amuse her. could he do? Could he read to her? what 66 Oh, no, -if you can only stay for an hour or two, talk to me," said Amanda, "tell me about town. I hate this horrid little place, where nothing ever happens. When any one dies it keeps us quite lively. That is the only kind of amusement we can get. Yes, Mr. Eastwood, sit there, you have town written all over you. It is so nice to see any one from London; tell me how the parks are looking, and what ladies are most talked of, and what sort of dresses are being worn. Tell me if there is any gossip going, or stories about anybody in high life. – Oh, I am so glad you have come to-day when I want rousing up. Do tell me all the London news." From Nature. JEREMIAH HORROX. IF national glory can ever be connected with a natural phenomenon, the transit of Venus over the sun's disc may be said to bring peculiar distinction to England. It is in a manner inscribed upon one of the most brilliant pages of our naval history; it led to some of the most remarkable discoveries for which mankind is indebted to our geographical enterprise, and made the renown of our most famous navigator. A hundred and thirty years before Cook, the phenomenon itself was, for the first time in human history, accurately observed in a corner of England, by an English youth, self-taught, and provided with few of the appliances of scientific research. Now that the spectacle, so Frederick, to do him justice, was not striking in itself, so sublime in the inmuch learned in London news. Having frequent regularity of its recurrence, so been brought up by a good mother, he important as the key to numerous astrohesitated to repeat to this young woman nomical problems, is again attracting the the stories he had heard at his club; for attention of civilized mankind, now that there are always stories floating on the the expanse of ocean from Honolulu to surface of society, and they are always to Kerguelen's Land is about to be dotted be had at the club. After a while, moved with watchers from the other side of the by her persuasion, he did tell her some earth, the occasion appears favourable for of them, to her intense interest and grati- | recalling the memory of the original obfication, a gratification which aroused server, Jeremiah Horrox, curate of Hoole, Frederick's pleasure in telling, and made | near Preston, in his day one of the most him forget his scruples. And while he insignificant of English hamlets. amused her, and received the flattering reward of her interest and attention, he was again inflamed and taken possession of by her beauty. Everything in the shape of reason melted out of his mind as he sat by Amanda's side. All that he thought of was how to secure her, how soon he could marry, and bind to himself that beautifulest form, that fairest face. If these had been the days when rash proceedings were possible, Frederick felt that it was in him to have carried her away to his den, as a wild beast carries his prey. The first moment that it was possible, as soon as they were left alone together, he poured out the story of his passion. He could not live without her, he said, to go away again, to tear himself from her side, was an insupportable idea. Would not she have pity upon almost induced him to renounce astrohim? Thus, this foolish young man, not-nomical study, bespeak a more protracted withstanding all warnings, notwithstanding the immediate interposition of providence and his guardian angel to save him from it, rushed upon his fate. The little that is known respecting Horrox's family and circumstances at least suffices to reveal the difficulties with which he had to contend. The place of his birth was Toxteth, near Liverpool. We cannot discover that the date usually assigned, 1619, rests on any good authority, while it is rendered improbable by the fact that in this case he must have been matriculated at thirteen, and ordained at twenty. The first letter of his that has been preserved, dated in the summer of 1636, indicates moreover, a compass of astronomical knowledge, as well as a general maturity of mind, hardly conceivable in a youth of seventeen; while his references to the discouragements which, previous to his acquaintance with his sympathizing correspondent, had period of investigation than would have been possible in such early years. The date 1616, though unauthenticated by any external testimony, may very well be correct. Notwithstanding a doubtful report which traces his family to Scotland, his thoroughly Lancastrian patronymic denotes a local origin. His father's profession is unknown; we suspect him to have been a schoolmaster. The family dwelling is usually identified with a house pulled down a few years since to make room for the railway station. The family was numerous, and although it cannot have been indigent, Jeremiah's