'Another favour I must request is, that Mr. Balmanno will be so good as to send me a proof of these illustrations, as my hand is very bad, and there may be errors both of the pen and of the press. Jocose hæc, as the old Laird of Restalrig writes to the Earl of Gowrie. Farewell, my old tried and dear friend of forty long years. Our enjoyments must now be of a character less vivid than we have shared together, "But still at our lot it were vain to repine, "Youth cannot return, or the days of Lang Syne." Abbotsford, August 2. 'WALTER SCOTT.' LINES. [Written for Time's Telescope by J. H. Wiffen.] us, Tempest to calms, to sunshine show'rs succeed, Left on its topmost bough, erewhile to shoot S Astronomical Occurrences In AUGUST 1828. SOLAR PHENOMENA. THE Sun will enter Virgo at 36 m. after 5 on the morning of the 23d of this month; and he rises and sets, during the same time, as in the following TABLE Of the Sun's Rising and Setting for every fifth Day. August 1st, Sun rises 18 m. after 4. Sets 42 m. past 7 6th 11th 26 35 34 25 TOTT 16th ..... 44 4 7 4 16 7 53 4 7 7 26th 2 5 58 6 ..... 31st 5 21st Equation of Time. To find mean time from apparent, the numbers in the following Table must be added to the latter for the noon of each day it contains; and for the intermediate days, those to be used must be obtained as already directed: TABLE Of the Equation of Time for every fifth Day. m. 5. Friday, August 1st, to the time by the dial add 5 57 Moon's Passage over the Meridian. The most convenient times for observing the Moon's transits during this month, if the weather prove favourable, will be the following: viz. August 1st, at 32 m. past 4 in the morning 2d 3d 4th 22 5 ...... Time of High Water at London, for every fifth Day. In addition to the times stated in the following Table, we must refer to the Occurrences in January for finding those of other days and other places. This planet now is scarcely visible, as her illuminated disk is so extremely narrow; the following being the proportion of the light and dark parts at this time: Eclipses of Jupiter's Satellites. Only two of these eclipses will be visible this month, which are the following: viz. Emersion. First Satellite, 24th day, at 3 m. 33 s. after 8 in the evening Immersion. Second Satellite, 6th ...... 50 m. 47 s. after 8 in the evening Conjunction of the Moon with the Planets and Stars. August 17th, with Jupiter at 5 in the morning 8 in Capricorn 6 23d .... Other Phenomena. Mercury and Mars will both be stationary on the 3d of this month. Mercury will attain his greatest elongation on the 12th, and Venus will be stationary on the 18th. Mercury will be in conjunction with in Cancer at 3 in the morning of the 17th, and again with a in Leo, at 10 in the evening of the 28th. The following Sonnet is admirably descriptive of many of the still evenings of this month: SONNET.-NOCHE SERENA. [By Delta of Blackwood's Magazine] How tranquil is the night! the torrent's roar The Naturalist's Diary For AUGUST 1828. Hark! the ripe and hoary rye, Fitful breezes fluttering pass. C. WEBBE. THE various kinds of grain are generally ripened in this month by the powerful influence of the solar ray; and as every month has its peculiar beauties, so August has its fields of waving corn, its groups of nutbrown reapers, and its cheerful HARVEST-HOME. See our previous volumes for an account of many curious ceremonies at this season.--In the greater part of the country churches in France, an offering is made of the first sheaf of corn that is cut. These first-fruits of the harvest are variously ornamented with ingenious devices in straw; and the sheaf is almost always surmounted by a cross made of the same material. In the department of the Maine and Loire, and even in La Vendée, the following ceremonies are still practised at harvest-home :-In these countries, it must be observed, the whole of the grain is threshed in the open air, immediately it is taken from the field; consequently a great number of labourers are required, that all the sheaves may be threshed, and the grain promptly housed. When a single sheaf only remains, the labourers collect together, and with their flails in one hand, and nosegays in the other, they come to the master, carrying an arm-chair decked with flowers. They announce to him that one sheaf only remains, but it is so heavy |