556 



TEMPERATURE TEMPLARS. 



middle of winter, and at the least distance in the 

 middle of summer. We are speaking, it will !>< 

 observed, with reference to the northern hemisphere 

 of the earth. The condition alluded to, to take 

 place after the lapse of ten thousand years, is al- 

 ready fulfilled with regard to the southern portions 

 of our globe, since their winter happens at the time 

 of our summer. How far the excessive cold which 

 is known to prevail about cape Horn and other 

 high southern latitudes may be imputed to this, 

 we are not able to say. There in no doubt that 

 the ice has accumulated to a much greater degree 

 and extended much farther about the south pole 

 than about the north. Commodore Byron, \vlio 

 was on the coast of Patagonia December 15, 

 answering to the middle of June with us, compares 

 the climate to that of the middle of winter in Eng- 

 land. Sir Joseph Banks landed at Terra del 

 Fuego, in lat. 50, January 17, about the middle of 

 summer in that hemisphere ; and he relates that 

 two of his attendants died in one night from the 

 cold, and the whole party was in great danger of 

 perishing. This was in a lower latitude by nearly 

 '2 than that of London. Captain Cook, in his 

 voyage towards the south pole, expressed his sur- 

 prise that an island of no greater extent than seventy 

 leagues in circumference, between the latitudes of 

 54 and 55, and situated like the northern parts 

 of Ireland, should, in the very height of summer, 

 be covered many fathoms deep with frozen snow. 

 The study of the stars has made us acquainted 

 with another fact connected with the variable tem- 

 perature of winter. The oblique position of the 

 earth's axis with respect to the path round the sun, 

 or what is technically called the obliquity of the 

 ecliptic, is the well known cause of the seasons. 

 Now this very obliquity, which makes the dif- 

 ference as to temperature between summer and 

 winter, has been growing less and less for the last 

 2000 years, and has actually diminished about one 

 eightieth part, and must have been attended with a 

 corresponding reduction of the extremes of heat 

 and cold. It still remains for us to inquire how it 

 happens that the extremes of heat and cold in 

 America are so much more intense than they are in 

 Europe under the same parallels. The thermo- 

 meter, in New England, falls to zero about as often 

 as it falls to the freezing point in the same latitude 

 on this side of the Atlantic. The extreme heat 

 of summer also is greater by 8 or 10. This 

 remarkable difference in the two countries, as to 

 climate, evidently arises from their being situated 

 on different sides of the ocean, taken in connexion 

 with the prevalence of westerly winds. With 

 America a west wind is a land wind, and conse- 

 quently a cold wind in winter and a warm wind in 

 summer. The reverse happens on this side of the 

 Atlantic. Here, the same westerly current of, 

 air, coming from the water, is a mild wind in : 

 winter, and a cool, refreshing breeze in summer. 

 The ocean is not subject to so great extremes 

 of heat and cold as the same extent of continent. 

 When the sun's rays fall upon the solid land, they 

 penetrate to only a small depth, and the heat is 

 much more accumulated at the surface. So, also, 

 during the long, cold nights of the New Conti- 

 nent, this thin stratum of heated earth is more ra- 

 pidly cooled down than the immense mass of the ' 

 ocean through which the heat is diffused to a 

 Tar greater depth. At a sufficient distance from ! 

 land, the temperature of the sea, in the temperate j 

 latitudes, is seldom below 45 or above 70 ; that I 



is, the ocean is exposed to an annual change of only 

 '25 or 30, while the continent, in the same lati- 

 tude, is subject to a variation of 100 or more. 



TEMPESTA, OR CAVALIER TEMPESTA, 

 the surname of Peter Molyn (called also Petru- 

 Mulier or de Mulieribus), a celebrated Dutch paint- 

 er of marine pieces, was bom at Harlem, in 1G37, 

 and acquired great celebrity at Rome. His delinea- 

 tions of storms at sea are forcible and true, and have 

 lu-cn much more admired than his landscapes. Lii- 

 tle is known of the circumstances of his life. I!. 

 died in prison at Milan, in 1701, where he was con- 

 fined on suspicion of having murdered his wife. He 

 must not be confounded with Antonio. Tcmpesta, a 

 Florentine painter and engraver, born !&>({, and 

 died 1630, whose best productions are battle pieces 

 and hunts. 



TEMPLARS ; a celebrated order of knights, 

 which, like the order of St John and the Teutonic 

 order, had its origin in the crusades. Hugh de Pa- 

 jens, Godfrey de St Uldemar, and seven other 

 knights, established it in 1119, for the protection of 

 the pilgrims on the roads in Palestine. Subse- 

 quently, its object became the defence of the Chris- 

 tian faith, and of the holy sepulchre against the 

 Saracens. The knights took the vows of chastity, 

 of obedience, and of poverty, like regular canons, 

 and lived at first on the charity of the Christian 

 lords in Palestine. King Baldwin II. of Jerusalem 

 gave them an abode in this city, on the east of the 

 site of the Jewish temple ; hence they received the 

 name of Templars. Pope Honorius II. confirmed 

 the order in 1127, at the counsel of Troyes, and 

 imposed on them rules drawn from those of the Be- 

 nedictine monks, to which were added the precepts 

 of St Bernard de Clairvaux, who warmly recom- 

 mended this order. The fame of their exploits pro- 

 cured them not only numerous members, but also 

 rich donations in houses, lands, and money. The 

 different classes of this order were, knights, squires, 

 and servitors, to whom were added, in 1172, some 

 spiritual members, who officiated as priests, chap- 

 lains, and clerks. All wore a badge of the order 

 a girdle of linen thread to denote their vows of 

 chastity ; the clerical members had white, the ser- 

 vitors gray or black gowns ; the knights wore be- 

 sides their armour, simple white cloaks, adorned 

 with octangular blood-red crosses, to signify that 

 they were to shed their blood in the service of the 

 church. From the class of the knights, who were 

 required to be of approved nobility, and who were 

 the actual lords of the possessions of the order, the 

 officers were chosen by the assembled chapters, viz. 

 marshals and bannerets, as leaders in war ; drapiers, 

 as inspectors over their wardrobe ; priors, as supe- 

 riors of single preceptories or priories ; abbots, com- 

 manders, and grand priors, as rulers over provinces 

 (similar to the provincials of the monastic order) ; 

 and the grand master as chief of the whole order. 

 The latter had the rank of a prince, and considered- 

 himself equal to the sovereigns of Europe ; since 

 the order, like the Jesuits in later time, by virtue 

 of the papal charters, acknowledged the pope alone 

 as its protector, being independent of any other ec- 

 clesiastical or secular jurisdiction, and free even 

 from the effects of interdicts, governing itself, and 

 administering its estates according to its own plea- 

 sure, the occupants and vassals of which had to pay 

 them tithes. Uniting the privileges of a religious 

 order with great military power, and always pre- 

 pared for service by sea and land, it could use its 

 possessions to more advantage than other corpora- 



