his sermon burned by the hanginan. The punishment of Sacheverell served to make him popular. He was exalted into a champion and a martyr. The Whigs were accused of persecuting the church; the queen was induced to dissolve parliament; the cabinet resigned, and their places were filled by Tories. Negotiations were now commenced with Louis, and the peace of Utrecht speedily concluded. The terms of the treaty were far more favourable to France than to the allies, and England gained little in return for the lives and treasure she had lavished, and the victories she had won, beyond the retention of Gibraltar and Minorca. The demand with which the war began, the exclusion of a French prince from the throne of Spain, was relinquished; but it was stipulated that the two crowns should never be united on one head. In 1714, died the Princess Sophia of Hanover, who was by the Act of Settlement next heir to the throne. Her right descended to her son, but there was a strong party at Court devoted to the interests of the Pretender, and the Protestant cause seemed once more in danger from the house of Stuart. A few days before the queen's death, however, the earl of Shrewsbury, a true patriot, was appointed lord treasurer. He promptly made the necessary arrangements. Anne died on the 1st August, 1714, the Prince of Hanover, though absent, was proclaimed immediately as George I., and was accepted without opposition. LESSON LV.-FRIDAY. THE MOON. The moon is a secondary planet, or satellite, attendant upon the earth, its primary planet, throughout its entire track round the sun, and at the same time incessantly revolving round it, but is found not to revolve on its own axis. The forces by which these two-fold motions are secured fill the mind with astonishment. It is wonderful to conceive of the earth wheeling round the sun, and spinning on its own axis as it is wheeled along, as a cricket ball will sometimes spin as it flies when the blow is struck in a peculiar direction. But it is still more amazing that the moon should revolve round the earth at a distance of 240,000 miles, the earth all the while holding on its rapid course, the attraction of the earth which is near, and that of the sun which is remote, being so balanced as to preserve these complex movements so many ages regular and harmonious. Let the end of the axle of a carriage represent the earth, and a nail driven on the outer rim of the nave of the wheel, the moon. When the carriage moves, the end of the axle represents the earth traversing its orbit, and the nail in the rim of the nave exhibits the moon, making equal progress in the earth's orbit, and at the same time revolving round it as it advances. If the carriage were moving on a concave surface, the resemblance of their respective motions would approach a near accuracy. The moon is not itself a luminous body, nor is it provided with any luminous atmosphere like the sun, from which, as from a source or fountain, it might diffuse light and heat. It only shines in the rays of the sun, and diffuses light by reflecting that which falls on it from the glorious central body of our system. Of course, the hemisphere turned towards the sun is light, that turned from him is dark. When therefore the disc of the moon on which the sun shines is turned towards the earth, or any part of its illuminated surface has that direction, to that extent we have a moon partial or full. This takes place when in the revolution of the moon round the earth, as the latter proceeds in its orbit, the moon follows the earth or is to the west of it. When, on the contrary, the moon is in advance of the earth, or to the east of it, she of course receives the rays of the sun on the disc turned from us, and is to us dark. The new moon is first discerned in the west, presenting to us a glimpse of her illuminated surface in the form of a slender, peculiarly beautiful crescent, and nightly increasing till she appears a full orb of mild silvery light, again decreases as she wheels onward to occupy a position to the eastward of our globe. If to sun-rise and sun-set the first place for glorious beauty and magnificent splendour must be assigned, the lunar phases, for their beauty, majesty, and interest, claim the second. Seen in the deep blue of a nightly sky, surrounded with the varied brightness of numerous stars, the moon shines the queen of heaven. The eyes of all nations turn to her with an admiration that rises almost into a passion, and own that her Maker formed her to rule the night. The changes and variety of her appearances greatly add to her beauty. We may think it would be very useful and delightful to see always a full moon shining in our nightly heavens, but it may be justly doubted whether in that case our pleasure in the unvaried object, though in its fullest perfection and splendour, would equal that with which we hail the first slender crescent of the new moon,watch its gradual progress to a full round orb, and its similar decline till it takes its pale departure in the morning sky, in the same graceful shape in which its first welcome appearance was hailed. If we say "glorious sun," we cannot but add "lovely moon." Algernon Wells. LESSON LVI.