matriculation as a sizar at Cambridge, and short stay at the University, prove that it was not rich. His entrance at Emmanuel College, then a stronghold of Puritanism, is conclusive as to the auspices which presided over his bringing up. This matriculation took place on July 5, 1632; he certainly left the university without a degree, and the fact of his first-recorded astronomical observation, June 7, 1635, having been made at Toxteth, is an almost certain testimony of his recession having taken place before that date. Want of means, and the necessity for contributing to the support of his family, are the only assignable reasons for a step which must have thrown the young student on his own resources, as regarded books, instruments, and intellectual companionship. The first glimpse we obtain of him is from the above-mentioned letter to Crabtree, dated June 21, 1636. From this and subsequent letters we gather that he has been for at least a year an observer of the heavens; that his circumstances are narrow, and prevent him from obtaining the books and instruments he desires; some, however, of the books he incidentally mentions must have been expensive, and can hardly have been procured by him elsewhere than at Cambridge. Á list of these in his own handwriting is preserved, and has been noticed by Prof. De Morgan, who (" Companion to the Almanac 1837) points out that not one was the work of an English mathematician, or printed in this country. It further appears that his time was much engrossed by other pursuits, which no doubt bore reference to his preparation for orders, and to his exertions to support himself in the interim. He was, in all probability, engaged in tuition, to which land-surveying, or some similar occupation, may have been added. Thus three years passed by, at the end of which time we find him curate of Hoole, a village about five miles to the south of The "mute inglorious Miltons" of Preston, the church of which was at that Toxteth seem not to have been wholly period a chapel of ease to the adjoining incurious respecting the researches of parish of Croston. The patron was Sir their fellow villager, who speaks in anRobert Thorall, the incumbent the Rev. other letter of having endeavoured to James Hyatt. Horrox may be assumed exhibit Venus in her crescent phase to to have been recommended to the latter "sundry bystanders," who however were by their common Puritanism, Mr. Hyatt unable to discern the phenomenon owing having been one of the ousted ministers to their inexperience in the use of the of 1662. He did not, however, retain his curacy much above a year; the cause of his resignation is unknown. It is now time to treat more specifically of Horrox's correspondence with Crabtree, the source of almost all our information respecting him. Crabtree, a clothier of Broughton, near Manchester, was one of a small band of worthies by whom astronomy was cultivated in the northern counties in those days, some particulars respecting whom will be found in the notes to Sherburne's translation of Manilius. These letters survive in the Latin version of Prof. Wallis, who naturally omitted whatever had no immediate bearing on science. A re-examination of the originals, should these still be extant in the Bodleian Library or elsewhere, might probably result in the retrieval of some interesting biographical particulars. As it is, we obtain many glimpses of the scientific circumstances of the day. Errors were inevitable in the comparative infancy of astronomical science, and the mistakes of the master were naturally a snare to the pupil. Horrox was for a time not only misled, but induced to distrust the accuracy of his own observations by their incompatibility with those of Lansbergius. Crabtree opened his eyes to the errors of the latter, and thus indirectly rendered him the still higher service of leading him to recognize the greatness of Kepler, which Lansbergius had disparaged. His study of Kepler led, as we shall see, to his own great discovery: before entering upon this, however, it will be convenient to dispatch the minor matters of scientific interest contained in the correspondence. It is curious to learn that Horrox's telescope cost him only 25. 