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Winds, howl not so long and loud; Nor with your vengeance arm the snow; Bear hence each heavy-loaded cloud, And let the twinkling star-beams glow.

THIS

HIS month has frequently a most wintry aspect; the ground is generally covered with snow; the rivers are frozen; and the cold is intense. But February is sometimes characterized by mild weather, as in some recent seasons; this circumstance is thus alluded to by Mason, in a Sonnet on his Birth-Day, Feb. 23:

In the long course of seventy years and one,
Oft have I known on this my natal day,

Hoar frost and sweeping snow prolong their sway,

The wild winds whistle, and the forests groan ;
But now Spring's smile has veil'd stern Winter's
frown;

And now the birds on every budding spray
Chaunt orisons, as to the month of May.

The severe weather usually experienced in February breaks up with a sudden thaw, accompanied by wind and rain; torrents of water pour from the hills, and the snow is completely

dissolved.

Ice breaks from the banks of pools and streams, and floats, a sign of relenting frost and a milder temperature: we pass it by; it swims away with the current, and is lost :

A moment seen, then gone for ever.

In this apparently simple circumstance of ice floating on the water, the great mass of mankind are perhaps little sen2S ATHENEUM voь. 10.

sible is displayed an astonishing instance of the benevolence and foreknowledge of the Deity !-It is almost a general law of nature, that bodies in losing their caloric, or matter of heat, become heavier; but to this law, water is most admirably an exception : passing from fluidity to a state of solidity in ice, it loses its heat, yet becomes lighter! But for this deviation in the order of Divine appointment, the arctic and temperate regions of our globe could not be inhabited by beings constituted as we are. In a hard winter the surface of the water freezes to a depth proportionate to the severity of the season, but a considerable portion of the element retains its fluidity and warmth, which on returning spring, in conjunction with the atmosphere, gives dissolves it. Did ice become heavier out a portion of its heat to the ice, and than water, upon the surface freezing, it would sink to the bottom, and expose again, and sink likewise; and thus a a fresh surface, which would freeze ed until the whole body of the water constant fluid surface would be presentbecame congealed, and all the gulphs, lakes, rivers, and waters of the greater portion of Europe, Asia, and America, would become a dense body of ice, in which nothing could live, and which the suns of no summer could reduce to fluidity: the earth would be chilled, and become a sterile body. From the

little we are permitted to know of creation,and which is measured out to man, from age to age, what wonderful love and omniscience do we find! These bright gleams of wisdom, and peeps into the secrets of divine lore, should render us blind and fatuous creatures, very humble, and very grateful. The common air we breathe, had it been compounded otherwise than it is,would be the destruction, not the support of animal life had it not been transparent and elastic, the senses of seeing and hearing would have been useless to us; and the analogy of reason teaches us to believe every portion of creation filled with the same prescience, aptitude, and mercy. We cannot conceive the joys of a future state, but we can comprehend nothing to be so ecstatic as the free developement and contemplation of Divine wisdom.

Of a clear frosty day' often experienced in February, the following beautiful picture is drawn by the poet :

From sunward rocks the icicle's faint drop,
By lonely river-side, is heard, at times,

To break the silence deep; for now the stream
Is mute, or faintly gurgles far below
Its frozen ceiling silent stands the mill,
The wheel immoveable, and shod with ice.
The babbling rivuiet, at each little slope,
Flows scantily beneath a lucid veil,
And seems a pearly current liquefied;
While, at the shelvy side, in thousand shapes
Fantastical, the frostwork domes uprear
Their tiny fabrics, gorgeously superb
With ornaments beyond the reach of art;
Here vestibules of state, and colonnades ;
There Gothic castles, grottoes, heather fanes,
Rise in review, and quickly disappear;
Or through some fairy palace fancy roves,
And studs, with ruby lamps, the fretted roof;
Or paints with every colour of the bow
Spotless parterres, all freaked with snow-white
flowers,

Flowers that no archetype in Nature own.;
Or spreads the spiky crystals into fields
Of bearded grain, rustling in autumn breeze.
Grahame.

Storms at sea, accompanied by very heavy gales of wind which continue for three or four days, often occur in the month of February.

