Blenheim, gained by John, duke of Marlborough 1714 Queen Anne dies, and George the First, of Hanover, ascends the throne of England 423 Henry VI. an infant, crowned 1704 Victory over the French, at king of France, at Paris 440 The art of seal-engraving applied to printing with blocks 1483 The two sons of Edward the Fourth murdered in the Tower, by order of their uncle Richard, who ascended the throne 485 The battle of Bosworth, between Richard III. and Henry VII. 497 The Portuguese first sail to the East Indies 1517 The Reformation begun by Luther 1534 The Reformation begun in England, under Henry VIII. 1588 The destruction of the Spanish Armada 1602 Queen Elizabeth died, and James I. of Scotland, ascended the English throne 1608 The invention of telescopes 1642 Charles I. demanded the five members 1645 The battle of Naseby 1649 King Charles beheaded 11660 The restoration of Charles II. 1666 The great fire of London 1688 The Revolution in England, James II. expelled, and William and Mary crowned 1718 Charles the Twelfth of Swe- 1775 The American war commenced 1789 The revolution in France 1303 War re-commenced between 1805 The victory of Trafalgar, gained 1812 The Burning of Moscow of France,and the Bourbons restored, 1815 Napoleon returned from Elba. The A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE UNIVERSE, WHEN the shades of night have spread their veil over the plains, E the firmament manifests to our view its grandeur and its riches. sparkling points with which it is studded, are so many suns suspended by the Almighty in the immensity of space, for the worlds which roll round them. ... The Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy-work." The royal poet, who expressed himself with such loftiness of sentiment, was not aware that the stars which he contemplated were in reality suns. He anticipated these times; and first sung that majestic hymn, which future and more enlightened ages should chant forth in praise to the Founder of Worlds. The assemblage of these vast bodies is divided into different Systems, the number of which probably surpasses the grains of sand which the sea casts on its shores. Each system has at its centre a star, or sun, which shines by its own native light and round which several orders of opake globes revolve; reflecting with more or less brilliancy the light they borrow from it, and which renders them visible. What an august, what an amazing conception, does this give of the works of the Creator! thousands of thousands of suns, multiplice without end, and ranged all around us at immense distances from each other: attended by ten thousand times ten thousand worlds, all in rapid motion, yet calm, regular, and harmonious, invariably keeping the paths prescribed them; and these worlds, doubtless, peopled with millions of beings, formed for endless progression in perfection and felicity! From what we know of our own system, it may be reasonably concluded that all the rest are with equal wisdom contrived, situated, and provided with accommodations for rational inhabitants. Let us therefore take a survey of the system to which we belong, the only one ac cessible to us; and thence we shall be the better enabled to judge of the nature of the other systems of the universe. Those stars which appear to wander among the heavenly host, are the planets. The primary or principal ones have the sun for the common centre of their periodical revolutions; while the others, or secondary ones, which are called satellites or moons, move round their pri maries, accompanying them in their annual orbits. Our Earth has one satellite or moon, Jupiter four, Saturn seven, and Herschel six. Saturn has, besides, a luminous and beautiful ring, surrounding his body, and detached from it. We know that our solar system consists of twenty-seven planetary bodies, but we are not certain that there are not more. The number known has been considerably augmented since the invention of telescopes; and by more perfect instruments, and more accurate observers, may perhaps be further increased. Modern astronomy has not only thus shown us new planets, but has also to our senses enlarged the boundaries of the solar system. The comets, which, from their fallacious appearance, their tail, their beard, the diversity of their directions, and their sudden appearance and disappearance, were anciently considered as meteors, are found to be a species of planetary bodies: their long tracks are now calculated by astronomers; who can foretel their periodical return, determine their place, and account for their irregularities. Many of these bodies at present revolve round the sun: though the orbits which they trace round him are so extensive, that centuries are necessary for them to complete a single revolution. In short, from modern astronomy we learn that the stars are innumerable; and that the constellations, in which the ancients reckoned but a few, are now known to contain thousands. The heavens, as known to the philosophers Thales and Hipparchus, were very poor, when compared to the state in which they are shewn by later astro nomers. The diameter of the orbit which our earth describes, is more than a hundred and ninety millions of miles; yet this vast