The most memorable incident in the history of Caris- | charge of the castle, declared he was ready to have shot his Majesty should he have actually commenced making his descent. After these repeated failures in the effort to obtain his liberty, Charles so completely abandoned himself to despair as even to neglect his person, allowing both his hair and his beard to remain unclipped and uncombed, till his appearance became at last savage and desolate in the extreme. In this state he remained till the 18th of September, 1648, when he was permitted to remove to Newport to confer with commissioners appointed for that purpose by the parliament, on giving his promise that he would not make use of the opportunity to attempt his escape. On the 29th of November he was seized here by a party of soldiers, and conveyed to Hurst Castle, on the coast of Hampshire, which he left only to undergo his trial and execution about six weeks after. The apartments in which he was confined at Carisbrook Castle are now in ruins-but a window is still pointed out as that by which he made the several attempts that have just been related to regain his liberty. This part of the castle is on the left hand upon entering the first court from the gate. A short distance further on, and on the same side, are the governor's apartments, almost the only portion of the interior of the castle which is now in a state of repair brook Castle, is the detention here of King Charles I. the year before his execution. The unfortunate monarch fled from Hampton Court on the 5th of November, 1647, attended by two confidential servants, but without having determined upon any particular place in which to take refuge. They rode all night, and finding themselves at daybreak in the New Forest in Hampshire, it was resolved to repair to Titchfield, a seat of the Earl of Southampton, in the neighbourhood of which they were. This, however, was not a place in which his Majesty could remain in security; and, after some deliberation, it was deemed best to send a message to Colonel Hammond, the Governor of the Isle of Wight, intimating the King's desire to avail himself of his protection. Charles thought that he might expect to find a friend in the Colonel, who was the nephew of his chaplain, Dr. Henry Hammond; but he was, in fact, a devoted partisan of Cromwell, through whose interest he had married a daughter of Hampden, and had also obtained his post of governor at this station. At first, however, on receiving the King into Carisbrook Castle, he treated him as a guest rather than as a prisoner-permitting him to ride wherever he chose, and to receive all who desired to see him. It was not till after some time that his movements were subjected to any restriction. Hammond then informed him that orders had been sent down for the instant dismissal of all his attendants; and they were accordingly compelled to take their leave the day following. As soon as they were gone, it was further intimated to the unhappy King that he must for the future consider himself as a prisoner within the walls of the castle. He was still, however, allowed as much freedom as was compatible with this species of confinement-being perinitted to walk on the ramparts, and to amuse himself in a bowlinggreen, which Hammond caused to be formed for that purpose in a part of the castle-yard. He usually indulged himself in the former exercise in the morning, and in the latter in the afternoon. Much of his leisure was also occupied in reading; his favourite books being the Bible, the works of Hooker, Bishop Andrews, and Dr. Hammond, Herbert's Poems, the Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, in the original, and Fairfax's translation of that poem, Ariosto, and Spenser's Fairy Queen. Many persons, it would appear, also still contrived to gain admission to his presence, under the pretext of desiring to be touched for the king's evil. The condition in which he was kept, however, was now undisguisedly that of a prisoner; and his thoughts as well as those of his friends were naturally directed to the means by which he might effect his escape. The several attempts which he made for this purpose may be found detailed in the 'Threnodia Carolina' of Sir Thomas Herbert, and still more minutely in Sir Richard Worsley's History of the Isle of Wight, where many particulars are published for the first time from manuscript documents. The first attempt was made on the 29th of December, and failed through the mismanagement of its conductor Captain Burley, the captain of Yarmouth Castle, who was besides so unfortunate as to be himself apprehended and executed for his share in the enterprise. To Charles the only result was increased severity of treatment and greater watchfulness on the part of his jailors. Some time after, at the suggestion of a person of the name of Firebrace, who had contrived to find access to him by bribing the sentinels, he was induced to endeavour to escape from his window during the night; but after getting his head through the bars he could not force through the rest of his body. Aqua fortis and files were then conveyed to him; but by this time the governor had obtained some intimation of his former attempt; and when, after having destroyed of the bars, the King was one through the opening, he observed a number of people on the watch below, and instantly retired to bed. It is said that a Major Rolfe, who happened at the time to have-Cook's Voyages. about to pass [Carisbrook Castle; shewing the window from which Charles I. attempted to escape.] Recovery of the beautiful Picture of St. John in the Widerness, supposed to have been painted by Raphael. The history of this painting is singular. One of the keepers of the gallery (at Dusseldorf) was retouching a damaged landscape in water colours, which was not without merit. That which he had supposed to be mere canvass, he discovered to be coated with oil colours. Curiosity induced him to proceed; and a most beautiful body began to be visible. He saw the hand of a master; washed away the water colours, and restored in full perfection the great work that had so long remained buried in darkness. Travels of Count Stolberg. Remarkable Concord of Animals. It is amazing to see how the different animals which inhabit this little spot (a small island near Staten Land) are mutually reconciled. They