Oh how I wished for Joshua's power
To stay the brightness of that hour!
But no, the Sun still less became,
Diminished to a speck, as splendid

And small as were those tongues of flame That on the Apostles' heads descended.

'Twas at this instant, while there glowed
This last intensest gleam of light,
Suddenly through the opening road
The valley burst upon my sight;
That glorious valley with its lake,
And Alps on Alps in clusters swelling,
Mighty and pure, and fit to make

The ramparts of a godhead's dwelling.

I stood entranced and mute as they
Of Israel think the assembled world
Will stand upon the awful day,

When the ark's light, aloft unfurled,
Among the opening clouds shall shine,
Divinity's own radiant sign!

Mighty Mont Blanc, thou wert to me
That minute, with thy brow in heaven,
As sure a sign of Deity

As e'er to mortal gaze was given:
Nor ever, were I destined yet
To live my life twice o'er again,
Can I the deepfelt awe forget,
The ecstacy that thrilled me then.

'Twas all the unconsciousness of power
And life, beyond this mortal hour;
Those mountings of the soul within
At thoughts of heaven, as birds begin
By instinct in the cage to rise,

When near their time for change of skies;
That proud assurance of our claim

To rank among the sons of light,

Mingled with shame! oh, bitter shame!

At having risked that splendid right,

For aught that earth, through all its range
Of glories, offers in exchange!

'Twas all this, at the instant brought,
Like breaking sunshine o'er my thought;
'Twas all this, kindled to a glow
Of sacred zeal, which, could it shine
Thus purely ever, Man might grow,
Even upon earth, a thing divine,
And be once more the creature made
To walk unstained the Elysian shade.

No, never shall I lose the trace
Of what I've felt in this bright place:

And should my spirit's hope grow weak,
Should I, oh God! e'er doubt thy power,
This mighty scene again I'll seek,
At the same calm and glowing hour;
And here, at the sublimest shrine
That Nature ever reared to thee,
Rekindle all that hope divine,
And feel my immortality.

July 30. St. Julitta Martyr. SS. Abdon and Sennen

Martyrs.

Orises at Iv. 15'. and sets at vII. 45'.

COELUM.-The time of the year being at hand when meteors of various sorts begin to abound, we shall offer the following observations on one familiar meteor called the Jack with a Lantern, which is now seen in certain kinds of weather over marshy grounds, and which has led to such a variety of superstitious fables. It was formerly thought, and is still by the superstitious believed, to have something ominous in its nature, and to presage death and other misfortunes. There have been instances recorded of people being decoyed by these lights into marshy places, where they have perished; whence the names of Ignis fatuus, Will with a Wisp, and Jack with a Lantern, as if this appearance was an evil spirit, which took delight in doing mischief of that kind.

So in the Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands of Scotland :

Ah, homely Swains! your homeward steps ne'er lose,
Let not dank Wisp mislead you on the heath.
Dancing in murky night, o'er fen and lake,
He glows to draw you downward to your death,
In his bewitched, low, marshy, willow brake.
What though far off, from some dark dell espied,
His glimmering mazes cheer the excursive sight,
Yet turn, ye wanderers, turn your steps aside,
Nor trust the guidance of that faithless light.

So Milton observes:

She was pinched and pulled, she said,
And he by Friar's Lantern led.

This phenomenon used to be common in the marshes between Walthamstow and Tottenham, but it has now disappeared there.-See Becaria Elec.; also Cavallo Comp. Treat. Elec., Letters of Abbé Nollet, in Phil, Trans.

Sir Isaac Newton calls it a vapour shining without heat, and says that there is the same difference between this vapour and flame, as between rotten wood shining without heat, and burning coals of fire.

The Ignis Fatuus is said to have been observed to stand still as well as to move, and sometimes seemed fixed on the surface of the water,

In Italy two kinds of these lights are said to have been discovered; one in the mountains, the other in the plains: they are called by the common people Cularsi, because they look upon them as birds, the belly and other parts of which are resplendent like the Pyraustae or Fire Flies.

Mr. Bradley F.R. S. supposed the Will with a Wisp to be no more than a group of small enlightened insects.

Mr. Francis Willoughby and Mr. Ray were of opinion that the Ignis Fatuus is nothing but the shining of some nightflying insect.

Dr. Derham, on the other hand, thought this phenomenon was composed of fired vapours.

Various have been the conjectures of different philosophers about the causes of these igneous meteors: their precise cause has, however, never been ascertained. M. De Luc ascribes them to certain phosphorific exhalations, which ascend from the earth, and take fire or become phosphorescent in the air.

Some have regarded the Ignis Fatuus to be an electrical phenomenon, while most philosophers nowadays regard it as the combustion of some gases. See an account of several curious and nondescript vapours in our pages May 21 and August 11. See also Forster's" Atmospheric Phenomena," 3d edit. pp. 125, 354. See also our account of meteors August 10 and 18 of this work.

