but the murdered man in his coffin, and the father whose heart was bleeding from a wound equally fatal. And had the fairest moonlight softened the surface of things, the soul of John Downing, as he sat beside his lonely hearth, would not have been less black with despair. But if he saw not with his eyes, his ear was not equally deadened. Now that every human being was asleep in the village, and he was secure from all fear of intrusion, the cottage door was once more placed ajar to admit the sweet night air that came sweeping over his beds of flowers; and he sat and listened, as though there were something soothing in the gentle rustling of the leaves, as the long streamers of the variegated grass swept against each other in the flower-plot near the door. It was as a supernatural whisper The pastor, the only person living of sufficient authority to knock and know that the door would be opened, was up at the Hall, with his poor old friend; acquainting him with the proceedings of the inquest, and cheering him with hopes that, now the metropolitan police had got the matter in hand, the murderer must be speedily detected; while Sir Clement, with blue lips and a slight quivering of the cheek, sat with his hand fast locked in that of his companion, listening to details every syllable of which caused his thin blood to curdle. Meanwhile the churchyard of Hartington for once replaced the favourite green as the rendezvousing, the voices of garden-haunting sprites comof the village. Into the deep grave which had muning with each other of their tasks. been digged to receive on the morrow the body of At length, the listening man started up. His the victim, every one chose to look down, as though ear had caught a distant sound, for which, apthe darkness of the pit had more to unfold concern-parently, it had been long on the watch, the ing the dread event than the open light of day; sound of coming footsteps. Yes; he was not misshaking their heads in sad response to the lamen- taken! There were feet upon the sand near the tations of David, the gray-headed sexton, who brook. There were steps in the lane. The garcould not restrain his tears while relating how den-wicket was cautiously opened. The gravel "them poor Downin' boys had used to play about on the path creaked under advancing feet. "He him in the churchyard, a'ter they'd lost their was come at last!" mother; and how little he'd ever thought, in them days, of livin' to make a grave for e'er a one o' their young heads." It was late in the evening. The jackdaws had long deserted their perch on the weathercock creaking on its iron rod above the ivy-covered old tower, before the last of the visiters quitted the spot, friends of either Jack or Luke who had made their way to Hartington at the close of their day's work. One and all, however, had asked leave of their employers to attend the sad ceremony of the morrow. The murder was the great tragedy of the country round: and such a gathering was expected at the funeral, as never had been seen in a: tington. At last, night came on, as dark as if overshadowed by the coming event. When the last straggler, (one of the young Harmans from Norcroft) quitted the churchyard, the dim twilight had given place to a leaden sky. Not so much as a single star twinkled out from the heavens, as a beacon of hope to the mourners. Stealing out into the darkness, with his heart swelling so as almost to suspend his breath, he advanced to meet the person who was coming under the shadow of night. "All's safe, all's well," said he, whispering faintly, though no living soul was near but him he came to welcome. "God bless thee, Luke. God's mercy bless thee, boy! All's well!" He was about to fall on the neck of his son, when the light of the watchlight within gave to view the features of the individual whose arm he was grasping. No! It was not his son! His first movement was to drag the intruder into the cottage, to determine who had thus nefariously taken his place. His next was to recoil with horror, as the movement brought him face to face with one, beheld but once, and yet beheld too often. The stranger of the preceding year! As though his presence there on such a night, at such an hour, were not of sufficiently evil omen, poor Downing staggered back to his chair with the But to them what mattered the gloomy aspect cold dew of anguish rising on his brow, on discernof the sky! ing that a smile of sarcastic triumph brightened the Satanic face of his midnight guest. There is no darkness like the cloud of mind RINGS AND POSIES. (To be continued.) "Ring,-a circle of gold, or some other matter, worn as an ornament."