154 FALLING STARS, 



Children of darkness, hence ! fly far from me 1 

 And dwell with guilt and infidelity ! 



But come, with look composed, and sober pace, 

 Calm Contemplation, come ! and hither lead 

 Devotion, that on earth disdains to tread ; 



Her inward flame illumes her glowing face, 

 Her upcast eye, and spreading wings, prepare 

 Her flight for heaven to find her treasure there. 



She sees, enraptured through the thickest gloom, 

 Celestial beauty beam, and 'midst the howl 

 Of warring winds, sweet music charms her soul ; 



She sees while rifted oaks in flames consume, 

 A Father God, that o'er the storm presides. 

 Threatens, to save, — and loves, when most he chides. 



Chapone. 



Questions. — 1. What is the description of the Leyden phial ? 2. 

 How is it charged ? — how discharged ? 3. What experiment may be 

 made by it ? 4. What is an electrical battery ? 5. What great dis- 

 covery did Dr. Franklin make, — and by what means ? C. To what 

 did this experiment lead .'' 7. What is lightning .-' — thunder ? (See 

 Leyden phial, fig. 50.) 



LESSON 09. 



Falling Stars, Water Spouts, and Northern Lights. 



Lam'bent, playing about, gliding over. 



Glo'ry, a circle of ra3's which surrounds the heads of saints in 

 pictures, — praise, celebrity, felicity of heave«. 



It is supposed to be owing to the electricity of the atmo- 

 sphere, that we observe a number of curious and interesting 

 phenomena, such as falling stars, water-spouts, and northern 

 lights. What are called falling stars are seen chiefly in clear 

 and calm weather : it is then that the electric fluid is pro- 

 bably not very strong, and passing through the air it becomes 

 visible in particular parts of its passage, according to the con- 

 ducting substances with which it may meet. One of the 

 most striking of this kind is recorded by Beccaria, an Ita- 

 lian. — As he was sitting with a friend in the open air, an 

 hour after sun-set, they saw a falling, or as it is sometimes 



