the name given to this day in missals; as the church now began to advert to the sufferings of Christ. In the north, it is called Carling Sunday, and grey peas, first steeped a night in water, and fried with butter, form the usual repast.

*28. 1818.-PRESIDENT PETION DIED.

From the year 1806, Petion divided the territory of Hayti, in Saint Domingo, with King Christophe. 'He was much and sincerely lamented by the mass of the people, whom he governed with great talents and exemplary propriety.

*29. 1711.-BISHOP KEN DIED,

A man of the most amiable manners, extensive charity, and exemplary piety. He attended the last hours of Charles II, but was prevented from exercising his official duties by the Popish priests who surrounded the dying monarch. He wrote the Evening Hymn.

*31. 1662.-DR. JOHN DONNE DIED,

Dean of St. Paul's, who was a good scholar, a popular satirist, and the wittiest of our English poets. He entered the church at the desire of King James, but was not distinguished as a divine.

Astronomical Occurrences

In MARCH 1819.

THE Sun enters Aries at 34 m. past 10 in the morning of the 21st of this month, and he rises and sets during the same period as in the following

The Sun's Rising and Setting for every fifth Day. March 1st, Sun rises 36 m. after 6. Sets 24 m. past 5

6th,

11th,

6

6

35 - 45

26th,

46

Equation of Time.

The numbers in the following table being added to the time as indicated by a good sun-dial, will give the time that ought to be pointed out by a well regulated clock at the same instant.

Monday, March 1st, to the time by the dial add 12 46

Saturday,

Thursday,

6th, 11th,

Tuesday,

Sunday,

21st,

Friday,

26th,

Wednesday,

31st,

Phases of the Moon.

11 42

10 26

9 2

7 33

6 1

4 29

First Quarter, 3d day, at 31 m. after 8 evening.

Moon's Passage over the Meridian.

The Moon may be seen on the first meridian at the following convenient times for observation during this month, if the weather prove favourable, viz.

Eclipses of Jupiter's Satellites.

It is a remarkable circumstance, that notwith

standing there are no less than twenty-seven immersions of Jupiter's first and second satellites this month, there will not be any of these visible at the Royal Observatory; and therefore we have omitted their insertion in this place.

Other Phenomena.

Mercury will be in his superior conjunction at 2 in the morning of the 18th of this month. Venus will attain her greatest elongation on the 7th. Saturn will be in conjunction at past 7 in the morning of the 12th. The Georgium Sidus will be in quadrature at past 6 in the evening of the 15th, and stationary on the 30th. Mercury and Saturn will be in conjunction with each other at 4 m. after 8 in the morning of the 15th, when Saturn will be 15′ south of Mercury. The Moon will also be in conjunction with ẞ in Taurus, at 48 m. after 12 on the 4th; with Pollux, at 40 m. past 1 in the morning of the 7th; with Spica in Virgo, at 2 m. after 8 in the morning of the 14th; with Antares, at 28 m. past 5 in the evening of the 17th; and with Mercury, at 29 m. past 7 in the evening of the 25th.

On TIME, and its APPLICATION.

As TIME and its Occurrences constitute the subjects of our labours, it was thought proper that these should commence with some observations relative to duration, for which we must refer the reader to the beginning of the first volume of Time's Telescope. As our youthful readers were not then sufficiently acquainted with the scientific principles upon which the measure of time, its divisions and applications depend, these remarks were necessarily such as to present only a very limited and popular view of the subject. But as the 'flux of time' has now enabled us to explain and illustrate these principles, we shall embrace the opportunity afforded by ano

ther renewal of our annual labours, to present a fuller developement of this interesting topic. The nature of this perpetual current, however, that is of time itself, we shall leave to those who are more deeply skilled in the abstruse subtilties of metaphysical investigations, and confine ourselves chiefly to illustrations of its varied relations to the inquiries of man, and its applications to the practical purposes of human life.

t

There is, perhaps, no idea with which the mind is more familiar than that of time, and scarcely any thing which it is more difficult to define. Its intimate connection, however, with our very existence has always rendered a right understanding of this subject of great importance; and hence the interest it has so constantly excited among philosophers of all ages. The following selection will show with what success their attempts at a scientific definition have been attended. On this subject, St. Augustine said, that if not asked what time was, he knew; but if requested to define it, he did not know. Mr. Leibnitz defined time to be an order of successions, as space is an order of coexistences.' Hooke, as we have already stated, denominates time 'the flux of that instant in which the heavenly bodies began their motions.' Some modern speculators in metaphysical subtilties deny its existence altogether, and affirm that time is only a particular modification of eternity; which has no distinct or conceivable existence independent of the subject of which it is an attribute or property. So that, in order to gain a clear conception of the quality, we must first comprehend the subject to which it belongs; or, in plain terms, the finite must comprehend the infinite.

Dr. Young, in his Night Thoughts, has some curious poetical ideas on this subject. He calls time heaven's stranger, and represents its birth as G

coincident with the creation of the world. Thus, in one place, he says,

That memorable hour of wondrous birth,
When the dread Sire, on emanation bent,
And big with nature, rising in his might,

Called forth creation, (for then time was born)
By godhead streaming through a thousand worlds,

In another place, the same author mysteriously says,

From old eternity's mysterious orb

Was time cut off, and cast beneath the skies;
The skies, which watch him in his new abode,
Measuring his motions by revolving spheres ;
That horologe machinery divine.

Hours, days, and months, and years, his children, play
Like numerous wings around him, as he flies;

Or rather, as unequal plumes, they shape

His ample pinions, swift as darted flame,
To gain his goal, to reach his ancient rest,
And join anew eternity his sire.

These things have not been stated for the sake of the information they afford relative to the nature of time, abstractedly considered; but merely as specimens of the insuperable difficulties which obstruct the progress of the human mind when it attempts to pass the bounds which Infinite Wisdom appears to have set to its powers, and to consider what things are in themselves, instead of being satisfied with contemplating them in the relation they bear to one another, and to the other phenomena of nature. Maclaurin, whose mind was at once refined, penetrating, and comprehensive, when treating on this subject, does not attempt to define time as it is in itself, but only to illustrate our conceptions of it. • From the succession of our own ideas (he observes), and from the successive variations of external objects in the course of nature, we easily acquire the ideas of duration and time, and of their measures. We conceive true or absolute time to