seem to have entered into a league not to disturb each other's tranquillity. The sea-lions occupy most of the seacoast; the sea-bears take up their abode in the isle; the shags have post in the highest cliffs; the penguins fix their quarters where there is the most easy communication to and from the sea; and the other birds choose more retired places. We have seen all these animals mix together, like domestic cattle and poultry, in a farm-yard, without one attempting to molest the other. Nay, I have often observed the eagles and vultures sitting on the hillocks among the shags, without the latter, either young or old, being disturbed at their presence. ON MOTION-(Concluded). We will now suppose that the spectator is carried forward on one straight line with one velocity, while the object moves along another straight line, not in the same direction, with another velocity. Let A be the first position of the spectator, and B that of the object; let A 1, 12, 23, &c. be the spaces described in successive minutes by the spectator, and B 1', 1'2', 2'3', &c. those described in the same successive minutes by the object. At the end of the first minute the line in which the spectator sees B will be 11', and if through A we draw A 1" of the same length and in the same direction as 11', the object B will appear to the spectator, who imagines himself at rest, as if B had moved through B1". Similarly, the apparent motion of B in the second minute will be from 1" to 2", and so on. It may seem rather strange, that in this case the apparent motion of B should be in a line which has no obvious connexion with A 1 or B 1', but we may in a few words, make the result seem highly probable. The spectator A is moving towards the left edge of the paper, and so is the object B, though obliquely; but in this respect it is evident by a look at the figure that A gains upon B, so that B will appear to fall back towards the right, as is the case in the line B 1" 2". Again, A 1 2 is in the same direction as the top of the paper, while BI' 2' moves obliquely towards the bottom: this appearance will still be preserved in the apparent motion; so that this latter must be in a line which falls towards the right of the paper going from the top to the bottom, which is the case in B 1" 2". Draw B C equal to Alor l' I" and in the direction contrary to the motion of A join Cl"; the figure B 1'1" C is what is called in geometry B are in a line with the sun, and are said to be in con junction. The lines AB, 11', 22', &c., which are the distances of Venus from the earth at the end of the successive portions of time, are transferred, keeping their lengths and directions to the lower figure. Thus A 3" is equal to 33' and in the same direction; and 3" is the apparent place of Venus at the end of the third interval to the spectator on the earth, who imagines that he has remained at rest. a parallelogram, having its opposite sides in the saifie direction; and BI", one of the diagonals of this parallelogram, is the apparent motion of B during the first minute; from whence the following rule is derived :To find the direction and velocity of the apparent motion of an object, when both the object and spectator are moving in right lines, draw through the first position of the object two lines, the first being the real motion of the object for one minute, the second being in magnitude the real motion of the spectator in one minute, but contrary in direction. Form a parallelogram of which these two lines shall be sides; the diagonal of the parallelogram which passes through the first position of the object is the apparent motion of the object in the first minute. Thus we know the direction in which the object appears to move, and the velocity of its apparent motion. By the same process, the apparent motion may be found, when the object or spectator, or both, move in curves instead of straight lines, as in the subjoined diagram; in which, to avoid confusion, the figure which determines the apparent motion is removed from that which represents the real motions. The figure nearly represents a part of the apparent motion of an inferior planet, that is, one nearer to the sun than the earth is,-Venus for example. The sun is S, the centre of the two circles; A is the earth, moving through A 1, 12, 23, &c., in those successive equal portions of time during which B or Venus describes BI' 1'2', 2'3, &c. At first setting out A and * The word second, hour, day, or any other time may be substi In all these propositions we have supposed that the eye of the spectator is so good, that he can by means of it detect any change, however small, either in the direction or magnitude of the object. This is far from being a correct supposition; and the apparent motion of objects will be modified accordingly. In the first place, distances can only be well compared with one another when they are, from one end to the other, within the lowest limits of distinct vision; and even in that case the eye is a bad judge, unless the distances have some prominent points in them, to prevent their presenting one unvarying line. Again, the eye being naturally no judge of distance, the accuracy of the decision in any case will entirely depend upon the previous habits of the person making it. For example, a landsman is not used to see any large expanse utterly unbroken by a variety of objects, and his eye being unused to measure the proportions of ships, or of a line of coast, he is very apt to mistake the relation of their apparent to their real magnitude. Hence when he goes to sea, every distance seems shorter than it really is, and he will imagine himself to be almost close to the shore or to another ship, when he is in fact more than a mile distant from both. Also a channel or arm of the sea will appear to have very little breadth, when in fact Neither can the eye, even ted throughout for rainute. it is several miles across. promise. when experienced, form a notion of the interval which | verse, and we may add that he also already began to separates two distant objects, without taking into ac- display a genius for English poetry of the very highest count the apparent magnitudes of the objects themselves. If lines be drawn from the two ends of the object AB, meeting in E, the eye of the spectator, the angle or opening which the two lines