The Illustrated London Reading Book Part 31

THE RAINBOW.

How glorious is thy girdle cast O'er mountain, tower, and town, Or mirror'd in the ocean vast-- A thousand fathoms down!

As fresh in yon horizon dark, As young thy beauties seem, As when the eagle from the ark First sported in thy beam.

For faithful to its sacred page, Heaven still rebuilds thy span, Nor let the type grow pale with age, That first spoke peace to man.

CAMPBELL.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A LUNAR RAINBOW.]

The moon sometimes exhibits the extraordinary phenomenon of an iris or rainbow, by the refraction of her rays in drops of rain during the night-time. This appearance is said to occur only at the time of full moon, and to be indicative of stormy and rainy weather. One is described in the _Philosophical Transactions_ as having been seen in 1810, during a thick rain; but, subsequent to that time, the same person gives an account of one which perhaps was the most extraordinary of which we have any record. It became visible about nine o'clock, and continued, though with very different degrees of brilliancy, until past two. At first, though a strongly marked bow, it was without colour, but afterwards became extremely vivid, the red, green, and purple being the most strongly marked. About twelve it was the most splendid in appearance.

The wind was very high at the time, and a drizzling rain falling occasionally.

HOPE

[Ill.u.s.tration: THOMAS CAMPBELL, "THE BARD OF HOPE."]

At summer eve, when Heaven's ethereal bow Spans with bright arch the glittering hills below, Why to yon mountain turns the musing eye, Whose sunbright summit mingles with the sky?

Why do those cliffs of shadowy tint appear More sweet than all the landscape smiling near?

'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, And robes the mountain in its azure hue.

Thus, with delight, we linger to survey, The promised joys of life's unmeasured way; Thus from afar each dim-discovered scene More pleasing seems than all the past hath been; And every form that fancy can repair From dark oblivion, glows divinely there.

Auspicious Hope! in thy sweet garden, grow Wreaths for each toil, a charm for every woe.

Won by their sweets, in nature's languid hour, The way-worn pilgrim seeks thy summer bower; Then, as the wild bee murmurs on the wing, What peaceful dreams thy handmaid spirits bring!

What viewless forms th' Eolian organ play, And sweep the furrow'd lines of anxious care away!

Angel of life! thy glittering wings explore Earth's loneliest bounds and ocean's wildest sh.o.r.e.

Lo! to the wintry winds the pilot yields His bark, careering o'er unfathom'd fields; Now on Atlantic waves he rides afar Where Andes, giant of the western star, With meteor-standard to the winds unfurl'd, Looks from his throne of clouds o'er half the world.

Poor child of danger, nursling of the storm, Sad are the woes that wreck thy manly form!

Rocks, waves, and winds the shatter'd bark delay-- Thy heart is sad, thy home is far away.

But Hope can here her moonlight vigils keep, And sing to charm the spirit of the deep.

Swift as yon streamer lights the starry pole, Her visions warm the watchman's pensive soul.

His native hills that rise in happier climes; The grot that heard his song of other times; His cottage home, his bark of slender sail, His gla.s.sy lake, and broomwood-blossom'd vale, Rush in his thought; he sweeps before the wind, And treads the sh.o.r.e he sigh'd to leave behind!

_Pleasures of Hope._

LIGHTHOUSES.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Letter H.]

Hartlepool Lighthouse is a handsome structure of white freestone--the building itself being fifty feet in height; but, owing to the additional height of the cliff, the light is exhibited at an elevation of nearly eighty-five feet above high-water mark. On the eastern side of the building is placed a balcony, supporting a lantern, from which a small red light is exhibited, to indicate that state of the tide which will admit of the entrance of s.h.i.+ps into the harbour; the corresponding signal in the daytime being a red ball hoisted to the top of the flag-staff. The lighthouse is furnished with an anemometer and tidal gauge; and its appointments are altogether of the most complete description. It is chiefly, however, with regard to the system adopted in the lighting arrangements that novelty presents itself.

