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In the name of God, let the odds and the risk be what they will I will fight Edmund Butler rather than leave these poor creatures behind me. Let the army, therefore, draw up in line of battle instead of retreating."

4. The story had a singular conclusion; for the English general, seeing that Robert the Bruce halted and offered him battle, and knowing that the Scottish king was one of the best generals then living, conceived that he must have received some large supply of forces, and was afraid to attack him. And thus Bruce had an opportunity to send off the poor woman and her child, and then to retreat at his leisure, without suffering any inconvenience from the halt.

SIR WALTER SCOTT

LXXVII.

THE FIRST PREDICTOR OF AN ECLIPSE.

1. To those who have given but little attention to the subject, even in our own day, with all the aids of modern science, the prediction of an eclipse seems sufficiently mysterious and unintelligible. How, then, it was possible, thousands of years ago, to accomplish the same great object, without any just views of the structure of the system, seems utterly incredible. Follow me, then, while I attempt to reveal the train of reasoning which led to the prediction of the first eclipse of the sun, the most daring prophecy ever made by human genius.

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2. Follow in imagination this bold interrogator of the skies to his solitary mountain summit, withdrawn from the world, surrounded by his mysterious circles, there to watch and ponder through the long nights of many, many years. But hope cheers him on, and smooths his rugged pathway. Dark and deep is the problem; he sternly grapples with it, and resolves never to give over till victory crown his efforts.

3. He has already remarked that the moon's track in the heavens crossed the sun's, and that this point of crossing was in some way intimately connected with the coming of the dread eclipse. He determines to watch and learn whether the point of crossing was fixed, or whether the moon in each successive revolution crossed the sun's path at a different point. If the sun in its annual revolution could leave behind him a track of fire marking his journey among the stars, it is found that this same track was followed from year to year, and from century to century, with andeviating precision.

4. But it was soon discovered that it was far different with the moan. In case she, too, could leave behind her a silver thread of

light sweeping round theavens, in completing one revolution, this thread would not join, but would wind around among the stars, in each revolution crossing the sun's fiery track at a point west of the previous crossing. These points of crossing were alled the moon's nodes.EI At each revolution the node occurred urther west, until after a circle of about nineteen years it had irculated in the same direction entirely round the ecliptic.

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5. Long and patiently did the astronomer watch and wait; ach eclipse is duly observed, and its attendant circumstances are recorded; when at last the darkness begins to give way, and a "ay of light breaks in upon his mind. He finds that no eclipse of the sun ever occurs unless the new moon is in the act of crossing the sun's track. Here was a grand discovery. He holds the key which he believes will unlock the dread mystery, and now, with redoubled energy, he resolves to thrust it into the wardsE and drive back the bolts.

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6. To predict an eclipse of the sun, he must sweep forward from new moon to new moon, until he finds some new moon which should occur while the moon was in the act of crossing from one side to the other of the sun's track. This certainly was possible. He knew the exact period from new moon to new moon, and from one crossing of the ecliptic to another. With eager eye he seizes the moon's place in the heavens, and her age, and rapidly computes where she will be at her next change.

7. He finds the new moon occurring far from the sun's track; he runs round another revolution; the place of the new moon falls closer to the sun's path, and the next year closer, until, reaching forward with piercing intellectual vigor, he at last finds a new moon which occurs precisely at the computed time of her passage across the sun's track. Here he makes his stand, and on the day of the occurrence of that new moon he announces to the startled inhabitants of the world that the sun shall expire in dark eclipse.

8. Bold prediction! Mysterious prophet! with what scorn nust the unthinking world have received this solemn declaration! How slowly do the moons roll away, and with what intense anxiety does the stern philosopher await the coming of that day which should crown him with victory, or dash him to the ground in ruin and disgrace. Time to him moves on leaden wings; day after day, and, at last, hour after hour, roll heavily away. The last night is gone; the moon has disappeared from his eagle gaze in her approach to the sun, and the dawn of the eventful day breaks in beauty on a slumbering world.

9. This daring man, stern in his faith, climos alone to his rocky home, and greets the sun as he rises and mounts the heavens, scattering brightness and glory in his path. Beneath him is

spread out the populous city, already teeming with life and activity. The busy morning hum rises on the still air, and reaches the watching place of the solitary astronomer. The thousands below him, unconscious of his intense anxiety, buoyant with life, joyously pursue their rounds of business, their cycles of amusement. No one can witness an eclipse of the sun, even at the present day, when its most minute phenomena are predicted with rigorous exactitude, without an involuntary feeling of dismay. What, then, must have been the effect upon the human mind in those ages of the world, when the cause was unknown, and the terrific exhibition unlooked for?

