I looked on the peasant's lowly cot,-
Something of sadness had wrapt the spot ;-
But a gleam of thee on its lattice fell,

And it laughed into beauty at that bright spell.

Sunbeam of summer! oh! what is like thee?
Hope of the wilderness, joy of the sea !—
One thing is like thee to mortals given,

The faith touching all things with hues of Heaven!

MRS HEMANS.

PROGNOSTICS OF THE WEATHER.

RED clouds in the west, at sunset, especially when they have a tint of purple, portend fine weather: the reason of which is, that the air, when dry, refracts more red or heat-making rays; and as dry air is not perfectly transparent, they are again reflected in the horizon. A coppery or yellow sunset generally foretels rain: but as an indication of wet weather approaching, nothing is more certain than the halo around the moon, which is produced by the precipitated water; and the larger the circle, the nearer the clouds, and consequently the more ready to fall. The old proverb is often correct :

A rainbow in the morning is the shepherd's warning;
A rainbow at night is the shepherd's delight.

A rainbow can only occur when the clouds containing the rain are opposite to the sun. In the evening the rainbow is in the east, and in the morning in the west; and as our heavy rains in this climate are usually brought by the westerly wind, a rainbow in the west indicates that the bad weather is on the road to us; whereas the rainbow in the east proves that the rain in these clouds is passing from us.

When the swallows fly high, fine weather is to be expected or continued; but when they fly low, and close to the ground, rain is almost surely approaching. This is explained as follows:-Swallows pursue the flies and gnats, and flies and gnats usually delight in warm strata of air; and as warm air is lighter, and usually moister, than cold air, when the warm strata of our air are high,

there is less chance of moisture being thrown down from them by the mixture with cold air; but when the warm and moist air is close to the surface, it is almost certain that, as the cold air flows down into it, a deposition of water will take place.

When sea-gulls assemble on the land, stormy and rainy weather is almost always approaching; the reason of which might be thought to be, that these animals, sensible of a current of air approaching from the ocean, retire to the land to shelter themselves from the storm.

This is not the case, however. The storm is their element;` and the little petrel enjoys the heaviest gale, because, living on the smaller sea-insects, he is sure to find his food in the spray of a heavy wave, and he may be seen flitting above the edge of the highest surge. The reason of this migration of gulls, and other sea-birds, to the land, is their security of finding food; and they may be observed, at this time, feeding greedily on the earthworms and larvæ driven out of the ground by severe floods; and the fish, on which they prey in fine weather on the sea, leave the surface and go deeper in storms. The search after food is the principal cause why animals change their places. The different tribes of the wading birds always migrate when rain is about to take place. The vulture, upon the same principle, follows armies; and there is no doubt that the augury of the ancients was a good deal founded upon the observation of the instinct of birds. There are many superstitions of the vulgar owing to the same source. For anglers, in spring, it

is always unlucky to see single magpies, but two may be always regarded as a favourable omen; and the reason is, that, in cold and stormy weather, one magpie alone leaves the nest in search of food, the other remaining sitting upon the eggs or the young ones; but if two go out together, it is only when the weather is warm and mild, and favourable for fishing. SIR H. DAVY-Salmonia.

SIGNS OF RAIN.

THE hollow winds begin to blow,
The clouds look black, the glass is low;

The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep,
And spiders from their cobwebs creep.
Hark! how the chairs and tables crack;
Old Betty's joints are on the rack;
Loud quack the ducks, the peacocks cry;
The distant hills are looking nigh.
How restless are the snorting swine!
The busy flies disturb the kine;
Low o'er the grass the swallow wings:
The cricket, too, how sharp he sings;
Puss on the hearth, with velvet paws,
Sits, wiping o'er her whiskered jaws.
Through the clear stream the fishes rise,
And nimbly catch the incautious flies;
The frog has changed his yellow nest,
And in a russet coat is drest;
My dog, so altered in his taste,
Quits mutton-bones, on grass to feast;
And see yon rooks, how odd their flight,
They imitate the gliding kite,
And seem precipitate to fall,
As if they felt the piercing ball.-

-Twill surely rain, I see, with sorrow,
Our jaunt must be put off to-morrow.

DR JENNER.

