urchin with a long pole poke down our trusting Phebes; annuals in that same tree for three summers. There are humming birds, too, whom we have complimented and looked sweet upon, but they cannot be identified from morning to morning. And there is a golden Oriole who sings through May on a dog-wood tree by the brookside, but he has fought shy of our crumbs and coaxing, and let him go! We are mates for his betters, with ali his gold livery! With these reservations, sir, I commend the birds to your friendship and kind keeping. And now, sir, I have nothing else to ask, save only your watchfulness over the small nook, reserved from this purchase, of seclusion and loveliness. In the shady depths of the small glen above you, among the wild flowers and music, the music of the brook babbling over rocky steps, is a spot sacred to love and memory. Keep it inviolate, and as much of the happiness of Glenmary as we can leave behind, stay with you for recompense! N. P. WILLIS. CXL.-WOLSEY AND °CROMWELL. WOLSEY. (Alone.) Farewell,-a long farewell, to all my greatness! This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hope; to-morrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honors thick upon him: The third day, comes a frost, a killing frost; And,-when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is a-ripening,-nips his root, And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured, Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders, This many summers in a sea of glory; But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride At length broke under me; and now has left me, Weary, and old with service, to the mercy Of a rude stream, that must for ever hide me. Vain pomp, and glory of this world, I hate ye; I feel my heart new opened: Oh! how wretched Is that poor man, that hangs on princes' favors! Enter CROMWELL amazedly. Why, how now, Cromwell? CROMWELL. I have no power to speak, sir. What, amazed At my misfortunes? can thy spirit wonder, CROMWELL. WOLSEY. How does your grace? Never so truly happy, my good Cromwell. I know myself now; and I feel within me A peace above all earthly dignities, Why, well; A still and quiet conscience. The king has cured me, A load would sink a navy,-too much honor: Too heavy for a man that hopes for heaven. CROMWELL. I am glad your grace has made that right use of it. WOLSEY. I hope, I have: I am able now, methinks, (Out of a fortitude of soul I feel,) To endure more miseries, and greater far, CROMWELL. The heaviest and the worst, God bless him! Is your displeasure with the king. WOLSEY. CROMWELL. The next is that Sir Thomas More is chosen Lord Chancellor in your place. WOLSEY. That's somewhat sudden: But he's a learnèd man. May he continue Long in his highness' favor, and do justice For truth's sake, and his conscience; that his bones, What more? CROMWELL. That °Cranmer is returned with welcome, Installed Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. WOLSEY. That's news indeed. CROMWELL. Last, that the Lady Anne, Whom the king hath in secrecy long married, This day was viewed in open, as his queen, Going to chapel; and the voice is now Only about her coronation. WOLSEY. There was the weight that pulled me down. O Cromwell, The king has gone beyond me: all my glories In that one woman I have lost for ever. No sun shall ever usher forth mine honors, Or gild again the noble troops that waited Upon my smiles. Go, get thee from me, Cromwell; I am a poor fallen man, unworthy now To be thy lord and master: Seek the king; That sun, I pray, may never set! I have told him (I know his noble nature,) not to let Thy hopeful service perish too: Good Cromwell, CROMWELL. WOLSEY. Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear Let's dry our eyes: and thus far hear me, Cromwell; Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee: Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not; Let all the ends, thou aim'st at, be thy country's, Thy God's, and truth's; then, if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, Thou fall'st a blessèd martyr. Serve the king; And,-Pr'ythee, lead me in: There take an inventory of all I have, To the last penny; 'tis the king's: my robe, And my integrity to heaven, is all I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell! I served my king, he would not in mine age WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. CXLI.