—MONDAY. HYDROGRAPHY. In Europe, the rivers of the north-eastern lowland are distinguished, in accordance with this form of surface, by the extended development of a lower course; for either only the subordinate district of their sources belongs to the highland, or the highland is wanting altogether, and their whole course lies in the lowland; but nearly all of them have this characteristic feature, that, shortly before they reach their lowest course, they have to break through a slight elevation of the ground in a sharply defined valley of depression, after a marked change in the direction of their course. The Volga is the largest river of the largest inland sea on the globe; it brings a portion of Europe into the continental basin of Asia; but its sources are near the Baltic Sea, and this is connected with the Caspian by numerous canals. With very few exceptions, the rivers of the peninsulas of southern Europe have their course principally in the mountain country, and form a complete contrast to those of the continental north-east. The south-west of continental Europe affords to its rivers the completest development of an advantageous three-fold change of descent: in this respect, the Danube and the Rhine are real models. It is striking to observe the parallelism of the Scandinavian rivers, and their regular series of three descents, corresponding to the terrace form of the east side of the highland. The British Isles possess no grandly developed river-courses; but are so extensively intersccted by copious streams, that they have become the scene of the most complete reticulation of canals in the world. The forms of the mouths of rivers vary very much with the high or low situation of the coast, the force of the disemboguing stream, and the currents of wind and sea which meet it. In general, it may be remarked, that the crescent form is peculiar to the arctic rivers, the bay form to the rivers of the open extra-tropical Atlantic Ocean, and the delta form to those of the Mediterranean seas and the tropical oceans. Local circumstances produce exceptions, and here and there peculiar phenomena. Thus it is easily intelligible, that the South African tributaries of the Atlantic, not having a level coast, cannot attain the delta form; while the Rhine possesses such a form, being situated in a flat, alluvial country, which it has itself built up. The flat shores of the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Mexico are distinguished by the firth form, with outlying bars, or bar-like islands. In regard to the distribution of lakes, a glance at the map shows us that they are found singly, and in scanty numbers, in the south of the great divisions of the world; while, as we approach the North Pole, they become more numerous, and are ranged in groups. The extensive lakebelt of North America consists principally of river lakes, lying at a certain distance round Hudson's Bay. A faint reflection of this grand phenomenon is seen in the lake-belt of northern Europe, which encircles the Baltic Sea, and reminds us upon the rocky platform of Finland of the analogous relations of America. Two belts of elevated lakes next attract our attention; one, consisting of the splendid lakes of the European Alps, which occupy romantic situations in or before the entrances to these high mountains, and serve as cleansing basins for the Alpine rivers; the other, consisting of the lakes of Higher Asia, from the Anatolian plateau to Zungary, and the feeding lakes of Siberian rivers, in the Altai system. The fifth group is seen in the Aral and Caspian Seas, the two largest inland lakes of the earth. As it is always desirable to make comparisons, we subjoin a general view of the basins and lengths of some of the principal rivers.* In such a view, it is true, our European rivers are thrown far into the background; but the importance of rivers and streams to the progress of civilization must not be measured merely by numerical proportions, but a glance to the right and left into the natural conditions of every kind which accompany the banks will have much to do with the question. It is not only on the solid land that streams are found, but also in the sea; and A. Von Humboldt observes, "The currents of the ocean, introducing the temperature of one zone into another, alternately promoting or preventing the spread of the races of men, whom they inclose with shores favoured by their deposits, and then, in the changing lapse of centuries, extending or forsaking those shores, offer a new and immeasurable field of examination to physical geography." LESSON LVII.-TUESDAY. THE MOON. Among the interesting and instructive phenomena connected with the moon, are the eclipses of which it is the subject or the cause. When, in the progress of the various motions of the sun, earth, and moon, such a conjunction occurs as brings their entire mass or any portion of their bodies into a right line with each other, an eclipse, total or partial, must take place, if the earth and the moon are both in the same direction from the sun; as in that case, the one body must intercept the rays of the sun from falling on the other. These eclipses vary greatly in extent and duration; but, from the rapid motions of the respective bodies, the shadow of the one soon traverses the disc of the other, no inconvenience is sustained, and nothing has occurred but what furnishes an interesting variety in celestial phenomena, and the means of a more certain and accurate knowledge of the motions of the heavenly orbs. There is one kind of eclipse of peculiar beauty and interest, but it is of rare occurrence, and the opportunity of distinctly observing it is still more rare-the annular eclipse of the sun. This takes place * Appendix. |