useless, and having called a council of war, it was resolved to return to Spain, by sailing round Scotland and Ireland. The fleet was reduced to about eighty sail, many of them much damaged. The Spanish invincible armada then took flight; the English fleet pursued till their ammunition again failed, but what their force could not accomplish, the elements, under the Divine command, effected. A storm came on; but most of the English ships were in harbour, while the armada was fully exposed to the rage of the tempest. Several of the Spanish ships were wrecked on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland, the crews being mostly drowned, or killed by the natives. In September, the poor remains of this numerous and mighty armada returned to Spain; but only fiftythree vessels reached home, and those in a shattered condition. Such was the result of this remarkable expedition, in which we see the hand of Divine Providence again stretched out for the preservation of the English queen and her subjects; for though her fleet, inferior as it was, fought gallantly, yet numbers and combined effort must have prevailed, had not God willed otherwise. The queen ordered this signal defeat to be commemorated, and the cause piously acknowledged, by a medal which bore the impress of a tempest-beaten fleet, with the motto, "Afflavit Deus, et dissipantur;" "God caused the winds to blow, and they were scattered." The sublime strains of the Psalmist, uttered in reference to a deliverance of God's people of old, became literally applicable to the experience of Protestant England. "For, lo, the kings were assembled, As we have heard, so have we seen The king of Scotland showed his wisdom on this occasion, by refusing to unite with the enemies of Elizabeth. He expressed his full conviction of the fate which would be reserved for him, as the utmost favour to be conceded to a Protestant prince by confirmed Papists, namely, that like the promise of Polyphemus to Ulysses, it would only be, that he should be devoured the last. James plainly saw, that the real interests of his subjects as well as his own were indissolubly connected with England. The universal loyalty displayed throughout the English nation on this occasion, speaks in favour of the general policy of Elizabeth's government. A queen, such as Mary's favourers falsely assert her to have been, could not have so commanded the hearts and lives of her people at such a crisis. Elizabeth prepared to take the field herself, and visited her army at Tilbury, under the command of the earl of Leicester, on August 9, before the final dispersion of the armada was known. She appealed to the affection of her subjects, declaring her resolution "to lay down for her God, for her kingdom, and her people, her honour, and her blood in the dust." With the lofty bearing of the Tudors, she addressed the assembled multitudes, and declared that though her person was "that of a weak woman, she had the heart of a king, and a king of England too!" and that she thought it "foul scorn, that Parma, Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of her realm." Popish historians endeavour to narrate the history of this soul-stirring crisis, so as may best serve, in their opinion, to deaden its influence on the hearts of the English nation; but rightly detailed, and duly considered, it speaks irresistibly—it shows how hateful popery was to the nation, and how signally the Lord of hosts interposed to defeat the machinations of the enemies of true religion. If a In the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of Papist will but fairly consider the re our God: God will establish it for ever," Psa. xlviii. 4-8. Would that England had duly thought of the loving-kindness of God in the midst of his temple. The queen, indeed, went in solemn procession to St. Paul's, to express thankfulness for this great deliverance, on a national thanksgiving day appointed for the purpose, and the nation rejoiced at the time: but God's mercies are soon forgotten. sult of the mighty and unremitting efforts made by the leaders of Popery against England, as a Protestant nation, especially during the forty years of Elizabeth's reign, he must confess that the words of the Psalmist are applicable : "If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, When men rose up against us: The stream had gone over our soul: of which tents are made, wool, Lev. xiii. 47-58, and canvass, ib. 48-59, and And ought not the English Protestant leather, are particularized, as exhibiting to respond? "Blessed be THE LORD Who hath NOT given us a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: each peculiar symptoms of the plague; and this being done, it was unnecessary to say any thing of a tent itself; but as the materials of a house were quite dif The snare is broken, and we are escaped," ferent, and the appearances of infection Psa. cxxiv. 