make at E is that from which he judges of its magnitude; and when he B D says that the object grows smaller as he walks from it, from our eye. THE WEEK. His Milton left the university, after taking his degree of Master of Arts, in 1632, and went to reside with his father, who, having acquired a competency, had retired from the metropolis to Horton, in Buckinghamshire. Here he passed the following five years in assiduous study; and during this interval he appears to have produced both his exquisite Masque of Comus, which is stated in the title to have been performed at Ludlow Castle, in 1634, before the Earl of Bridgewater, and some of the principal of his minor poems-his Arcades, his Lycidas, and his two incomparable lyric chaunts the l'Allegro and the Il Penseroso. In 1638 he left England with the purpose of completing his education by foreign travel; and visited in succession Paris, Nice, Genoa, Pisa, Florence, Rome, and Naples. Honours from both the learned and the great waited upon the accomplished Englishman wherever he appeared. The state of his native country, however, worn by dissensions, and manifestly on the eve of a great convulsion, appealed too strongly to his patriotic ardour to suffer him to protract his stay abroad; and returning by the way of Geneva he again reached home after an absence of about fifteen months. He did not now resume his residence with his father. He probably considered that for the unsettled times which were apparently at hand the fit preparation which it behoved every man to make was the adoption of some way of earning his bread by his own independent exertions; and, hiring a house in St. Bride's church-yard, he opened a seminary for the instruction of youth in the classic languages. school having soon increased in number he was induced to remove to a larger house in Aldersgate. How long he continued to devote himself to this laborious occupation is not ascertained; but in 1641 we find him for the first time coming before the world as an author. His earliest production from the press was a violent attack upon the Hierarchy. It was followed by several others in the same style; and these efforts must no doubt have aided powerfully in augmenting and directing the storm which now beat against the Church, and eventually laid it prostrate. From this time forward Milton may be considered as a public character. For the following twenty years-the period of the Civil War and of the Protectorate-his pen was never idle; and several of the occasions on which it was employed were such as to bring him conspicuously before his country, and, it may be said, all Europe. In 1643 he married; and soon after, his wife having left him and refused to return, he published in succession his four tracts on the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, in which he maintained that the contumacy of one of the two parties of itself dissolved the conjugal connexion, and entitled the other to form a new union. His wife, however, thought fit to repair to him and ask his forgiveness. In 1644 he published his Tractate on Education,' in the form of a letter to his friend Hartlib. The same year appeared his noble defence of the liberty of the press, entitled, Areopagitica, or a Discourse for the Liberty of unlicensed Printing.' This year also there issued from the press the first edition of his poetical productions, comprising the several pieces that have been already mentioned. In 1649 he published his Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, in vindication of the execution of the King. Soon after he was appointed Latin Secretary of ་ DECEMBER 9.-The anniversary of the birth of MILTON. This illustrious poet was born in Bread-street, London, in 1608, and was the eldest son of John Milton, the descendant of an ancient family, but who had been disin-State. His Eiconoclastes (an attack on the famous herited by his father for abandoning the Catholic faith, and followed the profession of a scrivener. Milton's education was at first conducted at home under the care of a private tutor. He was then sent to St. Paul's School, from which he proceeded, in 1624, to Christ College, Cambridge. He is recorded to have distinguished himself at the university as a writer of Latin Eikon Basilike, attributed to the deceased monarch), his two splendid Defences for the People of England (in Latin) in answer to Salmasius, in the course of the composition of the second of which he lost his sight, and other tracts on the same subject, were the fruits of what leisure was left him by the duties of his office between this time and the year 1655, when he resigned his public employment. His first wife having died in 1651, after m nol da ☐ Hein ODE TO AN INDIAN GOLD COIN. So bright, whom I have bought so dear ? The jackal's shriek bursts on mine ear, Where loves of youth and friendship smil'd, Fade, day dreams sweet, from memory fade!- I haste to an untimely grave; The daring thoughts that soar'd sublime, My lonely widow'd heart to cheer; For thee, for thee, vile yellow slave, A wanderer's banished heart forlorn, ** The preceding poem was published amongst the Remains of Dr. Leyden, a young Scotch physician of great promise, who died in India at an early age. SONNET. SLEEP, Silence' child, sweet father of soft rest, 2688 Indifferent host to shepherds and to kings, Lo! by thy charming rod all breathing things sitio (Portrait of Milton.] DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN. The Office of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge is at 59, Lincoln's-Inn Fields. LONDON:-CHARLES KNIGHT, PALI-MALL EAST. Shopkeepers and Hawkers may be supplied Wholesale by the following Booksellers, of whom, also, any of the previous Numbers may be had: London, GROOMBRIDGE, Panyer Alley. Birmingham, DRAKE. Bristol, WESTLEY and Co. Carlisle. THURNHAM; and Scorr. Derby, WILKINS and SON. Devonport, BYERS. Doncaster, BROOKE and Co. Exeter, BALLE. Falmouth, PHILP. Hull, STEPHENSON. Kendal, HUDSON and NICHOLSON. Leeds, BAINES and NEWSOME. 'Liverpool, WILLMER and SMITH. Manchester, ROBINSON; and WEBB and SIMMS. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, CHARNLEY. Oxford, SLATTER. Sheffield, RIDGE. Staffordshire, Lane End, C. WATTS. Dublin, WAKEMAN. Edinburgh, OLIVER and BOYD. Glasgow, ATKINSON and Co. Tinted by WILLIAM CLOWES, Stamford Street. |