peratures below zero are numbered in the same way as those above it, but are distinguished by having the negative sign prefixed. Mercury freezes at—39° and boils at 600°, so that the mercurial thermometer is only available within this range. Thermometers for measuring very low temperatures are filled with spirit of wine, which bears a great degree of cold without freezing. Instruments for measuring very high temperatures, as that of a furnace, are of quite different construction, and are called pyrometers. The centigrade thermometer is used in France and Germany, and Fahrenheit's in England, Holland, and North America.

If a pound of mercury at 66° be agitated with a pound of water at 32°, the resulting temperature is 33°, the mercury having lost 33°, while the water has gained only 1°. Hence, the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of a pound of water 1° will raise that of a pound of mercury 33°, or that of 33 pounds of mercury 1°; or, what is the same thing, the heat which will boil a pound of water in 33 minutes, will raise a pound of mercury to the same temperature in one minute. Mercury is, therefore, said to have less capacity for heat than water; and similarly, it is found by experiment, that different substances require different quantities of heat for equal increments of temperature. The ratio between the heat required to raise the temperature of any substance 1°, and that required to produce the same increment of temperature in an equal weight of water, is termed the specific heat of that substance.

If a pound of ice at 32° be dissolved in a pound of water at 212°, the result is two pounds of water at 51°; the water having lost 161°, while the ice has gained only 19°; hence 142° have disappeared. This heat is not lost, but is contained in the water produced by the liquefaction of the ice; its presence, however, is not indicated by the thermometer, and therefore it is termed latent heat. Liquids contain more latent heat than solids, and vapours and gases more than liquids. Water contains more latent heat than any other liquid, and as this heat is given out during freezing-from the vast quantity of water every where present-its influence in mitigating the effects of a severe frost is very beneficial. In a similar manner, the large quantity of heat required

to raise the temperature of water produces a salutary check on the occasion of a sudden change from cold to hot weather.

LESSON XXXVIII.—WEDNESDAY.

PERSECUTION OF THE SCOTTISH COVENANTERS.

When Alpine Vales threw forth a suppliant cry,
The majesty of England interposed

And the sword stopped; the bleeding wounds were closed;
And Faith preserved her ancient purity.
How little boots that precedent of good,

Scorned or forgotten, Thou canst testify,

For England's shame, O Sister Realm! from wood,
Mountain, and moor and crowded street, where lie
The headless martyrs of the Covenant,
Slain by compatriot Protestants, that draw
From councils senseless as intolerant

Their warrant. Bodies fall by wild sword law;
But who would force the Soul, tilts with a straw
Against a champion cased in adamant.

ENGLAND.

Not yet enslaved, nor wholly vile,
O Albion, O my mother isle!
Thy valleys fair, as Eden's bowers,
Glitter green with sunny showers;
Thy grassy uplands' gentle swells

Echo to the bleat of flocks ;-
Those grassy hills, those glittering dells,
Proudly ramparted with rocks;-
And ocean, 'mid his uproar wild,
Speaks safety to his island-child.

Hence, for many a fearless age,

Has social quiet loved thy shore;
Nor ever proud invader's rage

Wordsworth.

Or sacked thy towers, or stained thy fields with gore.

P

Coleridge.

Inland, within a hollow vale, I stood;

And saw, while sea was calm and air was clear,
The coast of France--the coast of France, how near!
Drawn almost into frightful neighbourhood.

A

I shrunk; for verily the barrier-flood

Was like a lake, or river bright and fair,
span of waters; yet what power is there!
What mightiness for evil and for good!
Even so doth God protect us if we be
Virtuous and wise. Winds blow and waters roll,
Strength to the brave, and Power and Deity;
Yet in themselves are nothing! One decree
Spake laws to them, and said that by the soul
Only the Nations shall be great and free.

Wordsworth.

LESSON XXXIX.-THURSDAY.

ENGLISH HISTORY-STUART LINE.