The main object, in the instance of a light placed as a beacon to warn mariners of their proximity to a dangerous coast, is to obtain the greatest possible intensity and amount of penetrating power. A naked or simple light is therefore seldom, if ever employed; but whether it proceed from the combustion of oil or gas, it is equally necessary that it should be combined with some arrangement of optical apparatus, in order that the rays emitted may be collected, and projected in such a direction as to render them available to the object in view; and in all cases a highly-polished metal surface is employed as a reflector.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HARTLEPOOL LIGHTHOUSE.]

In the Hartlepool Lighthouse the illuminative medium is _gas_. The optical apparatus embraces three-fourths of the circ.u.mference of the circle which encloses the light, and the whole of the rays emanating from that part of the light opposed to the optical arrangement are reflected or refracted (as the case may be), so that they are projected from the lighthouse in such a direction as to be visible from the surface of the ocean.

INTEGRITY.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Letter C.]

Can anything (says Plato) be more delightful than the hearing or the speaking of truth? For this reason it is that there is no conversation so agreeable that of a man of integrity, who hears without any intention to betray, and speaks without any intention to deceive. As an advocate was pleading the cause of his client in Rome, before one of the praetors, he could only produce a single witness in a point where the law required the testimony of two persons; upon which the advocate insisted on the integrity of the person whom he had produced, but the praetor told him that where the law required two witnesses he would not accept of one, though it were Cato himself. Such a speech, from a person who sat at the head of a court of justice, while Cato was still living, shows us, more than a thousand examples, the high reputation this great man had gained among his contemporaries on account of his sincerity.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

2. As I was sitting (says an ancient writer) with some senators of Bruges, before the gate of the Senate-House, a certain beggar presented himself to us, and with sighs and tears, and many lamentable gestures, expressed to us his miserable poverty, and asked our alms, telling us at the same time, that he had about him a private maim and a secret mischief, which very shame restrained him from discovering to the eyes of men. We all pitying the case of the poor man, gave him each of us something, and departed. One, however, amongst us took an opportunity to send his servant after him, with orders to inquire of him what that private infirmity might be which he found such cause to be ashamed of, and was so loth to discover. The servant overtook him, and delivered his commission: and after having diligently viewed his face, breast, arms, legs, and finding all his limbs in apparent soundness, "Why, friend,"

said he, "I see nothing whereof you have any such reason to complain."

"Alas! sir," said the beggar, "the disease which afflicts me is far different from what you conceive, and is such as you cannot discern; yet it is an evil which hath crept over my whole body: it has pa.s.sed through my very veins and marrow in such a manner that there is no member of my body that is able to work for my daily bread. This disease is by some called idleness, and by others sloth." The servant, hearing this singular apology, left him in great anger, and returned to his master with the above account; but before the company could send again to make further inquiry after him, the beggar had very prudently withdrawn himself.

3. Action, we are a.s.sured, keeps the soul in constant health; but idleness corrupts and rusts the mind; for a man of great abilities may by negligence and idleness become so mean and despicable as to be an inc.u.mbrance to society and a burthen to himself. When the Roman historians described an extraordinary man, it generally entered into his character, as an essential, that he was _incredibili industria, diligentia singulari_--of incredible industry, of singular diligence and application. And Cato, in Sall.u.s.t, informs the Senate, that it was not so much the arms as the industry of their ancestors, which advanced the grandeur of Rome, and made her mistress of the world.

DR. DODD.

RAFT OF GAMBIER ISLANDERS

The group in the Pacific Ocean called the Gambier Islands are but thinly inhabited, but possess a good harbour. Captain Beechey, in his "Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Behring's Straits," tells us that several of the islands, especially the largest, have a fertile appearance. The Captain gives an interesting account of his interview with some of the natives, who approached the s.h.i.+p in rafts, carrying from sixteen to twenty men each, as represented in the Engraving.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RAFT OF GAMBIER ISLANDERS.]