Saie, Mary wiffe, how fares thou?

Mar. The bettir sir for yhou,

Why stand yhe thare?

Come nere.

Jos. My bakke fayne wolde I bowe

And aske fo[r]gifnesse nowe,

Wiste I thou wolde me here.

Mar. Forgiffnesse, sir! late be! for shame,

Slike (such) wordis suld all gud women lakke.†

The Towneley play corresponds to this too closely to need quotation; but in the Coventry there is a pretty touch when, in response to Joseph's desire to kiss Mary's "swete fete," she says::

Nay, lett be my fete, not tho (those) ye take,
My mouthe ye may kys i-wys,

And welcome onto me.

A distinctive pageant of this series, based on the Trial of Joseph and Mary, is ushered in by an amusing address citing the persons named to appear before the Buschop:

Bothe John Jurdon, and Geffrey Gyle,
Malkyn Mylkedoke, and fayr Mabyle,
Stevyn Sturdy, and Jak at the Style,
And Sawdyr Sadelere.

Thom Tynkere and Betrys Belle,
Peyrs Potter and Whatt at the Welle,
Symme Smalfeyth and Kate Kelle,

And Bertylmew the Bochere.
Kytt Cakelere and Colett Crane,
Gylle Fetyse and fayr Jane,

Powle Pewterere and Pernel Prane,

And Phelypp the good Flecchere.

Cok Crane and Davy Drydust,

Luce Lyere and Letyce Lytyltrust,

Miles the Myllere and Colle Crakecrust,

Bothe Bette the Bakere, and Robyn Rede.

And, adds the officer, showing that money was collected at the performances:

And loke ye ryngewele in your purs,

Ffor ellys your cawse may spede the wurs,
Thow that ye slynge Goddys curs

Evyn at myn hede, ffast com away.

Bothe Boutyng the Browstere, and Sybyly Slynge,
Megge Merywedyr and Sabyn Sprynge,
Tyffany Twynkelere, ffayle ffor nothynge,
The courte xal be this day.§

*York Mysteries, pp. 110, 111:

Gabriel. The childe that sall be borne of her,
Itt is consayued of the haly gast,

Alle joie and blisse than sall be aftir,

And to al mankynde nowe althir mast (all that is best).
Jesus his name thou calle,

For slike happe sall hym fall

Als thou sall se in haste.

His pepull saff he sall

Of euyllis and angris all

That thei ar nowe enbraste.

Coventry Mysteries, p. 121 :

Angelus. Sche is a ful clene may.

I telle the, God wyl of here be born,

And sche clene mayd as she was beforn,

To save mankynd that is forlorn,

Go chere hyre therfore, I say.

+ York Mysteries, p. 111.

The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, ch. xii (Cowper's ed.), pp. 46-49.

§ Coventry Mysteries, pp. 131, 132.

The charge of unchastity against Joseph, and more especially against Mary, is brought by two slanderers in language of unvarnished plainness, when the Bishop interrupts them and sends for the accused, who deny the charge, and are then severally bidden to submit their innocence or guilt to the test of ordeal by drinking the "botel of God's vengeannes,' "* which would prove them guilty by producing "sum maculacion pleyn on the face."

Joseph drinks, walks round the altar seven times, and establishes his innocence; then when Mary offers to do the like, Primus detractor says jeeringly :

In ffeyth I suppose that this woman slepte
Withowtyn alle coverte, whylle that it dede snowe,
And a flake thereof into hyre mouthe crepte,
And thereof the chylde in hyre wombe doth growe.†

And Secundus detractor, following up the sneer, says :—
Than beware dame, for this is wel i-knowe
Whan it is born, yf that the sunne shyne,
It will turne to watyr ageyn, as I trowe,

Ffor snow onto water dothe evyr more reclyne."

Mary passes through the ordeal without "maculacion," and when the Bishop declares her "clene mayde, both modyr and wyff," Primus detractor charges him with having changed the draught, whereupon the slanderer is compelled to swallow what is left of it, and his sickness thereat is assuaged only through the Virgin's prayer.

RAMBLES WITH A HAMMER. BY W. JEROME HARRISON, F.G.S. HUNSTANTON AND THE RED CHALK.

OUR

UR rambles have hitherto been confined to Wales and to the Midlands. It is now time to give the East coast a turn. The strata which form our little isle slant or "dip" to the east, the older beds passing under the newer in that direction. The result of this arrangement is that the oldest rocks form the surface of Wales, while the newest, latest-formed beds, occupy the shore-line round the mouth of the Thames.