-DR. JOHNSON. "You have chosen a very short text to enlarge upon: I should as soon expect to see a critique on the posy of a ring.” ADDISON. FROM the earliest times, and in all countries, a little hoop of metal has played no insignificant part in the drama of life; and to this day a ring is the epilogue to many a comedy. Rings are mentioned by Moses, the first of historians; and we discover from several passages of Scripture, that at an early period they were in common use by the great. These were chiefly signet-rings, the impres sion of which was equivalent to a sign-manual. Hence they denoted authority and government. Thus, when Pharaoh placed Egypt under the command of Joseph, he gave his ring to the viceroy, and made him ride in the second chariot he had. The ring bestowed on Haman, who had his seat above all the princes that were with him, was taken away by the king, and given to Mordecai. Part of the displeasure excited in the mind of the prodigal's brother, when he came in from the field, by the favours shown to the returned wanderer by his father, might arise from the notion that power in the household had been given to one who had proved himself unworthy of it; for the servants were commanded not only to bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, but to put a ring on his finger. Almost every one, who is not abjectly poor, amongst the modern Egyptians, carries a seal-ring on the little finger of his right hand. It is usually of silver, with an ornamental stone, on which is cut the wearer's name, with words signifying | "the servant of God." The value of the impression is ranked above that of a simple signature by hand. The method of using it is to spread a little ink over the stone, and then to apply it to the proper place on the paper, which has been previously fitted to receive the stamp by being moistened. If the writer is particularly desirous of expressing his humility, the seal is affixed below the signature, but the general custom is to place it in a line with, and on the right of the name. Those amusing stories of our childhood, the Arabian Nights, contain numberless allusions to the Eastern method of using signet-rings; and perhaps our readers may not have forgotten that tale of the lady who took from her pocket a purse, and drew out from this a string, on which were the ninety-eight seal-rings of her different lovers. The Greeks, and most of the Romans, wore their rings on the third finger of the left hand. It has been remarked, however, by Pliny, that in the portraits of the heathen deities, the ring was placed on the finger next the thumb. A passage in Juvenal, shows that the ring was used by the Romans in their marriage ceremonies. Amongst the same people, a gold ring was one of the vestments of a knight, furnished him, like his horse, at the public charge; and the disastrous slaughter of the equestrian order, at the battle of Cannæ, may be estimated from the statement, that the rings gathered from the field by the victor, filled several bushels. Addison records having seen some old Roman rings, "so very thick about, and with such large stones, that it is no wonder a fop should reckon them a little cumbersome in the summer." On the other hand, a ring was sometimes the badge of slavery. For instance, it was customary for the Roman slaves to wear iron rings; and, amongst the Eastern nations, a particular kind of ring was the mark of a person in a state of servitude. We can easily conceive, that as soon as the art of working in metal became known, that love of personal finery, which seems a part of our nature, would employ itself in fashioning annulary ornaments. Eastern ladies still wear, as they wore in the days of the prophets, large rings round their ankles, to which smaller ones are attached, so as to produce a tinkling noise at every motion. In the Deccan almost every woman carries a glass ring on her wrist. The more closely the ring sits, the better is she pleased, because, as it must be passed over the hand, the smallness of that member is thereby proved. In forcing the hoop over it, the skin is very frequently rubbed off, and as the glass is apt to break, these dusky beauties suffer a good deal from their love of admiration. Neither has the thumb been without an ornament of this kind, though, to modern notions, a ring in that situation must have had an awkward appearance. The English formerly wore a metal hoop on the shortest and thickest of the processes of the hand. There was found a few years ago near Knepp Castle, in Sussex, a gold thumb ring, on which was engraved a device representing a doe reposing under a tree, with the motto, Joye sans Fin, cut in the inside. What a satire on human hopes and prophecies! Some love-gift, perhaps. Who was the donor, and where is he that wore it? Both gone, like the joy that was to last for ever. Nieuhoff, in his embassy to China, relates that the old Viceroy, with whom he had an interview, carried an ivory ring on his thumb as an emblem signifying the undaunted courage of the Tartar people. In the marriage ceremonies of Christendom, "the link from earth that reaches heaven," has always found a place. Whether the Christian Church adopted a heathen rite, or made use of the ring, as some are inclined to think, merely as a symbol of the authority wherewith the husband endowed the wife over his worldly goods, seems a matter of little moment; but the taint with which the sacrament of marriage was thought to be infected, in the former supposition, almost induced the Puritans to abolish its use. Butler, in his Hudibras, has a passage alluding to the views of the ascetics on this subject. The fourth finger of the left hand was formerly believed to be selected to carry the badge of espousal ; " presuming therein," says Sir Thomas Browne, in his Latinized diction, 66 a cordial relation that a particular vessel, nerve, or artery, is conferred thereto from the heart; and, therefore, that especially hath the honour to bear our rings." When that curious observance, the wedding of the Doge to the everlasting sea, took place in the palmy days of Venetian prosperity, a ring was thrown into the waters; And when she took unto herself a mate, We The Knight of