imprisoned in his cell, where he remained in confinement for ten years. He shone like a single bright star in a dark hemisphere--the glory of our country--and died at Oxford, in the year 1294, in the eightieth year of his age. ‘Friar Bacon,’ says the Rev. Mr. Jones, ‘may be considered as the first of English philosophers; his profound skill in mechanics, optics, astronomy, and chemistry, would make an honourable figure in the present age. But he is entitled to further praise, as he made all his studies subservient to theology, and directed all his writings, as much as could be, to the glory of God. He had the highest regard for the sacred scriptures, and was persuaded they contain the principles of all true science.’ The next person who is supposed to have acquired a knowledge of telescopes, was Joannes Baptista Porta, of Naples, who flourished in the sixteenth century. He discovered the _Camera Obscura_--the knowledge of which might naturally have led to the invention of the telescope; but it does not appear that he ever constructed such an instrument. Des Cartes considers James Metius, a Dutchman, as the first constructor of a telescope, and says, that ‘as he was amusing himself with making mirrors and burning-glasses, he casually thought of looking through two of his lenses at a time, and found that distant objects appeared very large and distinct.’ Others say that this great discovery was first made by John Lippersheim, a maker of spectacles at Middleburg, or rather by his children, who were diverting themselves with looking through two glasses at a time, and placing them at different distances from each other. But Borellus, who wrote a book ‘on the invention of the telescope,’ gives this honour to Zacharias Jansen, another spectacle-maker in the same town, who, he says, made the first telescope in 1590. Jansen was a diligent inquirer into nature, and, being engaged in such pursuits, he was trying what use could be made of lenses for those purposes, when he fortunately hit upon the construction. Having found the arrangement of glasses which produced the effect desired, he enclosed them in a tube, and ran with his instrument to prince Maurice, who, immediately conceiving that it might be of use to him in his wars, desired the author to keep it a secret. Such are the rude conceptions and selfish views of princely _warriors_, who would apply every invention in their power for the destruction of mankind. But the telescope was soon destined to more noble and honourable achievements. Jansen, it is said, directed his instrument towards celestial objects, and distinctly saw the spots on the surface of the moon, and discovered many new stars, particularly seven pretty considerable ones in the Great Bear. His son Joannes is said to have noted the lucid circle near the lower limb of the moon, now named _Tycho_, from whence several bright rays seem to dart in different directions. In viewing Jupiter, he perceived two, sometimes three, and