In considering the rocks of any district we must always bear in mind the difference between its solid and its superficial geology. On an ordinary geological map only the former is shown, the stripes of colour indicating the various rocks which there form distinct beds or strata, such as can be followed in layers deep down into the earth. But these, so-called, solid rocks are frequently covered over and concealed by "superficial" beds of clay, sand, &c., often of great thickness, left by the melting of the glaciers or icebergs which invaded England during the last glacial period, perhaps some quarter of a million years ago. In the Eastern counties it is especially necessary to bear this distinction between the "solid" and "superficial" strata in mind, for nowhere else are the latter so well developed. An incipient geologist-say a farmer who is trying to learn something about the soil of his farm-may well be astonished when his geological map shows him the surface of Norfolk as a nearly uniform mass of white chalk; while his experience in digging, well-sinking, &c., tells him of thick beds of clay and sand occupying the same area!

* Cf. Numbers, v. 10-31. The Bitter Water was one of several ordeals in use among the Hebrews, and bears an analogy to the poison ordeals of Africa and the East; it was abandoned by R. Johanan ben Saccai about the time of the Christian era.

Coventry Mysteries, p. 140. The story of a snow-child was popular in the Middle Ages, and a charming variant of it is given in "Naake's Slavonic Fairy Tales," pp. 9-16.

This discrepancy is now being remedied by the publication by the Government Geological Survey of two sets of geological maps for each district; the one showing the deep-seated rocks only, while the other-called the "Drift Maps "-show the exact nature of the rock, be it "solid" or "superficial," which actually forms the surface at any given point. With this preliminary explanation, we will pass on to the special subject of our paper-the rocks of that rising sea-side resort, Hunstanton.

systems, and has grown very rapidly during the last few years. There are two villages-Old Hunstanton and Hunstanton St. Edmund's-divided by a line of chalk cliffs, ninety feet in height. Standing on these chalky heights, we can see Boston Stump (i.e., the tower of Boston Church) across the Wash, to the west, while to the north-west extend the Lincolnshire Wolds, formed of the same white rock as that upon which we stand. It is clear that at some time or other the sea has breached the line of chalk hills, and then hollowed out the estuary, called the Wash, in the softer strata which lie below the chalk. To examine these older rocks, we must descend, and walk westward along the shore.

The dark, hard, gritty rocks, tinged yellow or red by a little iron, which crop out in the beach at Hunstanton, and form the base of the cliff, are sandstones belonging to the Lower Greensand, a subdivision of the Lower Cretaceous or Neocomian formation of geological textbooks. Our map (Fig. 1), which is a reduction of the Geological Survey map, recently prepared by that excellent geologist, Mr. W. Whitaker, F. G.S., shows this Lower Greensand, extending southwards past Snettisham to Dersingham, Sandringham, &c. The pits in which the stone is worked round Snettisham should be carefully examined. The upper division of this sandstone has been hardened by an infiltration of water containing oxide of iron, which has acted as a cement to bind the grains of sand together. This hard, sandy rock is called "Carstone"-perhaps from Quernstone "since its gritty nature would make it suitable for the old handmills or querns once used to grind corn. It rises into picturesque, low, wooded hills between Hunstanton and Sandringham; the presence of a bed of clay just here, between the two divisions of the Greensand is indicated by a vigorous growth of oaks, while firs flourish on the sandy beds above and below. This clay is worked at Heacham brickyard. The "Carstone "-also called "Gingerbreadstone"-is used for building, while the lower, softer sands are shipped for glass-making. The Carstone at the base of Hunstanton cliff contains numerous small pebbles of quartz, &c.; of fossils there are but few, including some rolled ammonites. The total thickness of the Lower Greensand is not much more than 70 feet at Hunstanton, and if we could pierce through it, we should find it underlain by a dark, tenacious clay-the Kimmeridge Clay-which was indeed reached in a deep boring farther east, at Holkham, at a depth of 743 feet. (To be continued.)

VARIATION OF A NEBULA.

THE following appeared in the Times of Saturday

"SIR, A circular, dated September 1, from Lord Crawford's observatory, Dun Echt, is as follows:'Professor Kreuger telegraphs from Kiel at midnight, August 31: Variation in Andromeda nebula found by Dr. Hartwig (of Dorpat), starlike nucleus, please look for it.'

"From an examination of this nebula last night with a six-inch refractor, I can confirm his statement that there is a variation, and that of a most wonderful kind, as I had the great advantage of being able to compare the present aspect directly with a photograph I took last year (August 16).

"The centre of this nebula has hitherto always been noted as a bright condensation of the nebulous matter,

looking as one of the old astronomers said, like a candle in a horn lantern, and so it appears in the photograph. Now it appears as an intensely bright point, entirely different in character and very much more brilliant than before.