Norwich, in his list of " Rarities, scarce, or never seen by any man now living," enumerates "a ring found in a fish's belly, taken about Gorro, conceived to be the same wherewith the Duke of Venice had wedded the sea." only know of one other case in which a ring has been found where Jonah had an uncomfortable lodging for three days and three nights. A pike was caught in 1497, near Heilbronn on the Neckar, which being cut open, a copper ring with a Greek inscription dropped out. The inscription was to this effect: "I am that fish which was first of all put into this lake, by the hands of the Governor Frederic II. on the é day of October, a. s. 1." The date we leave for the antiquaries to decipher. The symbolism of the marriage ring has been frequently enlarged upon; but, though the eloquence of Jeremy Taylor was directed to this subject, even he has hardly excelled the following sentence from an old writer: "The form of the ring being circular, that is, round and without end, importeth thus much, that their mutual love and hearty affection should roundly flow from the one to the other as in a circle, and that continually and for ever." The same author would seem to think the ring so consummate a piece of art that it required both a thoughtful designer and a cunning artificer to its perfect construction; the one being Prometheus, the other Tubal Cain! The ring, which forms part of the Episcopal apparatus, was used at a very early period, being deemed a symbol of the spiritual union of the bishop and his church. A ring is employed in the ceremonial of an English coronation; and amongst the treasures which each Pope transmits to his successor in St. Peter's chair, is a signet-ring, called the fisherman's ring, because tradition declares that it belonged to the apostle from whom the pontiffs derive the keys. It was much more the usage, at one time, than it is at present, to distribute rings, in great numbers, on the occasion of any notable event. We are aware of only one instance of the usage exist ing now-a-days, and that is on the appointment of a serjeant-at-law. Rings, with mottos in Latin befitting the grave occupation of the distributor, are presented to her Majesty, the Lord Chancellor, and the judges. A marriage was especially an event of a nature to be commemorated by gifts of rings. Anthony Wood mentions, that Edward Kelly, a man of note in Queen Elizabeth's days, 66 was openly profuse beyond the limits of a sober philosopher, and did give away, in gold-wire rings, at the marriage of one of his maid-servants, to the value of four thousand pounds." At the nuptials of her present majesty, Queen Victoria, some dozens of gold rings were presented to distinguished persons. A profile of the Queen, so small as to require the aid of a lens to perceive the truthfulness of the likeness, with a legend, "Victoria Regina," adorned each ring. Mourning rings were wont to be distributed at funerals; and still a testator who would link himself to his surviving friends for "a little month" after his departure, will bequeath them a ring with a memento mori inscription. From several passages in old writers, it seems it was fashionable for the fops of the time to wear rings with a death's head engraved thereon; but we are unable to learn what gave rise to the custom. Thus in "Greene's Farewell to Folie," "the olde Countesse, spying on the finger of Seignior Cosimo, a ring with a death's head ingraven, circled with this posie, 'Gressus ad vitam,'demanded whether he adored the signet for profit or pleasure." In the Strawberry Hill collection there was one of the seven rings given at the burial of Charles I. It had the King's head in miniature, and a skull in the background, with the letters C. R. The motto was, " Prepared be to follow me." scription on the banner of Constantine the Great, A paltry ring, whose posy was, Upon a knife,-Love me, and leave me not. And Hamlet, when the players deliver themselves of a preface to their tragedy, three lines in length, inquires, Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring? Another example of a spoken posy, may be found in "The Two Noble Kinsmen," where the gaoler's daughter, having gone mad, (in palpable imitation of Ophelia, a fact decisive, to our minds, in disproof of Shakspere's having any thing to do with this fine play,) is thus described : Rings she made Of rushes that grew by, and to them spoke The prettiest posies,-"Thus our true love's tied; This you may lose, not me;" and many a one. It has been suggested, that the word was corrupted from 'Poesy,' meaning a poetical sentence or expression; and perhaps this derivation is correct. It is not so easy, however, to account for the origin of the word, as used in the north of England, where a posy signifies a bunch of flowers. Local dialects afford the student of language much amusing instruction; and the speech of the northern part of England is rich in forgotten words, the relics of ancient tongues. Sterile regions, and mountain fastnesses, repulse, as might be expected, the tide of civilization, whilst it is The word "posy," according to Dr. Johnson, making a gradual progress along more accessible signifies "a motto on a ring;" but this definition tracts; and thus they preserve the manners and is too narrow, the fact being, that any inscription language of their inhabitants from contact with or sentence epitomizing a thought, was termed a alien races to a