While all so totters, wheels, and floats from view, The utterance keen of thine eternal will From thee it flows creating time and space ; That living Word sustains the sand, the flower, Yet weighs on all the eclipse and curse of ill, The mountains darken o'er the shatter'd plain, And man, whose hopes his bound the most exceed, Amid such endless change and storms of night, But still in One whose soul, aloof from wrong, Thy Word fulfill'd was He, for ever shown And ne'er from mortal thought shall pass away Without that light, though fair the frame of things, NO. CCXCIV, VOL. XLVII, 2 L HYMN XVII. WITHIN its hollow nook of rocks and trees The lake in silence lies, Untouch'd by gusts of autumn's changeful breeze, It upward looks, with still and glassy face, Which o'er the surface idly seems to trace So dwells the wiser heart, at ease and safe, Which cannot there the tranquil being chafe, The tongues of busy rumour, vain and loud, And dreams obscure, that cheat the greedy crowd, High-sated wealth, decorous pride of place, And Science, blindly wrapping round its face The spectres thin that haunt the lifeless breast, That act earth's tragic dream ; All these around the soul resolved and sure, With unbelieving threats and mocks impure, A moment's rush is theirs to seize their prey, But nerved again by faith, it stands at bay, But shades they were, and melt around in shade, Who, looking clear through all things undismay'd, In all sees God alone. An instant lingering on the nightly wold, 'Mid rocks of mournful brows, While sweeps the howling gale from caverns cold, And waves the leafless boughs; With dread the man beholds the shadows drear, Before a glance of thought the view is clear, So thou, O God! to man's weak darkness known, Wilt make thy steadfast will to good my own, HYMN XVIII. CAN man, O God! the tale of man repeat, The past amid thy light is seen again. Ah! little sphere of rosy childhood's hour, What gropings blind to leave the common way! What wounds that pierce through pride's phantasmal play !— And idols dear that no response will yield! And so within one bosom's living cell A fiendish foe and helpless victim dwell. Oh, gorgeous dreams, and wing-borne flight of youth! Forebodings dim of visionary truth, That like a beast pursued before us flies; Insane delight in monstrous forms uncouth, That thence perchance some prophet-ghost may rise; Abounding pictures, bright with morn and joy, A land of bliss how near; yet not our own! Fair visions all! and, 'mid the train of things, So forward roll the years with woe and bliss, Still Conscience stabs and bleeds; Temptation's kiss. But sick'ning hours, and weariness of breath, And thus, by inward act and outward led, That speck, O Father! still to thee was dear- And bruised and crush'd by woe, and shame, and fear, Now all confusion spent, and battles o'er, SHAW ON SALMON FRY. READER, what is a parr? This is the only interrogatory we ever had the honour to address to Lord Brougham, and we believe it is the only one ever put to his lordship, either by ourselves or any body else, which he was unable to answer. If the reader has not yet made up his mind on this important point, we shall not press him for an instantaneous reply; but in case he should be sufficiently candid from the commencement to confess that he knows nothing whatever of the subject, we then beg to introduce him to our friend Mr John Shaw of Drumlanrig, who will speedily tell him all about it. It is, indeed, both gratifying and instructive to find, that in many departments, alike of art and nature, important discoveries are not seldom achieved by men who make no pretension to philosophical skill or scientific knowledge, but who, following the bent of a sagacious and observant disposition, attain to the root of a matter, while others have been only playing with stray leaves, or stumbling over broken branches. It is gratifying, in as far as it shows, that, in natural history especially, a fair field for original research is still open to good powers of observation, even in reference to native productions of the highest value and importance; and it is instructive to those professing a more pedantic knowledge, to be forced to admit how ignorant they may actually be, in spite of all their book-learning. Our innumerable readers need not to be told that the salmon is the most valuable of all the fishes which ever sojourn in our river waters; but they do require to be informed, and we therefore take the earliest opportunity of doing so, that our knowledge of its natural history and habits of life, so far as concerns the first two seasons of its existence, and during which it may be said to be continuously within our daily vision, was only determinately ascertained a few months ago. It has been the food of millions from the earliest periods of our own recorded history; its capture occupies the time and rewards the toil of many thousands of our most industrious population; its sale affords a princely addition to the income both of lords and commons; the luxury of sumptuous life is incomplete when wanting a supply of this most "dayntous fisshe:' and yet almost all that has ever been said or written on the subject of its earlier existence, is founded on the grossest error. It is our intention to present a brief summary of the experimental observations and discoveries of the ingenious enquirer whose contributions are named below; but as there exists a tendency in human nature of a very reprehensible kind, which leads alike to the decrying of discoveries when these are made, and to the denial of their claim to the character of novelty, we shall, in the first place, with a view both to the historical illustration of the point in question, and the prevention of malice prepense, state the hitherto prevailing views of scientific authors on the subject of salmon fry. Should any one deem this to be a matter of slight importance, let him consider that if the salmon itself, in its matured condition, is a noble creature, of vast value in an economical point of view, and if the best mode of effecting its early conservation and future increase ought therefore to be sedulously sought after, no enquiry regarding its youthful history, which results in truth, can be otherwise than interesting. We shall not attempt to trace the history of opinion regarding parr up to the time of Adam or even of Aris An Account of some Experiments and Observations on the Parr, and on the Ova of the Salmon, proving the Parr to be the Young of the Salmon. By Mr John Shaw. Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for July 1836, vol. xxi. p. 99. Experiments on the Development and Growth of the Fry of the Salmon, from the Exclusion of the Ovum to the Age of Six Months. By Mr John Shaw. Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for January 1838, vol. xxiv. p. 165. Account of Experimental Observations on the Development and Growth of Salmon Fry, from the Exclusion of the Ova to the Age of Two Years. By Mr John Shaw. (Read to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, on 16th December 1839.) Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. xiv. Part II. (1840.) |