extent almost vanishes into nothing, and becomes a mere point, when the astronomer uses it as a measure to ascertain the distance of the fixed stars. What then must be the real bulk of these luminaries, which are perceptible by us at such an enormous distance The sun is about a million times greater than all the earth, and more than five hundred times greater than all the planets taken together; and if the stars are suns, as we have every reason to suppose, they undoubtedly equal or exceed it in size While the planets perform their periodical revolutions round the sun, by which the course of their year is regulated, they turn round their own centres, by which they obtain the alternate succession of day and night. Our earth or globe, which seems so vast in the eyes of the frail beings who inhabit it, and whose diameter is above seven thousand nine hundred and seventy miles, is yet nearly a thousand times smaller than Jupiter, which appears to the naked eye as little more than a shining atom. A rare transparent, and elastic substance, surrounds the earth to a certain height. This substance is the air or atmosphere, the region of the winds: an immense reservoir of vapours, which, when condensed into clouds, either embellish the sky by the variety of their figures and the richness of their colouring; er astonish us by the rolling thunder, or flashes of lightning, that escape from them. Sometimes they melt away; and at other times are condensed into rain or hail, supplying the deficiences of the earth with the superfluity of heaven. The moon, the nearest of all the planets to the earth, is that of which we have the most knowledge. Its globe always presents to us the same face, because it turns round upon its axis in precisely the same space of time in which it revolves round the earth. It has its phases, or gradual and periodical increase and decrease of light, according to its position in respect to the sun, which enlightens it, and the earth, on which it reflects the light that it has received. The face of the moon is divided into bright and dark parts, The former scem to be land, and the latter to resemble our seas. In the luminous spots there have been observed some parts which are brighter than the rest; these project a shadow, the length of which has been measured, and its track ascertained. Such parts are mountains, higher than ours in proportion to the size of the moon: whose tops may be seen gilded by the rays of the sun, at the quadratures of the moon; the light gradually descending to their feet, till they appear entirely bright. Some of these mountains stand by themselves, while in other places there are long chains of them. The - Venus has, like the moon, her phases, spots, and mountains. telescope discovers also spots in Mars and Jupiter. Those in Jupiter form belts and considerable changes have been seen among these; as if of the ocean's overflowing the land, and again leaving it dry by its retreat. Mercury, Saturn, and Herschel, are comparatively but little known: the first, because he is too near the sun; the last two, because they are so remote from it. Lastly; the Sun himself has spots, which seem to move with regularity; and the size of which equals, and very often exceeds, the surface of our globe. Every thing in the universe is systematical; all is combination, affinity, and connexion. From the relations which exist between all parts of the world, and by which they conspire to one general end, results the harmony of the world. The relations which unite all the worlds to one another, constitute the harmony of the universe. The beauty of the world is founded in the harmonious diversity of the beings that compose it; in the number, the extent, and the quality of their effects; and in the sum of happiness that arises from it. THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND ZODIAC. THE Sun revolving on his axis turns, Mark where the Sun, our year completing, shines: Periods, Distances, Sizes, and Molions of the Globes, composing the Solar System. Besides several hundred Comets which revolve round the Sun in fixed, but unascertained periods, and four small planets between Mars and Jupiter, called Asteroids. POETRY. 1. THE BEGGAR's PETITION. PITY the sorrows of a poor old man, Whose trembling steps have borne him to your door, Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span; Oh! give relief, and Heav'n will bless your store. These tatter'd clothes my poverty bespeak, These hoary locks proclaim my lengthen'd years, # Yon house erected on the rising ground, And Grandeur a magnificent abode. Hard is the fate of the infirm and poor! Here, as I crav'd a morsel of their bread, A pamper'd menial drove me from the door, To seek a shelter in an humbler shed, Oh! take me to your hospitable domes; Keen blows the wind, and piercing is the cold: Short is my passage to the friendly tomb; For I am poor, and miserably old. Pity the sorrows of a poor old man, Whose trembling steps have borne him to your door, Whose days are dwindled to the shortest span; Oh! give relief, and Heav'n will bless your store. 2. THE TWENTY-THIRD PSALM. THE Lord my pasture shall prepare, When in the sultry glebe I faint, Though in the paths of death I tread, |