'Tis Pleasant, by the cheerful hearth to hear of tempests, and the dangers of the deep, Then listen to the perilous tale again, And, with an eager and suspended soul, Woo terror to delight us.-But to hear The roaring of the raging elements ; To know all human skill, all human strength, Avail not ;-to look round, and only see The mountain-wave incumbent with its weight of bursting waters, o'er the reeling barks, This is, indeed, a dread and awful thing! of such an hour, doth never hear the storm Howl round his home, but he remembers it, And thinks upon the suffering mariner!

And pause at times, and feel that we are safe;

And he who hath endured the horror, once,

Southey.

Feb. 15-was anciently the Lupercalia, or Festival of Pan. It was usual first to sacrifice two goats and a dog, and to touch with a bloody knife the foreheads of two illustrious youths, who were always obliged to smile when they were touched. The blood was wiped away with soft wool dipped in milk. After this, the skins of the victims were cut into thongs with which whips were made for the youths, who ran about the streets lashing every one they met. It was celebrated at Rome, notwithstanding its scandalous indecencies, till near 500 years after the birth of Christ, when it was abolished by Pope Gelasus.

Feb. 17-Ferralia, a festival, celebrated by the Romans, in honour of the dead. It continued for eleven days, during which time presents were carried to the graves of the deceased, marriages were forbidden, and the temples of the Gods were shut. It was universally believed that the manes of their departed friends came and hovered over their graves, and feasted upon the provisions that the hand of piety and affection had procured for them. Their punishments in the infernal regions were also suspended, and during that time they enjoyed rest and liberty. Ovid thus describes the ceremonies in his Fasti :

Upon a tile a slender offering's made,
On which some scattered corn and salt is laid ;
Bread dipt in wine, and violets strew'd around,
Which leave upon the consecrated ground;

* What is here called consecrated ground, in the original is Mediâ viâ; because anciently graves were made, and monuments to the memory of the dead were erected, by the side of the highways; which was a good method of putting the living, as they passed by, in remembrance of their mortality.

Let them that will, add better things than these,
But such will the departed ghosts appease,
And when on altars fires begin to blaze,
Let all your voices join in prayer and praise.

Feb. 21-Tacita, Muta, or Lala, the goddess who presided over silence, among the Romans, had this particular day appointed for her festival; and, if the various enchantments described by Ovid, would deliver us from slanderous tongues,' 'malicious lies,' and the tattle baskets** of our day, we would be among the first to vote for the revival of this singular feast. The ceremonies are thus noted in the Fasti :

To Tacita the silent rites belong,

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And yet the chatterer cannot hold her tongue;
Three grains of incense, with three fingers pressed,
Beneath the threshold of the door are placed ;
And then, three thrums to a black reel she ties,
With magic words, the thrums of diff'rent dyes ;
While seven black beans she mumbles in her mouth,
A pilchard's head she sews up in a cloth ;
A slender needle made of polished brass,
With pitch instead of wax, completes the case ;
The case and head into the fire are thrown,
And then some wine is gently poured thereon ;
What wine remains the comp'ny drink with care,
But the old gossip topes the greatest share;
Now have I tied all sland'rous tongues she cries,
Now are we safe from all malicious lies;
And having said her tittle-tattle say,
With tipsy steps, she tottering reels away.

Feb. 22-Charistia, an ancient pagan feast well worth reviving in Christian times. It was celebrated with the intention of reconciling friends and relations: the head of the family then hospitably entertained all those to whom he was related or connected, and, by the benevolent distribution of mutual presents, it was hoped that all animosities would cease!

Fly far from hence, you who polluted are,
Nor at this holy festival appear ;

Let mothers who have used their children ill,
And brothers, who a brother's blood would spill;
Let those who pry into their parents' age,
And wish their exit from the mundane stage,
Let stepdames who their husbands' children chase
From home, and force 'em to destructive ways,
Let none of these the friendly feast disgrace;
Or those, who for the sake of sordid gain
Will not from stealth or sacrilege refrain;
Far, far from hence, your feet unhallowed take,
Nor the sweet peace of this assembly break;
Here piously paternal gods adore,

To day sweet Concord has the ruling power.

Ovid's Fasti.