"About two minutes of arc from this new bright point there is a faint star many magnitudes less bright; this faint star shows on the photograph as bright, though not so large, as the old central condensation. I have no doubt we have here a case of real change taking place, and that astronomers will watch further developments with intense interest. A. A. COMMON, F.R.S."

"Ealing, Sept. 4.

"SIR,-The sudden appearance of a new star in the heavens is a rare event, which is so full of interest to many of your readers that it deserves to be carefully chronicled.

"On Aug. 31 Dr. Hartwig, of Dorpat, announced the discovery of a variation in the Andromeda nebula presenting the form of a starlike nucleus. Thanks to Lord Crawford's prompt dissemination of such astronomical news by means of the Dun Echt circulars, astronomers were generally informed of the discovery by Sept. 2.

"Last evening (Sept. 3), on examining the Andromeda nebula, the object was found to be conspicuously visible as a star of the eighth or ninth magnitude shining through the densest region of the nebula. It does not at all present the aspect of a nucleus to the nebula, and at present I have not been able to detect any change in the nebula itself. It seems evident, therefore, that the object is one of those enigmatical variable.stars, such as were observed to suddenly blaze forth by Tycho Brahe in Cassiopeia, by Kepler in Serpentarius, and more recently in 1866 by the late Mr. Birmingham in Corona.

"Three sets of photometric comparisons with another star were secured. The small star adopted for a standard was one of the eighth magnitude in the Perseus cluster, and was selected because (1) it was about the same altitude as the new star, (2) observations for several years had shown that its light was not appreciably variable, and (3) because estimations of its magnitude are known, and moreover it is to be identified in the exquisite photograph of this cluster by the MM. Henry, at the Paris Observatory.

"Assuming this star as of 8.1 magnitude (it is probably rather higher), then the three sets of photometric measures, made on the principle of limiting apertures, give for the date 1885, September 3, 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.Nova Stella,' 8-8 magnitude, three observations; 8·7 magnitude, eight observations; 8.7 magnitude, four observations; mean 8.72 magnitude.

"If your readers will look towards the east between nine and ten o'clock in the evening, and rather high up, they will see a small misty spot of light-that is the Andromeda nebula-and on taking an opera glass they will not fail to detect in the middle of this misty spot a small star, which is the new one just started into visibility. To the spectroscope we must look to learn something of the nature of this remarkable outburst.

"EDWARD B. KNOBEL.

"Bocking, near Braintree, Essex, Sept. 4."

THE chairman and directors of the Great Western Railway proceeded through the Severn tunnel in a special train on Saturday fast, accompanied by a number of friends. The tunnel is to be lormally opened by the Prince of Wales some months hence.

FIRST STAR LESSONS.

BY RICHARD A. PROCTOR.

HE constellations included in the twenty-four maps

THE numbered throughout as follows

(the names being omitted on the maps, to clear these as far as possible from all that might render the stargrouping less distinct) :

1. Ursa Minor, the Little Bear (a, the Pole Star). 2. Draco, the Dragon (a, Thuban)

3. Cepheus, King Cepheus. 4. Cassiopeia, the Lady in the Chair.

5. Perseus, the Champion (B, Algol, famous variable). 6. Auriga, the Charioteer (a, Capella)

7. Ursa Major, the Greater Bear (a, ẞ, the Pointers).

8. Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs (a, Cor Caroli). Queen

9. Coma Berenices, Berenice's Hair.

10. Boötes, the Herdsman (a, Arcturus).

11. Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown.

12. Serpens, the Serpent. 13. Hercules, the Kneeler. 14. Lyra, the Lyre (a, Vega). 15. Cygnus, the Swan (a,

Arided; B, Albires).

16. Pegasus, the Winged Horse. 17. Andromeda, the Chained Lady.

18. Triangula, the Triangles. 19. Aries, the Ram.

20. Taurus, the Bull (a, Aldeburan; n, Alcyone, chief Pleiad).

21. Gemini, the Twins (a, Castor; B, Pollux).

27. Aquila, the Eagle (a, Altair). 28. Delphinus, the Dolphin. 29. Aquarius, the Water Carrier. 30. Pisces. the Fishes. 31. Cetus, the Sea Monster (0, Mira, remarkable riable).

32. Eridanus, the River. 33. Orion, the Giant Hunter (a, Betelgeux; ß, Rigel). 34. Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog (a, Procyon).