6d., and was nevertheless better than some more expensive ones which he had had an opportunity of examining. He did not obtain even this modest instrument until May 1638, about a year before Milton viewed the moon through "the optic glass" of "the Tuscan artist": At evening from the top of Fesole, instrument. sup The possession of a tele- from the aperture than the narrowness of his scope may have stimulated his desire to apartment would allow; neither was it likely become acquainted with the writings of that the diameter of Venus would be so well its inventor. Four months later we find defined; whereas his telescope, through which • him possessed of Galileo's dialogue on enable him to ascertain the diameter of the he had often observed the solar spots, would the "System of the Universe," and anx- planet, and to divide the sun's limb with conious to procure his "Nuncius Sidereus," siderable accuracy. Accordingly, having deand treatise on the Solar Spots. He had scribed a circle of about six inches diameter previously speculated upon the exact pe- upon a piece of paper, he divided its circumriod of the creation of the world, which ference into 360°, and its diameter into 120 he sought to determine by a combination equal parts. When the proper time came, of astronomical and scriptural data; and he adjusted his apparatus so that the image of upon the origin of comets, which he the sun should be transmitted perpendicularly posed to be emitted from the sun. The to the paper, and exactly fill the circle he had described. From his own calculations he had phenomena of the planetary aphelion and no reason to expect that the transit would take perihelion had likewise engaged his at- place, at the earliest, before three o'clock in tention, and elicited remarks which al- the afternoon of the 24th, but as it appeared most seem prophetic of the great discov- from the tables of others that it might occur ery of Sir Isaac Newton. In observing somewhat sooner, in order to avoid the chance the setting sun he had noticed a ragged- of disappointment, he began to observe about ness of the margin, which he rightly mid-day on the 23rd. Having continued to attributed to atmospheric conditions. watch with unremitting care for upwards of During the last three months of his life, four-and-twenty hours, excepting during cerwhen unable to bestow time on astronom-tain intervals of the next day when, as he tells ical research, he commenced an attentive est importance, which could not with propriety he was called away by business of the highstudy of the irregularity of the tides, from be neglected, he was at length rewarded for which he hoped to obtain a demonstra- his anxiety and trouble by seeing a large dark tion of the rotation of the earth. The round spot enter upon the disc of light. Lancashire coast, where the recess of the tide is very considerable, is highly favourable to similar observations. It is now time to pass to the particular us, The "business of the highest impor tance was undoubtedly divine service, the transit having taken place on a Sunincident which has immortalized the name day. Most modern astronomers of Horof Horrox, his observation of the transit rox's profession would, no doubt, have of Venus over the sun's disc on Novem- considered the claims of science paraber 24, 1639 (O. S.) It would have been mount on an occasion like this. Horrox, sufficient for his renown to have been the in accordance with the feeling of his day, first witness of the phenomenon, but he judged otherwise, and when all the cirhad in addition the honour of supplying cumstances of the case are taken into an omission of Kepler's, who had indeed account, his sacrifice on behalf of what predicted the transit of 1631, but had he esteemed a higher duty, must be refailed to point out the occurrence of garded as an act of extraordinary heroism. another eight years subsequently. He had, it is true, almost convinced himtransit of 1631 had not been observed self that the transit could not occur until owing to its occurrence at night, and the afternoon, but even this anticipation that of 1639 had been foreseen by no one was a proof of courageous reliance on his save Horrox, and was watched by no one own judgment, being founded on his corbut himself and his friend Crabtree, whom rection of Kepler's Rudolphine tables, he apprised of the forthcoming event in a according to the data supplied by which it should have occurred at 8. 8 A. M. The letter dated on the October 26 previous. We borrow Mr. Whatton's account of phenomenon was also observed by Crabthe observation ("Life of Jeremiah Hor-tree, but less perfectly, owing to the rox," pp. 44-46). The After having deliberated on the best method of making the observation, he determined to admit the sun's image into a dark room, through a telescope properly adjusted for the purpose, instead of receiving it through a hole in the shutter merely, as recommended by Kepler. He considered that by the latter method the delineation would not be so perfect, unless it were taken at a greater distance cloudy state of the atmosphere at Manchester. A letter from Crabtree on the subject to another north-country astronomer, Gascoigne, contains the remarkable expression, "I do believe there are as rare inventions as Galileo's telescope yet undiscovered." Horrox did not remain at Hoole much above six months after this great achievement. In July, 1640, we find him again at Toxteth, which he never afterwards | Professor of Geometry at Oxford, whose left. He must, accordingly, have re- Latin translation was ultimately published signed his curacy, on what account is in 1674. By a judicious arrangement of unknown, as is also the precise nature of his materials he was enabled to digest his subsequent avocations. We only these into a perfect treatise, to which he gather from his correspondence that his gave the title of "Astronomia Kepleriana affairs were in a very unsettled state, Defensa et Promota." To this he added that the duration of his stay at Toxteth a translation of the scientific portion of was uncertain, and that he was contin- Horrox's letters to Crabtree, to which we ually called from home. From his com- are indebted for most of our scanty plaints of the impossibility of prosecuting biographical information. An inspection his astronomical researches, one would of the originals, should these have been almost surmise that his occupation was preserved, would probably contribute nocturnal, especially as he found time for much to clear up doubtful points, and to the observations on the tides already re- complete our conception of Horrox's infered to. His sustained enthusiasm for tellectual character. The main outlines astronomy, as well as the generosity of ❘ of the latter, however, are sufficiently his temper, is touchingly shown in a apparent. They comprise a marvellous letter congratulating his friend Crabtree patience and persistency, combined with on the success of some observations re-wide-reaching activity, a philosophical ported by him: "Your letter alone," he faculty for generalization, ambition, ensays, “has enough and more than enough thusiasm, and self-confidence. The verto transport beyond all bounds a soul satility of his attainments is attested by more master of itself than mine. My the composition of his "Venus"in Latin, emotion and gladness are such as you by the quotations in his letters from will more easily understand than I ex- Horace and Juvenal, and by his referpress." After several postponements, ence to Raleigh's "History of the World." he eventually fixes January 4, 1641, for a Of his restless energy and fertility of visit to Broughton, but the intention was resource we have proof in the promptitude frustrated by his sudden death on the with which, when debarred from his morning of the preceding day. We learn favourite pursuit, he turns to the investhis from an endorsement by Crabtree, tigation of the tides. His grasp of who gives no particulars respecting the general principles is displayed, among cause of death, and who himself, accord- other passages, by a remarkable one in ing to Dr. Wallis, only survived his friend which he speaks of the possibility of for an extremely short period. illustrating the elliptic orbits of the planWe are indebted to Crabtree for the ets by terrestrial analogies. "To which preservation of Horrox's extant papers, method of confirmation Kepler is always those only having escaped destruction partial, and most justly, inasmuch as which were obtained by him after the Nature throughout the universe is One, writer's death. Of the remainder, part and the general harmony of creation were destroyed during the Civil Wars; causes the lesser things to be examples part carried to Ireland by Horrox's of the greater, as the revolution of the brother Jonas, who appears to have moon around the earth is an emblem or shared his scientific tastes, and there imitation of that of the stars around the lost; another portion, after having aided | sun." We have already had occasion to in the compilation of Jeremiah Shaker-appreciate his enthusiasm; and the selfley's astronomical tables, was destroyed reliance usually associated with enthusiin the great fire of 1666. Crabtree's asm is powerfully evinced in another MSS., happily including the autograph of letter exhorting Crabtree to undertake, in the Venus in Sole visa," were purchased conjunction with him, the preparation of after his death by Dr. Worthington, of a new set of astronomical tables. From Emmanuel College, subsequently Vicar some expressions in this it may be conof Hackney, and a copy of the "Venus," jectured that he felt hurt at the ignorant lent by him to the astronomer Hartlib, comments of his neighbours, and his having found its way into the hands of resentment against his false guide LansHevelius, was published by the latter in berg, which occasionally transgresses the 1662. The Royal Society, just instituted limits of what would be considered courin England, immediately took cognizance tesy at the present day, is another indicaof the remainder of the MSS., and having tion of a sensitive spirit. When we add obtained these from Dr. Worthington, to these traits the self-denial manifested placed them in the hands of Dr. Wallis, on occasion of the transit, and in the