because America is to us a country more newly disco vered, and of the existence of which the ancients seem to have had no knowledge. As the most remote from the spot where man was first created, it was probably the last to become inhabited; which supposition the thinness of its population confirms. In these divisions of the land we comprise the waters that encompass and separate them. And they are materially distinguished from each other by the appearance and character of the inhabitants, their state of civilization, climate, and natural productions both animal and vegetable. But of this we shall speak hereafter. We conclude our readers know what is meant by Latitude and Longitude. We have already said the distinction of East and West is merely relative. If in England we speak of Poland, we say it is in the East— but if we speak of it in Russia, we should call it West. When therefore we say a place is in such a degree of East or West Longitude, we mean no more than that it is so far to the eastward or westward of ourselves. For example, there is no place that has positively twenty degrees of East Longitude, because the person who used that expression in Venice, would not mean the same place as he who used it in London. In Venice they would mean twenty degrees East of them-in London we should mean twenty degrees East of us, and that would make thirteen degrees difference of situation on the globe: of course the same place could not be meant.With the Latitude the case is different: for though a place may be called North or South with respect to some other place, as at Edinburgh we might say London is in the South, and in Paris that it is in the North, yet North and South Latitudes are positive and invariable, there being a fixed point from which to measure them. We measure our degrees of Latitude always from the Equator, and the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are determined and divided by it. Therefore, however much South of us a place may be, it has North Latitude if it is North ward of the Equator. We have found some learners make themselves difficulties by not observing this difference between Latitudes and Longitudes, for which reason we have thus stated it. On the situation of a country with respect to the Equator, too, depends the seasons and the length of days, as well as in great measure the climate and productions. But the cause of this, as well as the phoenomena of the earth's motion, &c. comes more properly into the study of Astronomy; therefore we shall leave them for the present, and proceed with our remarks on the different quarters of the globe. (To be continued.) HYMNS AND POETICAL RECREATIONS. HOPE.-A FRAGMENT. SAY, cheering tenant of the human breast, Say, shipwreck'd mariner, on desert shore, Is hope a stranger to his soul who dwells Where friendship's voice will never meet his ear, Where misery and want their influence shed, She lends her aid to soothe their deepest woes, There is a hope, deep seated in the breast H. N. HYMN. SHORT-LIV'D, Short-sighted child of man, Nor trace thy future way; In mercy it is hid from thee, But 'tis enough that thou shouldst see O rather let this care be thine, To use thy portion given- Then, though thy heart be sunk in grief, And flesh and heart decay; Thy Saviour's hand shall wipe thy tears, That never pass away. M. N. MORS JANUA VITE. "THROUGH Death alone we enter into Life"- Nor to the humble Christian doth he come In ghastly semblance, and with frowning brow; RESURGAM. "I SHALL arise again !"-But where? In regions of untold despair, Where tortured spirits aye bewail Their sins, when grief will not avail- Looks up, with swoll'n and tearless eye, R. L. “I shall arise again!”—But where? Most mighty God! to me is given R. L IN CŒLO QUIES. "THERE will be peace in Heaven!" Oh! how this thought Should arm the soul with patience strong to bear The petty ills of life; to cast our care On Him, who this eternal peace hath bought So dearly for us,—and himself hath taught Patience in deepest suffering. Light as air Seem all the griefs the human heart which tear, To those with which His holy life was fraught; And when of Hope this most consoling ray To cheer our darkling path on earth is given Shall it be said that we have vainly striven? R. L. |