PERSEVERANCE-WILLIAM DAVY.

WILLIAM DAVY was born in 1743, near Chudleigh in Devonshire, where his father resided on a small farm, his own freehold. From a very early age he gave proofs of a mechanical genius, and when only eight years old he cut out with a knife, and put together the parts of a small mill, after the model of one that was then building in the neighbourhood. Being intended for the church, he was placed at the Exeter grammar-school; and here he distinguished himself by his proficiency in classical learning, while he still retained his early attachment to mechanical pursuits. At the age of eighteen he entered at Oxford, where he took the degree of A.B. at the usual time, and it was here that he conceived the idea of compiling his celebrated system of divinity, and began to collect, in a commonplace book, such passages from the best writers as he thought would suit his purpose.

Mr

On leaving college, he was ordained to the curacy of Moreton, in the diocese of Exeter; and not long after, he removed to the adjoining curacy of Lustleigh, with a salary of L.40 a-year. In the year 1786, he published, by subscription, six volumes of sermons, by way of introduction to his intended work; but this proved an unfortunate speculation, many of the subscribers forgetting to pay for their copies, and he remained in consequence indebted to his printer above a hundred pounds. This bad success, however, did not discourage him: he pursued his researches, and completed the work. But when the manuscript was finished, he found that, from its extent, it would cost L.2000 to get it printed. In these circumstances, he again contemplated publication by subscription, and issued his proposals accordingly; but the names he collected were too few to induce any bookseller to risk the expense of an impression of the work. Davy, therefore, resolved to become printer himself; so, having constructed his own press, and purchased from a printer at Exeter a quantity of worn and cast-off types, he commenced operations, having no one to assist him except his female servant, and having of course to perform alternately the offices of compositor and pressman. Yet in this manner did the ingenious and persevering man proceed, until he had printed off forty copies of the first three hundred pages, his press permitting him to do only a single page at a time. Confident that he had now produced so ample a specimen of the work as would be certain to secure for it the general patronage of the learned, he here suspended his labours for a while; and, having forwarded copies to the Royal Society, the universities, certain of the bishops, and the editors of the principal reviews, waited with eager expectation for the notice and assistance which he thought himself sure of receiving from some of these quarters. He waited, however, in vain; the looked-for encouragement came not. although thus a second time disappointed, he was not to be driven from his purpose, but returned with unabated courage to his neglected labours. In one respect, however, he determined to alter his plan. His presents to the learned bodies, &c. had cost him twenty-six of his

Still,

copies; and for the completion of these, so thanklessly received, he resolved that he would give himself no farther trouble, but limit the impression of the remainder of the work, so as merely to complete the fourteen copies which he had reserved, in this way saving both his labour and his paper. And he had at last, after thirteen years of unremitting toil, the gratification of bringing his extraordinary undertaking to a conclusion. The book, when finished, the reader will be astonished to learn, extended to no fewer than twenty-six volumes octavo, of nearly 500 pages each! In a like spirit of independence, he next bound all the fourteen copies with his own hands; after which he proceeded in person to London, and deposited one in each of the public libraries there. We may smile at so preposterous a dedication of the labours of a lifetime as this; but at least the power of extraordinary perseverance was not wanting here. It is true this perseverance might have been more wisely exercised, and the patience, ingenuity, and toil, which were expended on a performance of no great use in itself, bestowed upon something better fitted to benefit both the zealous labourer and his fellow-men. Yet this consideration does not entitle us to refuse our admiration to so rare an example of the unwearied prosecution of an object, in the absence of all those vulgar encouragements which are generally believed and felt to be so indispensable.

Lib. of Entertaining Knowledge.

THE SPANIELS OF THE MONKS OF ST BERNARD. THE Convent of the Great St Bernard is situated near the top of the mountain known by that name, near one of the most dangerous passages of the Alps, between Switzerland and Savoy. In these regions the traveller is often overtaken by the most severe weather, even after days of cloudless beauty, when the glaciers glitter in the sunshine, and the pink flowers of the rhododendron appear as if they were never to be sullied by the tempest. But a

storm suddenly comes on; the roads are rendered impassable by drifts of snow; the avalanches, which are huge loosened masses of snow or ice, are swept into the val