156 NORTHERN LIGHTS. ) 



Hudson's bay, they diffuse a variegated splendour, which in  



said to equal that of the full moon. In the north eastern j 



parts of Siberia, they have been described as beginning with I 

 single bright pillars, rising in the north, and almost at the 



same time in the north-east, which gradually increasing com- j 



prebend a large space of the heavens, rush about from place ' 



to place with incredible velocity^ and finally almost cover the i 



whole sky. The northern lights are supposed to be electrical i 



phenomena, because electricians can readily imitate the ap- i 

 pearance with their experiments. Dr. Franklin's idea is that 



they may arise from a discharge of electricity, accumulated ^ 



in the atmosphere near the poles, into its rarer parts. J 



On the Northern Lights.  



BY LOMONOSOV, A RUSSIAN POET TRANSLATED BY J. BOW- j 



RING. ^ 



Where are thy secret laws, O nature, where ? .; 



Thy north lights dazzle in the wintry zone : - 



How dost thou light from ice thy torches there ? \ 



There has thy sun some sacred, secret throne / J 



See in yon frozen seas what glories have their birth j J 

 Thence night leads forth the day to illumine the earth. \ 



Come then, philosopher ! whose privileged eye  



Reads nature's hidden pages and decrees ; '\ 

 Come now, and tell us whence, and where, and why, 



Earth's icy regions glow with lights like these, j 



That fill our souls with awe; profound inquirer, say ; ^ 

 For thou dost count the stars and trace the planets' way ! 



What fills with dazzling beams the illumined air? \ 



What wakes the flames that light the firmament ? ] 



The lightning's flash ? there is no thunder there — 

 And earth and heaven with fiery sheets are blent ; 

 The winter night now gleams with brighter, lovelier ray 

 Than ever yet adorned the golden summer's day. 



Is there some vast, some hidden magazine, 



Where the gross darkness flames supplies 1 



Some phosphorus fiibric, which the mountains screen, 



Whose clouds of light above those mountains rise? j 



Where the winds rattle loud around the foaming sea, ; 



And lift the waves to heaven in thundering revelry ? ? 



