church appear before the bishop and acknowledge canonical obedience to him. "The new bishop is afterwards introduced into the king's presence, to do him homage for his temporalities or barony, by kneeling, and putting his hands between those of the king, who sits in a chair of state. Here the secretary of state administers to the bishop the oath-To be true and faithful to his Majesty, from whom he acknowledges to hold his temporalities. 66 Lastly, the new bishop compounds for the first fruits of his bishopric-that is, agrees that the first year's profits shall be paid to the corporation for augmenting the benefices of the poor clergy within three years." Astronomical Occurrences. In May, 1830. The bright constellations that ornament the wintry sky are rapidly gliding into the effulgence of the solar beams, while those which indicate the progress of the vernal, and the advance of the summer seasons, are gaining on the celestial canopy. Shortly after the decline of the orb of day, Orion may be feebly seen, bowing his gigantic form towards the ruddy west; the Bull bathing his forehead in the lingering rays of parting light; Castor and Pollux reclining on the glowing tinge which marks the boundary of twilight: farther removed from "the golden lightning of the sunken Sun," the Lion, with the planet Saturn, shines with splendour, dividing the empire of the mid-heaven with the Virgin and Bootes; in the south-east the Scorpion ascends, the dreaded sign of the votaries of astrology as the omen of every direful calamity. But, beneficent or baleful, these starry symbols of the incessant revolutions of the rolling world are associated in the mind of the student of nature with delightful recollections: the bright star Regulus, with the odorous train of Flora; Spica Virginis, with the harbingers of the beauty of summer and the bounty of autumn; Lucida Lyra, with the harmony of the groves; and even Antares, the red and inauspicious star of Scorpio, with the daisied meadow, the ripening harvest field, and dewy eves.-Literary Gazette. Solar Phenomena. The Sun enters Gemini at 19 m. after 3 of the 21st of this month: he also rises and sets during the same period, as in the following Table of the Sun's Rising and Setting for every fifth day. May 1st, Sun rises 36 m. after 4, sets 24 m. after 7 6th, 29 7 .... ...... ..... 4, 7 .. To find the true or mean time from the apparent, the correction must be used as directed in the following Table of the Equation of Time for every fifth day. m. s. Saturday, May 1st, from the time by the dial subtract 3 0 Thursday, 6th, "Should God again, As once in Gibeon, interrupt the race Of the undeviating and punctual Sun, How would the world admire! but speaks it less His moment when to sink and when to rise, Age after age, than to arrest his course?" 3 33 3 52 3 56 3 45 3 20 2 44 First Quarter, 29th ......48 ...... Moon's Passage over the Meridian. From the transits of the Moon over the first meridian this month, the following have been selected, as affording the most favorable opportuni ties for observation : May 1st, 46 m. after 7 in the evening 2nd, 30 9 9 .10 4 in the morning. 5 5 6 8 4 in the afternoon. 5 54 28th, 41 .. 29th, 26 6 in the evening. 7 The proportions of the bright and dark phases of this planet are as follow: May 1st.-Illuminated part = 4.8637 Dark part ..... = 7.1363 Eclipses of the Satellites of Jupiter. IMMERSIONS. First Satellite, 22d day, 32 m. 32 s. after 2 in the morn. Third Satellite, 8th 42.. 53. Uranus in quadrature at 45 m. after 6 in the morning of the 1st of this month. Saturn in quadrature at 30 m. after 2 of the afternoon of the 2nd. Jupiter stationary on the 5th. Mars in quadrature at 2 in the afternoon of the 8th. Uranus stationary near in Capricornus on the 15th. Venus at her greatest elongation on the 16th, and Mercury on the 21st. Greatest Elongation of Venus. The greatest elongations of the inferior planets Mercury and Venus, are the most favorable positions for observation, being then removed as far as possible from the solar beams; the angular distance of Venus from the Sun in the present instance is about 46°, which is not a constant quantity, but varying according to the position of her elliptical orbit relative to that of the Earth; the greatest angular distance is attained when the planet is in its aphelion, and the Earth in its perigee, it is then 47° 48′; and the least, when the planet is in its perihelion, and the Earth in its apogee, in which situation the angle of elongation is 44° 57'; in this position in her orbit she will appear as a half-moon; the most pleasing form in which this planet can be seen, is when it appears as a crescent, either previous to, or some time after its inferior conjunction, being then seen under nearly its greatest angle of 57", which is almost six times greater than when at its superior conjunction, and the whole diameter of its orbit (136 millions of miles) more remote from the Earth than in the former position. Very considerable changes are supposed to have taken place in its atmosphere; about the middle of the 17th century, several spots were distinctly seen on its surface, these became gradually more obscure and faint, and for near a century have entirely disappeared; the whole disc is now of a uniform brilliant white, occasioned, it is supposed, by its atmosphere being filled with a reflecting vapour, which will account for the cusps extending considerably |