These facts were strongly urged upon public attention in the autumn of 1817,[28] as grounds of not only curious and interesting, but likewise of highly important speculation. A supposed change in the temper, and the very character of our seasons, was deemed to have fallen within the observation of even young men, or at least middle-aged men; and upon this supposition, it was not deemed extravagant to anticipate the combined force of the naval world employed in navigating the immense masses of ice into the more southern oceans; while to render the notion more agreeable, and to enliven the minds of such as might think such matters of speculation dull or uninteresting, the project was laid before them in a versified garb, characterising the arctic regions. There in her azure coif, and starry stole, Grey Twilight sits, and rules the slumbering pole; Bends the pale moon-beams round the sparkling coast, And strews, with livid hands, eternal frost! There, Nymphs! alight, array your dazzling powers, With sudden march alarm the torpid hours; On ice-built isles expand a thousand sails, Hinge the strong helm, and catch the frozen gales; The winged rocks to feverish climates guide, Where fainting zephyrs pant upon the tide; Pass where to Ceuta Calpe’s thunder roars, And answering echoes shake the kindred shores; Pass where with palmy plumes Canary smiles, And in her silver girdle binds her isles; Onward, where Niger’s dusky Naiad laves A thousand kingdoms with prolific waves, Or leads o’er golden sands her threefold train In steamy channels to the fervid main, While swarthy nations crowd the sultry coast, Drink the fresh breeze, and hail the floating frost; Nymphs! veil’d in mist, the melting treasures steer, And cool with arctic snows the tropic year. So from the burning line, by monsoons driv’n, Clouds sail in squadrons o’er the darken’d heav’n, Wide wastes of sand the gelid gales pervade, And ocean cools beneath the moving shade. _Darwin._ NATURALISTS’ CALENDAR. Mean Temperature 35·05. [28] See M. Chronicle, 4 Oct. 1817. ~January 16.~ HOGMANY.