The following simile founded on the popular superstition of the Ignis Fatuus conducting its followers into dangerous situations, is taken from "The Times anatomized in several Characters," by T. F. 12mo. Lond. 1647, Character 24th, "A Novice Preacher;" of whom the author says, "No wonder that instead of shining lights they prove foolish fires to lead their flocks into a maze of errours, in which they wander, not having the clue of learning or judgement to guide them out." Signat. E. 1.-Brand's Pop. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 682.

Milton, in his Paradise Lost, B. ix. 1. 634, observes :

Kindled through agitation to a flame,
Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends,
Hovering and blazing with delusive light,

Misleads the amazed night wanderer from his way
To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool,
There swallowed up and lost, from succour far.

Some persons have confounded the Ignis Fatuus with the St. Elmo's Fires called Castor and Pollux and described in our Calendar January 26, p. 32, to which, excepting their difference of local situation, they seem to bear some analogy. If one of these fires is seen alone the sailors call it Helen, but the two they call Castor and Pollux, and invoke them as gods. "These lights do sometimes about the evening rest on men's heads, and are a great and good omen."

These appearances are called by the French and Spaniards inhabiting the coasts of the Mediterrenean St. Helme's or St. Elme's Fires; by the Italians the Fires of St. Peter and St. Nicholas, and they are frequently taken notice of by the writers of voyages.

Thus in "Greene's Conceipt," &c. 4to. Lond. 1598, p. 27:

As when a wavebruised barke long tost by the windes in a tempest,
Straies on a forraine coast, in danger still to be swallowed,
After a world of feares, with a Winter of horrible objects--
The shipman's solace, faier Ledas twinnes at an instant
Signes of a calme are seen; and seene, are shrilly saluted.

To an inquiry after the occasion of a vapour which by mariners is called a Corpo Zanto, usually accompanying a storm, in the British Apollo, vol. iii. fol. Lond. 1710, No. 94, there is the following answer:- "A. Whenever this meteor is seen, it is an argument that the tempest which it accompanied was caused by a sulphureous spirit, rarifying and violently moving the clouds. For the cause of the fire is a sulphureous and bituminous matter, driven downwards by the impetuous motion of air and kindled by much agitation. Sometimes there are several of these seen in the same tempest, wandering about in various motions, as other Ignes Fatui do, though sometimes they appear to rest upon the sails or masts of the ship: but for the most part they leap upwards and downwards without any intermission, making a flame like the faint burning of a candle. If five of them are seen near together, they are called by the Portuguese Cora de nostra Senhora, and are looked upon as a sure sign that the storm is almost over.'

In Thomas Heyrick's Submarine Voyage, 4to. Cambr. 1691, p. 2, we read:

For lo! a sudden storm did rend the air:

The sullen heaven, curling in frowns its brow,
Did dire presaging omens show;

Illboding Helena alone was there.

FAUNA. Before Summer fishing in fresh waters is over, we may briefly enumerate the sorts of fishes now commonly in season. The TROUT Salmo fario is now abundantly caught in shallow gravelly streams, or those which have a rugged rocky bed. This fish may be seen playing in the clearest water among the stones and rocks. The PEARCH Perca fluviatilis must be sought for in somewhat deeper places, and is sometimes caught in floatfishing with globules of paste made of new bread and sugar. The same bait will catch the ROACH Cyprinus rutilus, distinguishable by his red gills, if we fish rather below midwater, and is frequently found in abundance in the deep holes of some streams which are not very clear. We have caught Roach in abundance in the streams of the Medway near Withyam in this month. In similar situations may be found the DACE Cyprinus lentiscus known by its more silvery whiteness, but it is more shy of biting. The CHUв Cyprinus Jeses is found in deep holes in rivers, and will take a large bait of paste. That beautiful fish the BLEAK is also caught now in the streams, and, like the Roach, plays about below midwater at the posts of bridges, and in the sides of the stream near the reeds, occasionally rising playfully to the surface. A southerly wind and sprinkling of rain greatly increases the disposition in the above fish to bite. We may enumerate lastly the GUDGEON Cyprinus Gobio; also the Miller's Thumb and Stickleback. In Ponds the CARP Cyprinus Carpio, and the TENCH Cyprinus Tinca, are now easily taken, as are Eels in ponds and ditches.

July 31. St. Ignatius of Loyola Confessor.
John Columbini Confessor. St. Helen Martyr.

rises at Iv. 17'. 'and sets at VII. 43'.

St.

URANIA.. For the use of such persons as may desire to know the precise time of the rising of the Sun, Moon, or Planets, at any given place, we subjoin the following Table, obligingly communicated while our work was at press, by Stephen Lee, Esq.