6, 7. UNDESIGNED COINCIDENCES OF THE general suitableness of manner, in the different books of the Jewish lawgiver, to the peculiar circumstances in which he was placed, seems to supply a proof of authenticity at once natural and convincing. But there are coincidences of a less obvious nature, more circuitous and indirect, which occur in the statement of particular facts, and deserve to be accurately attended to, as supplying still more decisive characters of truth and authenticity. in it peculiar, this required a particular specification. All this has the appearance of reality, and is exactly the way in which an eye witness would have spoken; but it is such a difference as a writer of fiction would scarcely have thought of. A similar observation may be made, on the manner in which the service of the Levites, in taking care of the tabernacle, is described, Num. iii. and iv. We find the families of the Levites enumerated, the numbers of each, and the heads of them, and which were to be entrusted with the most holy things. If it should be conceived, that all this In delivering rules about the leprosy, may have been inserted in a fictitious it is said, Lev. xiv. 34, "When ye narrative, like the catalogues of Homer be come into the land of Canaan, which and Virgil, to preserve the semblance I give to you for a possession, and I of probability, and compliment existing put the plague of leprosy in a house families, by representing their supposed of the land of your possession, ye shall ancestors in situations of peculiar digdo thus, and thus." I notice this in-nity, yet how can we, on such a prinstance, because that a house is spoken of, not at all with a design to mark the circumstance of their not yet being come into the land of their possession, but is of necessity introduced from the nature of the case. The subject here is the discovery and the purification of leprosy. As to this, particular directions are given with respect to a house, but nothing is said of a tent; whereas, with regard to the impurity contracted by the presence of a dead body, all the directions relate to a tent, and nothing is said of a house, Num. xix. 14; also compare 11 and 21, which prove the rules as to a dead body were of permanent obligation. Now this difference is, by a little attention, easily accounted for; the writer applies the rules about the purification from a dead body to the object then most familiar with him, a tent. And as its lying in a house would produce no effect different from its lying in a tent, and require no difference of purification, he says nothing about a house; but leaves the nature of the thing to suggest the regulation when it should become necessary. Whereas, in detailing the rules for discovering and purifying the leprosy, all the materials | ciple, account for the exact detail which is given, not only of the arrangement of these families round the tabernacle, but the particular parts of that structure, and the particular sacred vessels which each family was to carry on the the march, Num. iii. 25, 26. 31. 35, 36; iv. 15, 20; and still more, the minuter directions given, as to the mode of taking these different parts asunder, protecting them from the injuries of the weather during the march, carrying and setting them up ? How unnatural and irrational would all this appear, in the remote compiler of a general history, who lived long after these marches had ceased, when all such directions were utterly superfluous. Surely we cannot suppose that such particulars as these should proceed from any writer but an eye-witness of the events; nor even from an eye-witness, except he had been engaged as Moses was, in originally directing and constantly superintending these operations. Different circumstances occur in the detail of these directions, which seem to supply more decisive characters of truth and authenticity; because they display coincidences more minute, or more circuitous and indirect. Thus it is mentioned, that Aaron, as high priest, and his family, had charge of the ark of the Lord, and the furniture of the holy of holies; but they were to be carried during the progress of each march, by an inferior family; and the writer remarks, these were not to approach them, until Aaron and his sons had made an end of covering them, at the commencement of the journey, Numb. iv. 15. What forger, or mere compiler, would have thought of such a circumstance? A coincidence still more remarkable on this subject is the following. In the third and fourth chapter of Numbers, the parts of the tabernacle to be carried by each family of the Levites on the march are minutely specified. The fifth and sixth are taken up with a detail of laws entirely unconnected with this subject; the seventh begins with relating, that the different princes of Israel made an offering of six covered wagons and twelve oxen, which Moses employed to carry the tabernacle, and distributed to two families of the Levites, "according to their service," Numb. vii. 5—9; (for the third were to carry the part assigned to them, the furniture of the holy of holies, upon their shoulders;) to one are assigned two, to another four wagons. The reason of