much later period. Hence, it posy by our forefathers. Thus, the famous in-happens that the remains of old customs, dialects, &c. are more numerous in such places than elsewhere. And thus it occurs that our early writers abound with words and phrases which are orally used to this day in sequestered districts, though they have long ago dropped out of written language. In other words, retired places have tenaciously retained the ancient idiomatic phraseology, when open thoroughfares have readily adopted the changes which much intercourse generates; just as the mountain hollows keep their snow long after the earth's winter covering has disappeared from exposed situations. This word "posy," for example, is used in the sense of a nosegay by several writers; the latest of whom, as far as we know, was Swift. An old poet has this couplet : With store of vermeil roses To deck their bridegroom's posies. In Bishop Hall's sermon of thanksgiving on the departure of the plague, there occurs a passage, which has been erroneously quoted by Mr. Richardson in his valuable Dictionary, as an authority for the use of the word to signify a motto. "And if some infrequent passenger crossed our streets, it was not without his medicated posie at his nose, and his zedoary or angelica in his mouth." Perhaps a bouquet might receive this appellation, from the motto which sometimes accompanied the thread that tied it; a conjecture that seems half countenanced by the names of many flowers, and by a passage in Browne's 66 Britannia's Pastorals." So did the maidens with their various flowers, A dainty border round the shepherd's name. And that the after world should strive in vain To revert from the inscription to the ring itself rings were frequently worn as amulets against disease. A jasper ring is described in the "Archæologia," with a Runish inscription, supposed to have been a charm against the plague; and a gold ring with a similar inscription, in the possession of Lord Aberdeen, is conjectured to have been a talisman against fever. Pegge the antiquary occupies some pages in describing a gold enamelled ring, that belonged to Bishop Athstan, who lived about 823. Amongst the oldest of existing rings, may be mentioned one, inscribed Marta Marie, which is conjectured to have been dedicated as a trophy to Marius, on his conquest of the city Marta in Etruria. Rings of much more modern date have posies of nearly as great obscurity. A large gold ring was found in the Thames a few years ago, upon which were cut a castle, and the words "Un bon an." The inscriptions of others are not quite so unintelligible. A gold ring found in Kent, had this motto, "Qui me portera, exploitera, et a grant joye revendra." A small gold ring found in Yorkshire, was exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries in 1801, which bore the device of two Orpine plants, (the Orpine was a sovereign means of divination in love affairs,) joined by a true love-knot, with a motto above and below. The first one was, Ma fiancé velt, My beloved wills; the second was, Joye l'amour feu. Rings of this kind were doubtless preserved as heir-looms. The reader of Shakspere will recollect that a ring forms an important link in the disagreeable plot of "All's well that ends well." It was an honour "of high respect and rich validity," belonging to the house of the Count de Rousillon, and bequeathed down to him from many ancestors. Amongst some of the early nations, metal rings were used as coin, and in some barbarous countries, at this day, they still form the "circulating medium." Annuli of gold and silver constituted the money of the ancient Egyptians. Hence they were offered as signs of tribute, or given as presents. In the paintings lately discovered on the walls of the royal tombs, near Thebes, (supposed to have been executed five hundred years before Christ,) there are seen figures of persons bringing bags of gold and silver rings to Pharaoh's footstool. In the Irish annals of eight centuries ago, we find the O'Flynns and others presenting weighty rings of precious metal to their most renowned Christian shrines. Julius Cæsar, in describing the possessions of the people of Britain, says that they used gold and iron rings of a regulated weight, for money; and in another passage he states, that the Gauls used similar things for a like purpose. Quantities of gold, silver, and brass rings have been found amongst the Celtic antiquities of Ireland. In the tombs of ancient Etruria, numbers of beautifully worked rings were discovered, though perhaps these last had been personal ornaments. In the Sennaar country on the Nile, at the present time, gold rings are current amongst the merchants; and we are told that during the whole time the market lasts, a government officer sits with scales before him, to weigh them for the people gratis. A particular species of ring was called " gimmal," (gemellus, twin,) from its being formed in two parts fitting each other. A gold ring of this kind was found at Horsley down in 1800. The hoops had one of their sides flat, each being twisted once round, whilst a hand coming from a rich sleeve formed the apex of each division. On bringing the flat sides of the hoops together, they were found to fit exactly, and the hands were seen to grasp a heart placed in the palm of the lower one. The posy was, Usé de Vertu. By a refinement of ingenuity, the gimmal ring was composed of more parts than