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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,
In what abode dost thou refuse to rest?
What soul, so darken'd by its woes and care,
That thy mild beamings shed no influence there?
Dost thou not still a flattering brightness throw,
Around the deepest gloom that man can know,
And bid the sufferer pierce the veil between
His stormy prospects and a fairer scene?

Say, shipwreck'd mariner, on desert shore,
Tho' round thee surges beat, and billows roar,
Tho' all thy comrades sank beneath the wave,
Say-did the hope that cheer'd thee find a grave
Amid that waste of waters-when thine eye
Could nought behold but billows and the sky?
Was there not hope that some far distant sail,
Swelling her bosom to the freshening gale,
Might catch the signal that was rear'd on high,
Nor pass unseen the lonely wanderer by?

Is hope a stranger to his soul who dwells
In the dark solitude of prison'd cells,

Where friendship's voice will never meet his ear,
And no kind hand can stay the falling tear,

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Where misery and want their influence shed,
Around the wasted sufferer's lonely bed;
Can fancy paint, that e'en one ray of bliss
Can cast its radiance o'er a scene like this?
Yes-hope is not extinguish'd-still her power
Is felt by sufferers in their darkest hour;

She lends her aid to soothe their deepest woes,
And grant, 'mid all their griefs, some season of repose.

There is a hope, deep seated in the breast
Of him who finds on earth no settled rest.
There is a hope the storms of time may beat,
But cannot drive her from her last retreat;
Inspir'd by faith she soars to worlds on high,
And sees the covenanted glories nigh-
Meekly-yet firmly looks beyond this earth,
And claims the blessings of celestial birth,
And though the “full assurance” be not given,
Still is her anchor fix'd on thoughts of heaven.

H. N.

HYMN.

SHORT-LIV'D, Short-sighted child of man,
Seek not with anxious care to scan,

Nor trace thy future way;

In mercy it is hid from thee,

But 'tis enough that thou shouldst see
The promise sure; thy strength shall be
Proportion'd to thy day.

O rather let this care be thine,
Depending on a grace divine,

To use thy portion given-
In humble prayer be earnest still,
That it might be thy Father's will,
That all which bears the shape of ill,
Might make thee meet for heaven.

Then, though thy heart be sunk in grief,
No mortal aid can give relief,

And flesh and heart decay;

Thy Saviour's hand shall wipe thy tears,
And love shall sweetly chase thy fears,
And hope shall tell of blissful years,

That never pass away.

M. N.

MORS JANUA VITE.

"THROUGH Death alone we enter into Life"-
He only can set wide the gates which lead
To Light, to Life, to Immortality.

Nor to the humble Christian doth he come
Clad in the awful terrors of his form,

In ghastly semblance, and with frowning brow;
But as a friend, whose gentle hand unlocks
The fetters that have bound him to the earth
And kept him back from his eternal home.
Death is no Conqueror nor Monarch now.
Jesus hath conquered Death ;-divested him
Of all the ensigns of his reign-his dart-
The "the likeness of his kingly crown"-and led
Him captive to his heavenly Father's throne.
The Christian turns not shuddering now away
From his approaching footsteps; for he sees
With Faith's prophetic eye-th' invisible world-
And through the dreary passage of the grave
He sees a place of rest-where he shall dwell
With spirits of the just, made pure and washed
In his and their Redeemer's blood-until
That last, long, thrilling trumpet-call shall sound,
And rouse the sleepers of the tomb-to stand
Before the judgment—and to hear the voice
Of perfect justice speak their final doom.

RESURGAM.

"I SHALL arise again !"-But where? In regions of untold despair,

Where tortured spirits aye bewail

Their sins, when grief will not avail-
Where never-dying agony

Looks up, with swoll'n and tearless eye,
To supplicate, but vainly now-
For mercy-God will not bestow-
Where the worm dies not, and the fire
That burns within, will not expire;
For this is an eternal doom
Of woe, of anguish, and of gloom.

R. L.

“I shall arise again!”—But where?
In realms of pure and cloudless air,
Where angel harps are ever ringing,
And angel voices ever singing--
Where sin and sorrow are not known,
But peace and deathless joy alone.
There are the "poor in spirit" blest,
And there "the weary are at rest"-
And humbled by his chastening rod,
The "pure in heart" behold their God.
Oh! in that brighter, better land,
No human heart can understand
The countless blessings there shall be,
For ever-yea, eternally!

Most mighty God! to me is given
The awful choice of Hell or Heaven:
Oh! may thy Spirit guide my heart
To choose that holier, better part,
That when I leave this world of pain,
In Heaven I may arise again.

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
To all who humbly to their Father pray,

Shall it be said that we have vainly striven?
Though deepest clouds deform our closing day,
Our hope is sure, "There will be peace in Heaven!"

R. L.

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