them. If we attempt to trace back the wanderings of our thoughts, we shall generally be led the mind, in the course of a few minutes, to be occupied able to discover some connection between ideas, which has with the most widely different things. Often it is a mere agreement in the sound of words that ties thoughts together; often it is some similarity in the feeling towards two different objects; often the sight of an object will bring into the mind the thoughts which happened to engage us when we last saw it. One man's thoughts are suggested, chiefly, by words, and forms of expression, which have been stored in the memory: such a person will think rapidly and speak fluently and with much propriety; but he will not bring forward what is new. Another man's thoughts are chiefly suggested by the real resemblances or analogies of different things; without regard to words, or other men's opinions. Such a man will think philosophically.

It is often not difficult to discover from a man's conversation, what habit or feeling it is which usually suggests his thoughts; and when we discover this we may see the reason of much that he says, and often anticipate what opinion he will express on a particular subject. The actions of animals proceed immediately from the suggestions which take place in their minds: and these suggestions are caused by their perceptions, or sensations. The actions of animals, therefore, in given circumstances, may generally be anticipated with certainty. The words and actions of children, also, flow chiefly from the suggestions of the moment: they may, therefore, often be anticipated, or, at least their words and actions may afterwards be accounted for, by our knowledge of the suggestions from which they proceeded. In the idle, continued, and multifarious chatterings of a child it is often possible to perceive chains of suggestion very similar to those which take place in dreaming.

In proportion as the mind by habit becomes active, the natural and accidental chains of suggestions are interrupted, and words and actions are less often caused by perceptions, sensations, or feelings of the moment, and are more often directed by reason.-Elements of Thought.

PLANT-LIKE ANIMALS.

VII.

Most of the species yet described in these papers have been selected on account of their resemblance to branches, foliage, or flowers; but there are some which remind us of the bulbs of plants just beginning to germinate. The examples here selected are chiefly microscopic species, and have been classed with Infusoria, or minute animals found in animal or vegetable infusions. They possess, however, a much more complicated structure than the majority of the infusory animals, and only resemble them in minutenes, and in their habitat; being unable to live except in a liquid,

Fig. 1.

The Rotifera, or wheel animalcules, are so named from an apparatus which they possess for creating a constant eddy, or current, in the liquid they inhabit. This remarkable apparatus is situated on the head, and consists of circular disks or wheels, the edges of which are fringed with rows of hairs. These wheels appear to be incessantly revolving in one direction, thus giving a motion to the fluid which sends it round in a continual vortex. This curious phenomenon has attracted much attention; for, as Dr. Roget remarks, "the continued revolution round an axis of any part or appendage of the body, is quite inconsistent with any notions we can form of the solid organic attachment of such appendage; and we can have no conception of organization extending through the medium of a fluid, or of any substance which, like a fluid, admits of the continual displacement of its parts." This difficulty has been ingeniously met by supposing that the revolutions of the wheels of the rotifera may not be real, but apparent only. If the

Rotifer vulgaris (highly

magnified).

Fig. 2.

#

Tubicolaria Stephanocerus (highly magnified, and natural size)

dust, may be revived in a few minutes, by being placed in water. This alternate suspension and restoration of life may be repeated a great number of times without apparent injury to the animal.

In the head of the rotifer are two distinct spots, which are thought to be the eyes of the animal, and in the cenheart; but now clearly ascertained to be a receptable tre of the body is a large organ, first supposed to be the for food. Ehrenberg also discovered in some of these animals what he believed to be a nervous system.

Another family of rotifera, of which fig. 2 gives a specimen, is chiefly distinguished from the former by living in tubes which the animals make for themselves of neighbouring substances, but which form no part of their own bodies. Their rotatory organs nevertheless appear at the end of the tube, very nearly after the manner of the head of a polypi. One species of this animal is common on the confervæ of our marshes. The appearance of the tubicolaria, magnified to the extent here represented, strongly reminds one of a bulb germinating in a glass vessel.

Another family of this order takes the following curious form (fig. 3), where small tubes are arranged by the animals along a common base.

Fig. 4.

Vaginicola tincta.

Many of these animals, it will be thus seen, although so minute as only to be judged of by means of the microscope, yet manifest a structure and functions that are much more complicated than those of the sponges, or the polypi. They have a very remarkable power of locomotion, while many of the animals hitherto described are fixed permanently, like plants, to one spot.

We shall only give one more specimen of this order (at fig. 4), which represents a species with rotatory organs, and a tail somewhat similar to former species; but which carries a sort of membranous or scaly buckler, covering the back, and also two lobes or appendages near the tail. Strange, indeed, may it appear to many of our readers, that plant-like forms, or at least forms which resemble certain portions of plants, are found among those loathsome creatures which are unable to live or to propagate, except in the interior of the bodies of other animals.

Brachionus urceolarius (very highly magnified).

Almost all animals of the superior classes, and very many of the inferior, are subject to the attacks of entozoa, or intestinal worms, though it is only in cerair individuals of each class that these worms are