10. The sun slowly climbs the heaven, round and bright and full-orbed. The lone tenant of the mountain top almost begins to waver in the sternness of his faith as the morning hours roll away. But the time of his triumph, long delayed, at length begins to dawn; a pale and sickly hue creeps over the face of nature. The sun has reached his highest point, but his splendor is dimmed, his light is feeble. At last it comes! Blackness is eating away his round disc; onward with slow but steady pace the dark veil moves, blacker than a thousand nights; the gloom deepens; the ghastly hue of death covers the universe; the last ray is gone, and horror reigns!

11. A wail of terror fills the murky air, the clangor of brazen trumpets resounds, an agony of despair dashes the stricken millions to the ground; while that lone man, erect on his rocky summit, with arms outstretched to heaven, pours forth the grateful gushings of his heart to God, who had crowned his efforts with triumphant victory. Search the rec'ords of our race, and point me, if you can, to a scene more grand, more beautiful. It is to me the proudest victory that genius ever won. It was the conquering of nature, of ignorance, of superstition, of terror, all at a single blow, and that blow struck by a single arm.

12. And now do you demand the name of this wonderful man? Alas! what a lesson of the instability of earthly fame are we taught in this simple recital! He who had raised himself immeasurably above his race, who must have been regarded by his fellows as little less than a god, who had inscribed his fame on the very heavens, and had written it in the sun, with a "pen of iron, and the point of a diamond," even this one has perished from the earth; name, age, country, are all swept into oblivion. But his proud achievement stands. The monument reared to his honor stands, and although the touch of time has effaced the lettering of his name, it is powerless, and cannot destroy the fruits of his victory.

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0. M MITCHELL.

LXXVIII.

SELECT PASSAGES IN VERSE.

1. A PRAYER. - Thomson.

FATHER of light and life! thou Good Supreme!
O, teach me what is good! teach me thyself!
Save me from folly, vanity, and vice,
From every low pursuit, and feed my soul

With knowledge, conscious peace, and virtue pure, —
Sacred, substantial, never-fading bliss!

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The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate:
Puzzled in mazes and perplexed with errors,
Our understanding traces them in vain,
Lost and bewildered in the fruitless search;
Nor sees with how much art the windings run,
Nor where the regular confusion ends.

3 ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE ATTAINABLE BY ALL.-Wordsworth

The primal duties shine aloft, like stars;

he charities that soothe, and heal, and bless,
Are scattered at the feet of man like flowers;
The generous inclination, the just rule,

Kind wishes, and good actions, and pure thoughts, —
No mystery is here; no special boon

For high and not for low, for proudly-graced

And not for meek of heart. The smoke ascends
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The clouds proclaim, like heralds, through the skies,
Advance!

Throughout the world, the mighty Master's laws
Allow not one brief moment's idle pause;

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Stern Lawgiver! yet thou dost wear
The Godhead's most benignant grace;
Nor know we anything so fair
As is the smile upon thy face;
Flowers laugh before thee on their beds,
And Fragrance in thy footing treads;

Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong;

And the most ancient heavens, through thee, are fresh and strong

6. DEATH OF THE YOUNG AND FAIR. - Anonymous.

She died in beauty, like a rosel62 blown from its parent stem;
She died in beauty, like a pearl dropped from some diadem;
She died in beauty, like a lay along a moonlit lake;
She died in beauty, like the song of birds amid the brake;
She died in beauty, like the snow on flowers dissolved away;
She died in beauty, like a star lost on the brow of day;
She lives in glory, like Night's gems set round the silver moon;
She lives in glory, like the sun amid the blue of June.

7. CONSCIENTIOUS DISCHARGE OF DUTY. - Bryant.

Yet nerve thy spirit to the proof,
And blench not at thy chosen lot;
The timid good may stand aloof,

The sage may frown-yet faint thou no
Nor heed the shaft too surely cast,

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The foul and hissing bolt of scorn; For with thy side shall dwell, at last, p...Tbs.viatnʊryfant genius ever won. conquering of nature, of ignorance, of superstition, of terror, al at a single blow, and that blow struck by a single arm.

12. And now do you demand the name of this wonderful man? Alas! what a lesson of the instability of earthly fame are we taught in this simple recital! He who had raised himself immeasurably above his race, who must have been regarded by his fellows as little less than a god, who had inscribed his fame on the very heavens, and had written it in the sun, with a "pen of iron, and the point of a diamond," even this one has perished from the earth; name, age, country, are all swept into oblivion. But his proud achievement stands. The monument reared to his honor stands, and although the touch of time has effaced the lettering of his name, it is powerless, and cannot destroy the fruits of his victory.

0. M MITCHELL.

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