this inequality is not specified; but on turning back, we find that the family to which the four wagons are assigned, had been appointed to carry the solid, and therefore heavy parts of the tabernacle, its boards, and bars, and pillars, (compare Numb. vii. 8, with iv. 31,) while that family to which the two wagons are assigned, was appointed to carry the lighter, (compare Ñumb. vii. 7, with iv. 25,) its curtains and coverings, its hangings and cords. Such a coincidence as this is extremely natural, if Moses, who directed this matter, recorded it; but is it not wholly improbable that a forger or compiler should think of detailing such minute particulars at all, or if he did, should detail them in such a manner as this? The more minute and apparently unimportant such coincidences as this are, the more unlikely is it they should arise from any thing but reality. Another coincidence of somewhat a similar nature is the following. In the second chapter of the book of Numbers, the writer describes the division of the twelve tribes into four camps, the number of each tribe, and the total number in each camp. He fixes the position each was to take round the tabernacle, and the order of their march: and he directs, that the tabernacle, with the camp of the Levites, should set forward between the second and third camps, Numb. ii. 17. But in the tenth chapter occurs what seems at first a direct contradiction to this; for it is said, that after the first camp had set forward, Numb. x. 17, "then the tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set forward bearing the tabernacle, and afterwards the second camp, or standard of the children of Reuben." But this apparent contradiction is reconciled a few verses after, when we find, that, though the less sacred parts of the tabernacle, the outside tent and its apparatus, set out between the first and second camp; yet the sanctuary, or holy of holies, with its furniture, the ark and the altar, did not set out till after the second camp, as the direction required. And the reason of the separation is assigned, that those who bore the outside tabernacle might set it up, and thus prepare for the reception of the sanctuary against it came, Numb. x. 21. Would a forger, or compiler, who lived when these marches had wholly ceased, and the Israelites had fixed in the land of their inheritance, have thought of such a circumstance as this? In comparing the direct narrative with the recapitulation in the last book of the Pentateuch, some differences occur well worth noticing. In the eighteenth chapter of Exodus, Moses, with singular impartiality, gives the credit of originating one of the most salutary and important parts of the Jewish civil government to his father-in-law, Jethro ; who, observing the variety and weight of business which oppressed the legislator, from his acting as judge of every private litigation between the people, tells him, "The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice, Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: and let them judge the people at all seasons. If thou shalt do this thing, and God | rity as subordinate judges. Thus the command thee so, then thou shalt be two statements are perfectly consistable to endure, and all this people shall ent: but this is not all; their differalso go to their place in peace. So ence is most natural. In first recording Moses hearkened to the voice of his the event, it was natural Moses should father-in-law, and did all that he had dwell on the first cause which led to said. And Moses chose able men out of it, and pass by the appeal to the people, all Israel, and made them heads over the as a subordinate and less material part people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hun- of the transaction; but in addressing dreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. the people, it was natural to notice the And they judged the people at all seasons; part they themselves had in the selection the hard causes they brought unto Moses, of those judges, in order to conciliate but every small matter they judged them- their regard and obedience. How natuselves," Exod. xviii. 17-19. 21-26: rally also does the pious legislator, in such is the direct narrative. In the very his public address, dwell on every cirbeginning of his address to the people, cumstance which could improve his Moses is represented as alluding to this hearers in piety and virtue! The mulfact, but with this remarkable differ- titude of the people was the cause of ence; that he not only says nothing of the appointment of these judges. How Jethro, but that instead of representing beautifully is this increase of the nation himself as the person who selected these turned to an argument of gratitude to magistrates, he states that he had apGod! How affectionate is the blessing pealed to the people, and desired they with which the pious speaker interrupts should elect them. "I spake unto you the narrative, imploring God that the at that time, saying, I am not able to multitude