-LORD ROSSE'S TELESCOPES. THE telescopes, on which of course my attention was mainly riveted, are three in number, like the degrees of comparison,-great, greater, greatest-and are all situated near to each other, so as to command a fair view of the heavens over the tops of the trees which bound the law. The smallest is contained in a °dome-roofed edifice, resembling an ordinary observatory, and therefore presents nothing exteriorly remarkable. The two larger are under no roof; they are open to the weather-great black tubes, dangling from chains like the funnels of stean boats, lowered slopingly from the perpendicular. One of these is twenty-six feet long and three feet in diameter, and is adjusted so as to wheel round to point in any required direction. The other, which is appropriately called the "monster telescope," measures fifty feet in length by six feet in diameter, and is suspended between high and substantial walls, which permit its command of only a stripe of the heavens from south to north-an arrangement which, however imperative from the bulk of the machine, I was sorry to think must somewhat lessen its usefulness. So much for the first glance at these wonderful astronomical instruments. Before I had walked round them, the steward, an intelligent and obliging young man, placed himself at my service; and, by way of beginning at the beginning, conducted me to the workshops where the whole apparatus was made. The road proceeded through a clump of trees, and emerged on a courtyard on the right of the castle, where an entire engineering establishment disclosed itself. It was certainly something new to find a smelting furnace in active operation, blown by a steam-engine, within a dozen feet of the drawingroom window of a nobleman's castle. The furnace was puffing away at a great rate; and a neat little engine was diligently occupied not only in blowing the bellows, but in giving motion to sundry shafts, belts, and pulleys. A large complex piece of machinery, designed to turn and smooth the specula of the telescope, was at rest; and about a dozen men were here and there occupied with sundry minor operations. All the workmen, who have, from first to last, been engaged in preparing the telescopes, or the apparatus connected. with them, are natives—a fact which will seem strange to those who are unacquainted with the aptitude for instruction of the Irish character. It will probably appear not less surprising that the instructor and superintendent of these artisans in their multifarious duties has been no other than Lord Rosse, whose accomplishments in practical science, independently of his rank, would place him in a distinguished position. Devoted to pursuits involving mathematical calculations, he has been pretty constantly engaged, since 1826, in perfecting the means of telescopic observation; and on this in'teresting branch of science alone he is understood to have spent, till the present time, as much as £30,000. Long-continued and costly as have been these labors, they could not have realized their present successful results, unless they had been conducted with the most imperturbable patience and good humor, together with a readiness to have recourse to new and hazardous expedients on all occasions of difficulty and defeat. The first large speculum made in a single piece was a round plate of metal three feet in diameter, nine inches thick, and upwards of a ton in weight. This speculum was fixed or bedded on three iron plates, which gave it support, and then transferred to its appointed situation in the tube. This, as I have already noticed, is three feet in diameter and twenty-six feet long, and attached to an apparatus on the lawn, by which it can be brought to bear on any point of the sky, a short way above the horizon. The machinery for moving it round, and raising and depressing it, is simple and ingenious; and notwithstanding its size, it may be adjusted with the greatest ease. Two step-ladders form part of the apparatus, and by these we mount to a gallery, which can be raised or lowered to any required height. In order to procure an observation, the tube is first brought to bear on the star or other object, and the gallery being raised we ascend to it on one of the ladders. On reaching the gallery, which is a small railed platform sufficient to hold several persons, we find ourselves close to the telescope, near its upper extremity; and here, on looking through a small eye-piece fixed to the tube, we at once recognise in the obliquely-placed mirror within, the object of our observation. The tube is of wood, hooped with iron, and the focal distance of the speculum is twentyseven feet. The performances of this magnificent twenty-six feet telescope were found to be far beyond those of any previously constructed instruments. Certain patches of light or nebulous matter in the heavens were resolved into clusters of separate stars; stars hitherto scen but dimly, appeared round and well-defined; and on the surface of the moon, valleys, mountain tops, and craters of volcanoes were plainly visible. Gratifying as were these results, Lord Rosse considered that something still grander could be achieved; and before the twentysix feet telescope was well finished, he projected the gigantic instrument, the dimensions of which have been already given. The casting, grinding, polishing, and mounting of this monster speculum were pretty nearly a repetition, on a larger scale, of what had been previously done. When finished, the speculum was placed in a square box, which is attached to the lower end of the tube, and by |