35. Hydra, the Sea Serpent (a, Alphard).

36. Crater, the Cup (a, Alkes). 37. Corvus, the Crow.

38. Scorpio, the Scorpion (a, Antares).

39. Sagittarius, the Archer. 40. Capricornus, the Sea Goat. 41. Piscis Australis, the Sou thern Fish (a, Fomalhaut).

42. Lepus, the Hare. 43. Columba, the Dove. 44. Canis Major, the Greater Dog (a, Sirius). 45. Argo, the Ship.

FINDING THE WAY AT SEA.

BY RICHARD A. PROCTOR.
(Continued from page 194.)

IT will be clear to the reader, by this time, that the great point in determining the longitude, is to have the true time of Greenwich or some other reference station, in order that by comparing this time with ship time, the longitude east or west of the reference station may be ascertained. Ship time can always be determined by a morning or afternoon observation of the sun, or by observing a known star when towards the east or west, at which time the diurnal motion raises or depresses it most rapidly. The latitude being known, the time of day (any given day) at which the sun or a star should have any particular altitude is known also, and, therefore, conversely, when the altitude of the sun or a star has been noted, the seaman has learned the time of day. But to find Greenwich time is another matter; and without Greenwich time, ship time teaches nothing as to the longitude. How is the voyager at sea or in desert places to know the exact time at Greenwich or some other fixed station? We have seen that chronometers are used for this purpose; and chronometers are now made so marvellously perfect in construction that they can be trusted to show true time within a few seconds, under ordinary conditions. But it must not be overlooked that in long voyages a chronometer, however

perfect its construction, is more liable to get wrong than at a fixed station. That it is continually tossed and shaken is something, but it is not the chief trial to which it is exposed. The great changes of temperature endured when a ship passes from the temperate latitudes across the torrid zone to the temperate zone again, try a chronometer far more severely than any ordinary form of motion. And then it is to be noted that a very insignificant timeerror corresponds to a difference of longitude quite sufficient to occasion a serious error in the ship's estimated position. For this reason and for others, it is desirable to have some means of determining Greenwich time independently of chronometers.

This, in fact, is the famous problem for the solution.

September 17 at 9 o'clock. September 20 at 9 o'clock.

of which such high rewards were offered and have been given. It was to solve this problem that Whiston, the same who fondly imagined Newton was afraid of him,† suggested the use of bombs and mortars; for which

*For the invention of the chronometer Harrison (a Yorkshire carpenter and the son of a carpenter) received twenty thousand pounds. This sum had been offered for a marine chronometer which would stand the test of two voyages of assigned length. Harrison laboured fifty years before he succeeded in meeting the required conditions. † Newton, for excellent reasons, had opposed Whiston's election to the Royal Society. Like most small men, Whiston was eager to secure a distinction which, unless spontaneously offered to him, could have conferred no real honour. Accordingly he was amusingly indignant with Newton for opposing him. "Newton perceived," he wrote, "that I could not do as his other darling friends did, that is,

Hogarth pilloried him in the celebrated madhouse scene of the "Rake's Progress." Of course, Whiston had perceived the essential feature of all methods intended for determining the longitude. Any signal which is recognisable, no matter by eye or ear, or in whatsoever way, at both stations, the reference station and the station whose longitude is required, must necessarily suffice to convey the time of one station to the other. The absurdity of Whiston's scheme lay in the implied supposition that any form of ordnance could propel rocket signals far enough to be seen or heard in mid-ocean. Manifestly the only signals available, when telegraphic communication is impossible, are signals in the celestial spaces; these alone can be discerned simultaneously from widely distant parts of the earth. It has been to such signals, then, that men of science have turned for the required means of determining longitude.

for

Galileo was the first to point out that the satellites of Jupiter supply a series of signals which might serve to determine the longitude. When one of these bodies is eclipsed in Jupiter's shadow, or passes out of sight behind Jupiter's disc, or reappears from eclipse or occultation, the phenomenon is one which can be seen from a whole hemisphere of the earth's surface. It is as truly a signal as the appearance or disappearance of a light in ordinary night-signalling. If it can be calculated beforehand that one of these events will take place at any given hour of Greenwich time, then, from whatever spot the phenomenon is observed, it is known there that the Greenwich hour is that indicated. Theoretically this is a solution of the famous problem; and Galileo, the discoverer of Jupiter's four satellites, thought he had found the means of determining the longitude with great accuracy. Unfortunately these hopes have not been realised. At sea, indeed, except in the calmest weather, it is impossible to observe the phenomenon of Jupiter's satellites, simply because the telescope cannot be directed steadily upon the planet. But even on land Jupiter's satellites afford but imperfect means of guessing at the longitude. For, at present, their motions have not been thoroughly mastered by astronomers, and though the "Nautical Almanac " gives the estimated epochs for the various phenomena of the four satellites, yet, owing to the imperfection of these tables, these epochs are often found to be appreciably in error. There is yet another difficulty. The satellites are not mere points, but being in reality as large as or larger than our moon, they have discs of appreciable though small dimensions. Accordingly they do not vanish or reappear instantaneously, but gradually, the process lasting in reality several seconds (a longer or shorter time according to the particular satellite considered), and the estimated moment of the phenomenon thus comes to depend on the power of the telescope employed, on the skill or the visual powers of the observer, on the condition of the atmosphere, and so on. Accordingly, very little reliance could be placed on such observations as a means for determining the longitude with any considerable degree of exactness.