of his people may increase bear you myself alone: the Lord your a thousand fold! How admirably does God hath multiplied you, and, behold, he take occasion, from mentioning the ye are this day as the stars of heaven judges, to inculcate the eternal prinfor multitude. (The Lord God of your ciples of justice and piety, which should fathers make you a thousand times so control their decisions! How remote many more as ye are, and bless you, as is all this from art, forgery, and imhe hath promised you!) How can I posture! Surely here, if any where, myself alone bear your cumbrance, and we can trace the dictates of nature, your burden, and your strife? Take you truth, and piety. Graves. wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you. -And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it," Deut. i. 9-13. 15-18. There is a great and striking difference between these statements, but there is no contradiction: Jethro suggested to Moses the appointment; he probably, after consulting God, as Jethro intimates, "If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so," referred the matter to the people, and assigned the choice of the individuals to them; the persons thus selected, he admitted to share his autho NOTES ON THE MONTH. By a Naturalist. JULY. WITH light and heat refulgent, July opens upon us. Vegetation is in full luxuriance; myriads of insects are glancing in the sunbeams; butterflies, in rich attire, are fluttering over the fields, or hovering around the blossoms; the bees are all at work, collecting honey from the nectaries of the flowers, in the petals of which they bury themselves to obtain the liquid sweets within. It is amusing to watch these insects thus engaged, to see how they examine flower after flower, how quickly they leave those which have been already robbed; and how eagerly they extract the honey from such as afford a supply in this pursuit, they traverse the fields and gardens, and wander far from their home, returning when their honey bag is filled, and again going forth on the same errand. On light gauze-like wings the dragon-fly is sweeping over the surface of the water from which he has recently emerged, for, like the ephemera, the dragon-fly commences existence as an aquatic larva; and this larva is very remarkable for the mode in which it propels itself along, without the aid of its external members, which are six in number, and which enable it to creep up the stems of aquatic plants in search of prey; but the mode of progression through the water is a sort of swimming. Appended to the posterior extremity of the body are three or five leaflike appendages, and these the creature continually opens and closes, taking into a cavity at their base, which is furnished with strong muscular walls, a certain portion of water, and instantaneously rejecting it with considerable force. By this mechanical contrivance, the animal is propelled along, on the same principle as that by which a rocket rises in the air; and ingenious attempts have been made to apply this mode of propulsion to ships, by means of the force of steam acting on machinery, constructed so as to throw out a continued volume of water at the stern of the vessel, instead of being applied to paddle wheels; but, as in many other cases, art fails in her endeavours to imitate the mechanism of nature. The difference between the larva of the dragon fly (Libellula, order Neuroptera) is so great, that persons unacquainted with entomology would not readily believe the two beings to be identical. This difference is shown in the accompanying sketch, which repre The gnat, (Culer,) of which myriads are dancing in clustered squadrons, at this season of the year, when the coolness of the evening tempts them from their leafy retreats, is also aquatic in its larva state, and abounds in stagnant waters, such as pools, ditches, or large water tubs, and may be easily examined in a watch glass of pure water, by a common magnifying lens. The gnat deposits her eggs in the water, but not singly; her object, so to speak, is to keep them from sinking: at the time of their exclusion, she therefore glues them together, by means of a viscid secretion; and thus joined side to side, their shape being a long oval, they form a little raft, which floats upon the surface. Each egg, at its inferior extremity, or that which is in immediate contact with the water, is constructed so as to form a lid, destined to give exit to the larva, when it leaves this primary habitation. The subjoined is a magnified representation of the egg raft of the gnat. The figure of the larva is very curidownwards, are singularly quick and acous; and its movements, with the head tive. Still, however, air is necessary for its existence; but the question is, how is it to be obtained? On looking at these larvæ in a quiescent state, we find them invariably at the surface of the water, with the head hanging down, and the tail above. Now, on examining one of them, we see it to be organized as in the accompanying magnified sketch. It con |