In continuation of the remarks on the phenomena of northern climates, to be found in our preceding volumes, we now add some interesting extracts relative to Lapland, from Dr. Clarke's recent volume of Travels in that country.

The ice-blink rears its undulated head,
On which the sun, beyond th' horizon shrined,
Hath left his richest garniture behind;
Piled on a hundred arches, ridge by ridge,
O'er fixed and fluid, strides the Alpine bridge;
Whose blocks of sapphire seem to mortal eye
Hewn from cerulean quarries of the sky;
With glacier battlements, that crowd the spheres,
The slow creation of six thousand years,
Amidst immensity it towers sublime,
Winter's eternal palace, built by Time:
All human by his touch are borne

O'er rocks, seas, islands, promontories spread,

Down to the dust;-mountains themselves are worn
With his light footsteps: but here forever grows,
Amid the region of unmelting snows,
A monument,-where every flake that falls
Gives adamantine firmness to the walls;
The sun beholds no mirror in his race
That shows a brighter image of his face;
The stars, in their nocturnal vigils, rest
Like signal fires on its illumined crest;
The gliding moon around the ramparts wheels,
And all its magic lights and shades reveals ;
Beneath, the tide with idle fury raves
To undermine it through a thousand waves ;
Rent from its roof, though thousand fragments oft
Plunge to the gulph, immoveable aloft;
From age to age, in air, o'er sea, on land,
Its turrets heighten and its piers expand.

Montgomery's Icebergs of Greenland. At Enontekis in Lapland, during the minister informed Dr. Clarke, that he space of three weeks in every year, the is able to light his pipe by the Sun at midnight with a common burning glass; and, when clouds do not intervene, he may continue this practice for a longer time: but the atmosphere becomes clouded as the season advances. From the church, near his house, it is visible above the horizon at midnight during seven weeks in each year; but the pleasure of this long day is dearly purchased by an almost uninterrupted night for the rest of the year; a continual winter, in which it is difficult to dispense with the use of candles during the space of three hours in each day.

The climate of Lapland, although extremely frigid, is not unwholesome. The coldest summer was that of 1790, when not a sheaf of barley or any kind of grain was harvested: even in the

Lara, afterwards Lala, from the Greek verb aaw, to talk much, to babble.

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August of that year, the old snow remained unmelted, and, in the same month fresh snow began to fall. The annual depth of snow varies from 3 to 4 feet English. According to an average formed upon eight years observation, either rain or snow falls every 3 or 4 days throughout the year. The clouds, especially in autumn, are very tempestuous. The appearance exhibited by the Aurora Borealis is beyond description magnificent; it serves to illuminate their dark skies in the long night of winter, but, what is most remarkable, this phenomenon is not confined to the Northern hemisphere, but that its appearance to the South of the Zenith is no unccmon circumstance.†

A LAPLAND CALENDAR. January.-The most intense cold took place between the 3d and the 7th. The greatest depth of snow, 14 of a Swedish ell.

February.-Snow falling, with violent wind, from the 9th to the 13th. March.-Extreme cold from the 8th to the 13th.

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May. The partridge (charadrius apricarius Linn.) and the motacilla (ananthe Linn.) appeared on the 5th. The season for travelling in sledges ended on the 8th. The rivulets began to flow on the 9th. First rain appeared on the 11th; and at the same time the lumme (colymbus lumme) made its appearance. The ice began to break up on the 14th. Swallows appeared on the 15th. The ice disappeared on the 17th; the spring floods in the rivers then at their height. Upon the 18th sowing began, the plains beginning to look green. The last snow fell on the 19th. Upon the 23d, planted potatoes. Cuckoo heard on the 25th; and perch began to spawn. Birch leaves began to appear on the 27th, and the plains to exhibit an uniform

green colour. The last spring frost happened on the night of the 30th.

June. The earth white with snow on the 4th. Pasturage commenced in the forests on the 7th. Snow and heavy hail on the 13th. The first summer First thunder on heat on the 16th.

the 18th; at this time sowed the kitchen garden. Mosquitos in vast numbers Inundations from the on the 22d. highest mountains on the 26th; at this time the leaves of the potatoe-plants perished with cold.

July.-First ear of barley on the 26th. Hay-making began on the 30th. The first star visible on the 31st, denoting the re-approach of night.

