- Silent from the north

Ablaze of meteors shoots: ensweeping first

The lower skies, they all at once converge

High to the crown of heav'n, and all at once

Relapsing quick, as quickly reascend,

And mix and thwart, extinguish and renew,

All ether coursing in a maze of light Thomson.

Aurora Borealis. This Is An Extraordinary Appearance Of The Aurora Borealis, Observed By Captain Parry In His Expedition To The Arctic Regions.

Aurora Borealis. This Is An Aspect Of The Aurora Borealis Sometimes Observed In Scotland. The View Embraces A Portion Of Loch Leven, With The Island And The Castle In Which The Unfortunate Mary Queen Of Scots Was Imprisoned.

The Aurora Borealis, sometimes called Streamers, is an extraordinary meteor, or luminous appearance, showing itself in the night time in the northern part of the heavens; and most usually in frosty weather. It is generally of a reddish colour, inclining to yellow, and sends out frequent corrus-cations of pale light, which seem to rise from the horizon in a pyramidical undulating form,and shoot with great velocity up to the zenith. The Aurora Borealis appears frequently in form of an arch, chiefly in the spring and autumn, after a dry year. The arch is partly bright, partly dark, but generally transparent: and the matter of which it consists, is also found to have no effect on rays of light which pass through it.

Dr. Hamilton observes, that be could plainly discern the smallest speck in the Pleiades through the density of those clouds which formed the Aurora Borealis in 1763, without the least diminution of its splendour, or increase of twinkling

This kind of meteor, which is more uncommon as we approach towards the equator, is almost constant during the long winter, and appears with the greatest lustre in the polar regions. In the Shetland isles, the "Merry Dancers," as the northern lights are there called, are the constant attendants of clear evenings, and afford great relief amidst the gloom of the long winter nights. They commonly appear at twilight, near the horizon, of a dun colour, approaching to yellow; they sometimes continue in that state for several hours, without any perceptible motion; and sometimes they break out into streams of stronger light, spreading into columns, and altering slowly into ten thousand different shapes, and varying their colours from all the tints of yellow, to the most obscure russet. They often cover the whole hemisphere, and then exhibit the most brilliant appearance. Their motions at this time are most amazingly quick; and they astonish the spectator with the rapid changes of their form. They break out in places where none were seen before, skimming briskly among the heavens, are suddenly extinguished, and are succeeded by a uniform dusky tract. This again is brilliantly illuminated in the same manner, and as suddenly left a dark space. In some nights, they assume the appearance of large columns, on one side of the deepest yellow, and on the other, gradually changing, till it becomes undistinguished from the sky. They have generally a strong tremulous motion from one end to the other, and this continues till the whole vanishes.

As for us, who see only the extremities of these northern phenomena, we can have but a faint idea of their splendour and motions. According to the state of the atmosphere, they differ in hue; and sometimes assuming the colour of blood, they make a dreadful appearance. The rustic sages who ob serve them, become prophetic, and terrify the spectators with alarms of war, pestilence, and famine. Nor, indeed, were these superstitious presages peculiar to the northern islands: appearances of a similar nature are of ancient date; and they were distinguished by the appellations of" phasmata," "trabes," and "balides," according to their forms and colours. In old times they were either more rare, or less frequently noticed: they were supposed to portend great events, and the timid imagination formed of them aerial conflicts.

In the northern latitudes of Sweden and Lapland, the Aurorse Boreales are not only singularly beautiful in their appearance, but they afford travellers, by their almost constant effulgence, a very beautiful light during the whole night. In

Hudson's Bay the Aurora Borealis diffuses a variegated splen. dour, which is said to equal that of the full moon. In the north-eastern parts of Siberia, according to the description of Gmelin, these northern lights are observed to "begin with single-bright pillars, rising in the north, and almost at the same time in the north-east, which, gradually increasing, comprehend a. large space of the heavens, rush about from place to place with incredible velocity, and, finally, almost cover the whole sky up to the zenith, and produce an appearance as if a vast tent were expanded in the heavens, glittering with gold, rubies, and sapphire. A more beautiful spectacle cannot be painted; but whoever should see such a northern light for the first time, could not behold it without terror. For, however fine the illumination may be, it is attended, as I have learned from the relation of many persons, with such a hissing, crackling, and rushing noise through the air, as if the largest fire-works were played off. To describe what they then hear, they make use of the expression, "The raging host is passing.'The hunters, who pursue the white and blue foxes in the confines of the Icy Sea, are often alarmed in their course by these northern lights. Their dogs are then so much frighetned, that they will not move, but lie obstinately on the ground, till the noise has passed. Commonly, clear and calm weather follows this kind of northern lights. This account has been confirmed by the uniform testimony of many, who have spent part of several years in these northern regions, and inhabited different countries from the Yenisei to the Lena; so that no doubt of its truth can remain. This seems, indeed, to be the real birth-place of the Aurora Borealis."