No other celestial phenomena present themselves except those depending on the moon's motions.*

All

learn of him without contradicting him when I differed in opinion from him he could not in his old age bear such contradiction, and so he was afraid of me the last thirteen years of his life."

* If but one star or a few would periodically (and quite regularly) "go out" for a few moments, the intervals between such vanishings being long enough to ensure that one would not be mistaken in point of time for the next or following one, then it wou à be possible to determine Greenwich or other reference time with great exactness. And here we cannot but recognise an argument against

the planets, as well as the sun and moon, traverse at various rates and in different paths the sphere of the fixed stars. But the moon alone moves with sufficient rapidity to act as a time-indicator for terrestrial voyagers. It is hardly necessary to explain why rapidity of motion is important; but the following illustration may be given for the purpose. The hour-hand of a clock does in reality indicate the minute as well as the hour; yet owing to the slowness of its motion we regard the hour-hand as an unsatisfactory time-indicator, and only consider it as showing what hour is in progress. So with the more slowly-moving celestial bodies. They would serve well enough, at least some among them would, to show the day of the year, if We could only imagine that such information were ever required from celestial bodies. But it would be hopeless to attempt to ascertain the true time with any degree of accuracy from their motions. Now the moon really moves with considerable rapidity among the stars.* She completes the circuit of the celestial sphere in 27 days (a period less than the common lunation), so that in one day she traverses about thirteen degrees, or her own diameter (which is rather more than half a degree) in about an hour. This, astronomi

the singular theory that the stars were intended simply as lights to adorn our heavens and to be of use to mankind. The teleologists who have adopted this strange view can hardly show how the theory is consistent with the fact that quite readily the stars (or a few of them) might have been so contrived as to give man the means of travelling with much more security over the length and breadth of his domain than is at present possible. In this connection I venture to quote a passage in which Sir John Herschel has touched on the usefulness of the stars, in terms which were they not corrected by other and better known passages in his writings, might suggest that he had adopted the theory I have just mentioned:-"The stars," he said, in an address to the Astronomical Society, in 1827, "are landmarks of the universe; and amidst the endless and complicated fluctuations of our system, seem placed by its Creator as guides and records, not merely to elevate our minds by the contemplation of what is vast, but to teach us to direct our actions by reference to what is immutable in His works. It is indeed hardly possible to over-appreciate their value in this point of view. Every well-determined star, from the moment its place is registered, becomes to the astronomer, the geographer, the navigator, the surveyor, a point of departure which can never deceive or fail him,-the same for ever and in all places, of a delicacy so extreme as to be a test for every instrument yet invented by man, yet equally adapted for the most ordinary purposes; as available for regulating a town clock as for conducting a navy to the Indies; as effective for mapping down the intricacies of a petty barony as for adjusting the boundaries of transatlantic empires. When once its place has been thoroughly ascertained, and carefully recorded, the brazen circle with which the useful work was done may moulder, the marble pillar may totter on its base, and the astronomer himself survive only in the gratitude of posterity; but the record remains, and transfuses all its own exactness into every determination which takes it for a groundwork, giving to inferior instruments, nay, even to temporary contrivances, and to the observations of a few weeks or days, all the precision attained originally at the cost of so much time, labour, and expense." It is only necessary as a corrective to the erroneous ideas which might otherwise be suggested by this somewhat highflown passage, to quote the following remarks from the work which represented Sir John Herschel's more matured views, his wellknown "Outlines of Astronomy." "For what purpose are we to suppose such magnificent bodies scattered through the abyss of space? Surely not to illuminate our nights, which an additional moon of the thousandth part of the size of our own world would do much better; nor to sparkle as a pageant void of meaning and reality, and bewilder us among vain conjectures. Useful, it is true, they are to man as points of exact and permanent reference, but be must have studied astronomy to little purpose, who can suppose man to be the only object of his Creator's care; or who does not see in the vast and wonderful apparatus around us, provision for other races of animated beings."

* It was this, doubtless, which led to the distinction recognised in the book of Job, where the moon is described as "walking in brightness."