ascension. The gospel and traditions published under his name are considered spurious. *26. 1797.-CASH PAYMENTS PROHIBITED. *27. 1705.-JOHN EVELYN DIED, ÆT. 85, Author of the Sylva; or, a Discourse of Forest Trees, and of the most interesting piece of autobiography, ever laid before the public. The greater part of the woods which have been raised in consequence of Evelyn's writings, have been cut down: the oaks have borne the British flag to seas and countries which were undiscovered when they were planted, and generation after generation has been coffined in the elms. The trees of his age, which may yet be standing, are verging fast toward their decay and dissolution: but his name is fresh in the land, and his reputation, like the trees of an Indian Paradise, exists and will continue to exist in full strength and beauty, uninjured by the course of time. Thrones fall and dynasties are changed: Empires decay and sink Beneath their own unwieldy weight; Dominion passeth like a cloud away. The imperishable mind Survives all meaner things. No change of fashion, no alteration of taste, no revolutions of science have impaired or can impair his celebrity. Satire, from which nothing is sacred, scarcely attempted to touch him while living; and the acrimony of political and religious hatred, though it spares not even the dead, has never assailed his memory. How then has he attained this enviable inheritance of fame? Not by surpassing genius; not by pre-eminent powers of mind; not by any great action, nor by any splendid accident of fortune, but by his virtue and his wisdom; by the proper use of his talents, and of the means which God had entrusted into his hands; by his principles and his PRACTICE The Abbé Boileau, in that far-fetched strain of flattery for which the French are remarkable, pro posed once to the Academy, that the word bonheur should be proscribed from all panegyrics upon Louis XIV, parceque son bonheur étoit son propre ouvrage, son application au travail, son génie qui prévoit tout, qui pourvoit à tout, &c.: it was disparaging a prince, he said, whose success was owing to himself, to speak of his good fortune. More truly might this be said of EVELYN. The circumstances in which he was placed were all fortunate; but how many men in every generation are placed in circumstances equally propitious and with equal talents, who yet for want of the same prudence and the same principles have gone through the world without being either useful to others or happy in themselves, with no other respectability than mere wealth, and talents unemployed or misemployed could command; and sometimes perverting both, so as to be the pests, the fire-brands, and the disgrace of their country! And this has happened even to men who have set out in life with generous feelings and good intentions; for evil principles end in corrupting both, and like diseased and putrid humours carry with them the curse of assimilating to their own nature the subject into which they are introduced. The youth who looks forward to an inheritance which he is under no temptation to increase, will do well to bear the example of Evelyn in his mind, as containing nothing but what is imitable and nothing but what is good. All persons, indeed, may find in his character something for imitation; but for an English gentleman he is the perfect model. Neither to solicit public offices, nor to shun them, but when they are conferred to execute their duties diligently, conscientiously and fearlessly; to have no amusements but such as being laudable, as well as innocent, are healthful alike for the mind and for the body, and in which, while the passing hour is beguiled, a store of delightful recollection is laid up; to be the liberal encourager of literature and the arts; to seek for true and permanent enjoyment by the practice of the household virtues, the only course by which it can be found; to enlarge the sphere of existence backward by means of learning through all time, and forward by means of faith through all eternity; behold the fair ideal of human happiness! And this was realized in the life of Evelyn.' *27. 1802.-TREATY OF AMIENS. Astronomical Occurrences In FEBRUARY 1820. THE Sun enters Pisces at 8 m. past 4 in the afternoon of the 19th; and he rises and sets during the present month as stated in the following TABLE Of the Sun's Rising and Setting for every fifth Day. 1st, Sun rises 28 m. after 7 Sets 32 m. after 4 February 6th, 11th, Equation of Time. The apparent time as indicated by a good sun-dial, or observed by the Sun's passage over the meridian, must be reduced to mean time when required, by adding the numbers in the following table to apparent time, viz. "See the very curious and truly delightful " Memoirs, &c. of John Evelyn, 4to, 2 vols.” and an able analysis of this work in the Quarterly Review, vol. xix, pp. 1-54. Phases of the Moon. Last Quarter 7th day, at 14 m. after 7 morning. New Moon 14th, 29th, · Moon's Passage over the Meridian. The Moon's centre will pass the meridian of the Royal Observatory at the following times, which will consequently afford good opportunities for observing her in this position, if the weather prove favourable: viz. February 6th, at 42 m. after in the morning. 7th, 29 5 Phases of Venus. Though the illuminated phase of this beautiful planet is now decreasing, she still appears with a large and full orb; as on February 1st {Enlightened part 10-6706 = 1.3294 Dark part The eclipses of Jupiter's satellites are not visible this month, on account of his nearness to the Sun, which causes the feeble rays transmitted by these small bodies to be eclipsed by the refulgence of the solar light. Other Phenomena. Mercury will be in his superior conjunction at 3 in the morning of the 29th of this month: Jupiter will also be in conjunction at past 11 on the morn ing of the 19th. Mercury and Jupiter will also be in conjunction at 59 m. after midnight of the 24th, when Mercury will be 70′ south of Jupiter. Mercury will likewise be stationary on the 25th. The Moon will be in conjunction with a in Virgo at 58 m. past 6 in the morning of the 5th; with Antares at 55 m. after 8 in the evening of the 8th; with Venus at 35 m. after in the morning of the 16th; with Saturn at 23 m. past 10 on the same day; with ẞ in Taurus, at B 53 m. after 9 in the morning of the 22d; with Mars at 2 m. after 2 in the afternoon of the 24th; and with in Leo, at 23 m. past midnight on the 27th. The Moon will also be in perigee on the 14th, and in apogee on the 27th. a REMARKS on the BISSEXTILE, or LEAP YEAR. The ancient chronologists reckoned 365 days to a year. But when astronomy began to deserve the name of a science, astronomers discovered that the length of the solar year, or the interval which the Sun required to move through the 12 signs of the ecliptic, was nearly 365 days 6 hours. At that time Julius Cæsar, who was the chief augur among the Romans, ordered that a day should be added to the usual number every fourth year, and that this additional day should be the sixth day of the Calends of March; and the chronological account, thus established, was called the Julian account, in honour of its founder. Here it may be proper to observe, for the information of some of our youthful readers, that the Romans divided the several months of the year into Calends, Ides, and Nones; and that their mode of reckoning was retrograde from the first day of the month. The 1st of March, for instance, was the first Calend of that month; the 28th of February was the second Calend of March; so the 24th of February was the sixth Calend of the same month. The sixth Calend of March, therefore, in every fourth year, according to the Julian account, was reckoned twice over; hence that day was called |