two. Thus, in Herrick's "Hesperides," Thou sent'st to me a true love-knot; but I Thy love had one knot, mine a triple tie. No doubt the reader's memory will suggest many instances, both in history and in fiction, where a ring has performed services of more or less importance. To give or exchange rings, was a natural act in friends and lovers. Accordingly, we find Ovid, an accomplished master in the amatory art, presenting a ring to his mistress; and one of his minor poems is addressed to the piece of metal that was shortly to go into the presence of his beloved. In lover's fashion he wishes to be the | telling him by its colour when he was doing things happy ring: See how she leans her cheek upon her hand! In "The Two Gentlemen of Verona," we see the fickle Proteus sending to his new love Silvia the ring which he had accepted as a precious boon from Julia. The mutual regard entertained for each other by Petrarch and Boccaccio was such, that we are told both bore the other's likeness on his ring. Was it not a ring that Essex, when in prison, intrusted to a treacherous woman, to use as a means of moving the queen's compassion towards the unfortunate nobleman to whom her majesty had given it in happier days? Had not the Caliph Vathek a faithful monitor in the shape of a stone set in a ring, that served him, like a conscience, THERE is an hour for the bud To burst from the swollen bark : There is an hour for the flood To break from its ice-womb dark : There is an hour for the bird forbidden? We read that in 1813 the heroic women of Prussia gave up their wedding rings in order to supply funds for a patriotic war; and the king distributed iron rings in exchange, with this inscription, "I exchange gold for iron.” As a close to these notes, we shall quote a passage from Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister," which a friend has pointed out as containing an exquisite figure drawn from the subject before us : "Now, however, I was listening to music, which, as it originated in the deepest principles of the most accomplished human beings, was, by suitable and practised organs in harmonious unity, made again to address the deepest and the best principles of man. . . . They were all devotional songs in the Latin language; they sat like jewels in the golden ring of a polished intellectual conversation." LOVE'S SEASONS. From the sunny palms to roam, When its wandering heart is wildly stirr'd With a voice from its northern home : It is the time of Spring! And in the heart there is a budding time, Which longs to burst into its fullest prime, A dawn which promises a summer day Whose genial warmth can never pass away; Love then unfolds his wing. There is an hour for the leaf To put on its darkest green : There is an hour,-why so brief? For the flowers' most vivid sheen. There is an hour for the wood To teem with perfume and song: There is an hour for river and flood To swarm with the finny throng; It is the Summer's bloom! And in the heart there is a time of bliss, die; Love broods then o'er his home. There is an hour for the grass -To sicken beneath the sun : There is an hour when the glass From the summer wave is gone : There is an hour for the leaf To crimple and drop from the tree : There is an hour for the dead-ripe sheaf To be carried from off the lea; Then Autumn chills the sky. And in the heart there is a time of wo, A madd'ning time, the cause of which few know, There is an hour for the tree To stand with a sapless heart: There is an hour for the bee To die 'neath the frost's fell dart : There is an hour for the wreath Of the white snow to bury all: There is an hour for Earth's king, old Death, To cover her face with his pall; When Winter holdeth sway. And in the heart there is a rayless time, When sight, or sound, or action most sublime, SYSTEM OF THE HEAVENS AS REVEALED BY LORD ROSSE'S TELESCOPES.* BY THOMAS DE QUINCEY. SOME years ago, some person or other, [in fact I believe it was myself,] published in this Magazinet a paper from the German of Kant, on a very interesting question, viz., the age of our own little Earth. Those who have never seen that paper, a class of unfortunate people whom I suspect to form rather the majority in our present perverse generation, will be likely to misconceive its object. Kant's purpose was, not to ascertain how many years the Earth had lived a million of years, more or less, made very little difference to him. What he wished to settle was no such barren conundrum. For, had there even been any means of coercing the Earth into an honest answer, on such a delicate point, which the Sicilian canon, Recupero, fancied that there was; but which, in my own opinion, there neither is, nor ought to be, (since a man deserves to be * Thoughts on Some Important Points relating to the System of the World. By J. P. Nichol, LL.D. Professor of Astronomy in the University of Glasgow. William Tait, Edinburgh. 1846. Tait's Magazine, First Series, Vol. IV. p. 165. + Recupero. See Brydone's Travels, some sixty or seventy years ago. The canon, being a beneficed clergyman in the Papal church, was naturally an infidel. He wished exceedingly to refute Meses: and be fancied that he really had done so by means of some collusive assistance from the layers of lava on Mount Etna. But there survives, at this day, very little to remind us of the canon, except an unpleasant guffaw that rises, at times, in solitary valleys of Etna. |