temporary renunciation of his astronomi- | St. Gall. The reformation was then but be cal researches in deference to the claims, ginning to gain any hold upon the inhabitants Kessler could not; therefore, it as seems probable, of his family, we must of that town. recognize in Horrox no mere man of that time, obtain a livelihood as a teacher of In order to live, it science, but a distinct individuality of the reformed doctrines. singular force and attractiveness. His in some handiwork. He chose that of a sadwas necessary that he should employ himself precise place in the scientific world must dler. He did not, however, neglect that work be left to astronomers to determine; it for which he felt he had a calling; and, while requires, however, no special knowledge he still pursued his trade, he gathered around of the science to apprehend that the ob- him a small company of the faithful, taught scure youth who, under every disadvan- them, preached to them, wrote books, and tage, was able to correct Kepler, might, finally became a schoolmaster. if only he could have continued at Cambridge, very probably have rivalled him. In him England lost the promise of an astronomer of the first class, which loss, like many a similar one, would have remained absolutely unknown, but for the fortunate conjunction of his name with a phenomenon of regular recurrence and universal interest. If the commemoration of his great achievement cannot be equally universal, it should at least transcend merely local limits. Local patriotism has done its part well; an appropriate memorial has been erected in the Church at Hoole, and we are exceedingly indebted to Mr. Whatton for his intelligent memoir and valuable translation of the "Venus in Sole visa." More, however, is demanded, and it would redound to the credit of Horrox's countrymen if, on the December day of 1874, when English watchers scan the skies of another hemisphere for the transit of Venus, Englishmen at home were found dedicating a national monument to the first observer of the phenomenon in this. Gustave Freytag says that Kessler was a man" of a pure, gentle nature, making no prewarmth, who took no active part in the theotension of any kind, with a heart full of mild logical controversies of his times." As Kessler's narrative has interested me much, I conjecture that it will interest others; and as I am not aware of its having been hitherto translated into English, I venture now to do so. It begins thus: From Good Words. LUTHER AND THE TWO STUDENTS. THE following account of an evening spent with Luther, by two poor students, is to be found in a work of Gustave Freytag's, one of the most renowned writers of Germany, who has not only written excellent novels, but has also given to the world a most valuable historical work called "Aus dem Jahrhundert der Reformation." In the course of his book he gives an extract from a work that was left in manuscript by a man of the name of Kessler. It is entitled "Sabbatha," and the MS. is to be found in the library of St. Gall. As we travelled towards Wittenberg to study the Holy Scriptures, we found ourselves at Jena, in Thuringia. God knows in what a fearful storm we were caught, and after making many inquiries in the town for an inn where we might rest for the night, we could not find any one. Everywhere lodging was denied to us, for it was the eve before Ash Wednesday, and no one had much care for pilgrims and strangers. So we were going out of the town again to continue our journey in the hopes of reaching some village where they would take us for the night. Then, under the gateway, a respectable man met us, spoke in a friendly manner to us, and asked where we were going away so late-"Could we not, somewhat nearer, find any house or inn where we could be received before dark night should come on? Moreover," he said, "the road is one easy to miss; therefore he would counsel us to remain where we were.” We answered, "Dear father, we have been at all the inns that any one has told us of in this place, but we have been sent away from all of them, and have been denied admittance. Thus, we are obliged to proceed further." Then he asked us whether we made any inquiry at the inn with the sign of the Black Bear. We replied, “Dear sir, we have not met with any such inn. Tell John Kessler was born at St. Gall of poor us where we shall find it." Whereupon parents, in the year 1502. He studied theol- he pointed it out to us, a little way from ogy at Basle, and in the spring of the year the town. And as we came and saw the 1522 travelled with a companion to Wittenberg, in the hope of being taught theology by Black Bear, behold, though all the other some one of the great reformers. In the au- innkeepers had refused us shelter, on tumn of 1523 he returned to his native town, the contrary, the landlord of the Black |