James the Second ascended the throne without opposition at the death of his brother, bringing to his new dignity a stubborn and vindictive temper, a narrow mind, a bigoted adherence to the Church of Rome, and a blind attachment to the arbitrary principles which had proved fatal to his father. In his first declaration he promised to maintain the established government in Church and State; but these expressions were soon found to mean nothing. The clandestine alliance with France was renewed, and James became, like his predecessor, a pensioner of the French king. Parliament met, and showed a spirit of unqualified submission, declaring it high treason to attempt any alteration in the succession, and voting a large revenue, with an additional grant for the support of a standing army. These demonstrations of loyalty were partly called forth by the measures of the duke of Monmouth, a natural son of Charles II., who, presuming on his popularity, and on the national hatred of Popery, formed the rash design to invade England, wrest the crown from his uncle, and place it on his own head. The earl of Argyle, who was to co-operate with him in Scotland, made a descent upon the Western

Highlands; but his small force was almost immediately dispersed, and he himself taken prisoner, and executed at Edinburgh. Monmouth landed at Lyme, in Dorsetshire, proceeding thence, at the head of 4,000 men, to Taunton, where he was proclaimed king. The peasantry flocked to his standard, but none of the nobility or gentry joined him; and in a night attack upon the royal army, encamped at Sedgemoor under the command of the earl of Feversham, his ill-armed and undisciplined troops were totally routed, and he fled for his life. After a search of some days, he was found hidden in a dry ditch, conveyed to London, and beheaded on Tower-hill, having vainly implored the clemency of his implacable relative.

This rebellion, so soon suppressed, was punished with unrelenting inhumanity. More than 1,500 of Monmouth's misguided followers fell in the battle, or were massacred after it. But these military cruelties were trifling in comparison with the judicial murders of Jeffries, who was sent with a special commission to try the rebels, and by whose sentence 320 persons were hanged, and 955 transported, many of the last being sold as slaves. The king showed his approbation of these atrocities by rewarding their perpetrator, and by jocularly calling the circuit "Jeffries' campaign;" but, long after, the "bloody assize" was referred to in the west with horror and dread.

The king now turned his attention to the repeal of the Test Act, as the first step towards the re-establishment of Popery. He had a standing army of 20,000 men. By granting dispensations, he might fill its ranks with Catholic officers, and might then force the people to submit to further changes. Parliament, hitherto so subservient, remonstrated, and was prorogued; and James pursued his infatuated career. Protestants were dismissed from civil and military offices, and their places supplied by Papists. London assumed the aspect of a Catholic city. Convents

rose in its midst, and numerous ecclesiastics, in their vestments, paraded the streets. The clergy, alarmed, began to preach against Popery, but were forbidden to introduce controversy into their pulpits. A court of high commission was appointed to try ecclesiastical offences; and Compton,

bishop of London, was summoned before it and suspended. The earl of Rochester, the king's brother-in-law, was removed from all his offices, and succeeded by Sunderland, a renegade. The privileges of the universities were violated. At Cambridge, the vice-chancellor was required to admit Alban Francis, a Benedictine monk, to a degree, without the usual oaths; and disobeying the order, was deprived of his place. At Oxford, a Catholic was made vicar of Christ Church, and the fellows of Magdalen were expelled from their college, and declared incapable of holding any church preferment, for refusing to elect a Papist president. These acts of tyranny and oppression alienated from James the affection of his people. Churchmen and Nonconformists equally distrusted his policy, and prepared to resist his encroachments.

In the memorable year, 1688, he published a "New Declaration of Indulgence," and ordered it to be read in all the churches. The clergy almost unanimously refused, only four of those in London, and 200 out of the entire 10,000 obeyed the mandate. Seven of the bishops presented a petition praying that the order might be withdrawn, and the tyrant sent them to the Tower. The people were transported with grief and indignation. Seldom has an outburst of popular excitement been witnessed like that called forth by the trial of the bishops. The prelates were acquitted, and the king heard with bitter wrath the shouts of triumph with which the verdict was received.

Just at this juncture, the queen gave birth to a son; but the nation, suspicious and incredulous, repudiated the young prince, who was afterwards known as the first pretender. The friends of liberty and religion now resolved to seek the interposition of the Prince of Orange, the husband of James's eldest daughter, who was looked upon as the head of the Protestant interest, and the defender of Europe against the power of France. The marquis of Halifax, the earls of Shrewsbury, Devonshire, and Danby, Admiral Russell, and Henry Sidney, brother of the unfortunate Algernon, were among the chiefs in this movement. The prince consented to interfere, and embarked for England with a powerful armament, landing at Torbay, on the 4th of