August. First frosty night towards the 17th. Harvest began on the 20th. Birch-leaves begin to turn yellow on the 23d.

6th.

September.-Hard frost towards the Swallows disappear on the 11th. Ground frozen, and ice upon the banks on the 12th. First snow fell on the 21st,and remained upon the mountains. Cattle housed on the 24th. Lakes frozen on the 26th.

October.-The river frozen on the

6th. Upon the 9th, not a rook to be seen. The earth again bare on the 22d; and the ice not firm on the 26th. Durable frost and snow on the 27th.

November.-Upon the 19th, travelling in sledges commenced.

December.-The greatest degree of cold from the 16th to 22d inclusive. The depth of the snow now equalled 1 Swedish ell and 18 inches.

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† Lieut. Chapell, in his Voyage to Hudson's Bay, says, the Aurora Borealis in the Zenith resembled, as to its shape, an umbrella, pouring down streams of light from all parts of its periphery, which fell vertically over the hemisphere in every direction.

Voyages and Travels.

Literary Gazette.

BUCKINGHAM'S TRAVELS IN PALESTINE.

ON the 11th of January, 1816, the travellers left Acre for Nazareth, where they arrived after a journey of about nine hours. From the mountain above this town, they had a view of Mount Carmel and the Bay of Accho. "The hill (says Mr. Buckingham) was so steep and rugged, that we were obliged to descend it on foot; and if it were the precipice from which the men of Nazareth threatened to cast down our Saviour headlong, as related by St. Luke, it was a station well adapted for the execution of such a deed of death." The fixed inhabitants of Nazareth are estimated at about two thousand, five hundred of whom are Catholic Christians, about three hundred Maronites, and two hundred Mahomedans, the rest being schismatic Greeks.

"The church of Nazareth (observes Mr. Buckingham) is built over a grotto, held sacred from a belief of its being the scene of the Angel's announcing to Mary her favour with God, and her conception and bearing of the Saviour. On entering it, we passed over a white marble pavement, ornamented in the centre with a device in Mosaic; and descended by a flight of marble steps into a grotto beneath the body of the church. In the first compartment of this subterraneous sanctuary, we were told had stood the mass which constitutes the famous chapel of Loretto, in Italy, and the Friars assured us, with all proper solemnity, that the angels appointed to the task, took out this mass from the rock, and flew with it, first to Dalmatia, and afterwards to Loretto, where it now stands; and that, on measuring the mass itself, and the place from which it had been taken, they had been found to correspond in every respect, neither the one by the voyage, nor the other by age, having lost or altered any part of their size or shape.

"Proceeding farther in, we were shown a second grotto, or a continuation of the first, with two red granite pillars, of about two feet diameter at

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its entrance; and we were told, that one marked the spot where the Virgin rested, and the other where the Angel stood when he appeared to Mary, exclaiming, Hail thou, that art highly favoured! the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.' The pillar on the right is still perfect, but that on the left has a piece of its shaft broken out, leaving a space of about a foot and a half between the upper and under fragment. The latter of these continuing still to be supported by being firmly embedded in the rock above, offers to the eyes of believing visitors, according to the expression of the friars, A standing miracle of the care which Christ takes of his Church,' as they insist upon its being supported by the hand of God alone.

"The grotto here, though small,and about eight feet in height, remains still in its original roughness, the roof being slightly arched. In the outer compartment, from whence the chapel. of Loretto is said to have been taken, the roof as well as the sides have been reshaped, and plastered and ornamented; so that the original dimensions no longer remain ; within, however, all is left in its first rude state, to perpetuate, to future ages, the interesting fact which it is thought to record.

"Passing onward from hence, and ascending through narrow passages, over steps cut out of the rock, and turning a little to the right, we came to a chamber which the friars called 'La cucina della Santa Madona.' They here showed us the chimney of the hearth on which Mary warmed the food of Jesus while yet an infant, and where she baked the cakes for her husband's supper when he returned from the labours of the day. This was an apartment of the house, as they observed, in which the Son of God lived so many years in subjection to man; as it is believed by all, that he was brought up from childhood to manhood in Nazareth.

"The fact of Joseph and Mary hav

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