THE PRICE ONE PENNY. {ONE UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. THE MONASTERY OF ST. JOHN, IN THE ISLAND OF PATMOS. THE GREEK ISLANDS. No. II. PATMOS is a small island of the Ægean Sea, about fifty Patmos affords one of the few exceptions which are to be found to the general beauty and fertility of the islands of the Ægean;-its natural advantages are, indeed, very few. The whole of the island is little better than one continued rock, rising frequently into hills and mountains. Tournefort characterizes it as "bleak, uncovered, without wood, and very barren." Its valleys are seldom susceptible of cultivation, and scarcely ever reward it; almost the only spot, indeed, on which it has been attempted, is a small valley in the west, where the richer inhabitants have a few gardens. There is a curious little account of the condition of this island, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, contained in a work written by a dignitary of the Greek church-Joseph Georgireues, Archbishop of Samos; it was translated into English by "one that knew the author in Constantinople," and published in 1678, when the archbishop was living in London. In the book, which Tournefort was unable to procure (it being so scarce), we are told that the island was "well stored with vines, fig-trees, lemon and orange trees, and corn sufficient for the inhabitants." Tournefort, who visited Patmos between twenty and thirty years afterwards, speaks of it as not producing much wheat or barley; and of wine, only 1000 barrels, the greater part of the supply of this article necessary for the consumption of the inhabitants being procured from Santorin, which has always been famous for yielding it in profusion. He quotes a Greek writer, who was one of the slaves carried off by the Saracens, at the capture of Saloniki or Thessalonica, by Amurath the Second, in the fourteenth century, and conveyed to Candia,- -as affirming that "these unfortunate wretches tarried six days at Patmos, and had not water to drink." Tournefort adds that they might have fared well, had they been suffered to hunt, there being an abundance of partridges, rabbits, quails, turtles, pigeons, and snipes, in the island. At the present day, Patmos is dependent for provisions upon the neighbouring continent of Anatolia, and for wine upon the island of Samos: almost every article of food is thus obliged to be brought from a considerable distance, a circumstance that may account for the high price at which it is sold. "I never remember," says Mr. Turner, "seeing the articles of food so dear in the Levant as they are at Patmos. All the men in Patmos,—as in most islands of the Levant, which are deprived of the resources of agriculture, are seamen. They make frequent voyages to the ports of Europe, and are said to be, in consequence, more enlightened, and far less superstitious, than the generality of the Greeks. The women are chiefly employed in making stockings from the supplies of cotton which they derive from Anatolia; they produce very durable articles, and demand a very gh price for them The town is built in the centre of the island, on a high rocky mountain, which rises immediately from the sea, and terminates with the famous convent or monastery of St. John, which is represented in our engraving. It contains about 400 houses, which, with a few more in the Port la Scala, the chief harbour of the island, are all the habitations to be found in it. Tournefort says that the town was originally built in that part close to the sea, but that the corsairs obliged the inhabitants to quit it, and retire up the mountain, a farther distance from the coast. Georgi. reues tells us that there were at one time 800 “fair houses" close to the convent, inhabited by "rich merchants that traded into all parts. But the many revolutions," he adds, "which have happened since, have eclipsed the former glory of the place; and their ships of merchandize are all dwindled into small fisher-boats; and the inhabitants are all extremely poor." The houses are all of stone, and for the most part well constructed: it being strange, as Tournefort remarks, that, "in so poor a country, the houses are better built than in the islands where there is more trade." As the town is built partly on the summit of the mountain, and partly on its declivity, some of the streets are remarkably steep and difficult of ascent; they are also ill-paved, and extremely narrow, few being more than eight feet in width. The view of the island from the highest point is said to be very curious. "The eye looks down," says Mr. Turner," on nothing but mountains below it; and the excessive narrowness of the island, with the curious form of its coast, have an extraordinary appearance." The convent, or monastery, of which it is justly remarked, that it would at first sight be taken for a citadel, is a solid substantial building, consisting of several irregular towers. Its origin is referred to the reign of the Emperor Alexius Commenus; and it is said to have been built by St. Christodoulos, who was previously an abbot in Asia Minor, with jurisdiction over some monasteries near a great lake, about a day's journey and a half from Ephesus." In consequence of the molestations of the Turks, whose power was rapidly increasing in that quarter, he obtained, about the year 1100, a grant from the emperor of the whole of Patmos, and the uninhabited islands near it, with permission to build a monastery there. Having transported his family and wealth thither, he proceeded to erect an edifice near one of the ports; "but not liking the place," to use the words of Georgireues, "and, as the tradition goes, being warned by a vision and a voice from heaven, he quitted that monastery, and built another in the highest part of the island, and fortified it with a strong castle, environed with high and strong walls; and there he built a church." This church is small, but neat; the floor is of mosaic, and over the altar are three pictures, of a very inferior kind, representing our Saviour, the Virgin, and St. John the Evangelist. They were given to the monastery, according to what the monks told Mr. Turner, by Peter the Great. made us pay a crown," says Tournefort, "for showing us the body of St. Christodoulos: they believe that it was at this saint's persuasion the emperor caused the house to be built. The good father, for t'other crown, would fain have drawn out the shrine, to let us see they had the whole body; but we had enough of his head and face." "The sexton The yearly revenues of this monastery amounted, at one time, to 13,000 dollars: they were much reduced in the days of the Archbishop Georgireues, and are, of course, still more so now. There is a library attached to the institution, containing a great many manuscript and printed books, which have been repeatedly examined by French and English travellers. The manuscripts are almost wholly of a theological character,-copies of the Gospel, of the Fathers, &c., all in Greek. The printed books contain some good works; but none, except those written in Greek, are of any use to the monks, who seldom understand any but their own language. and had good books, and Romaic maps printed in Vienna, abounding more in ornaments than in accuracy." As a matter of course, there is an abundance of superstitions implanted in the minds of the Greeks concerning this grotto: Georgireues tells us that the inhabitants in the neighbourhood paid great devotion to it; and they talk here, he adds, of a fig-tree whose figs have naturally the characters of the word Apocalypsis,-in Greek, of course. Tournefort was presented by the Superior with some pieces of the rock, and assured that they had the virtue to expel evil spirits, and cure divers and sundry diseases. "In return," says the Frenchman, "I gave him some pilula febrifuga (fever pills), which he had no little occasion for, to expel an ague that had hung upon him some months." Patmos used to be a famous resort of pirates. Dr. Clarke, after describing with enthusiasm the splendid scene which he witnessed in passing by Patmos, with feelings naturally excited by all the circumstances of local solemnity, and "the evening sun, behind the towering cliffs of Patmos, gilding the battlements of the Monastery of the Apocalypse with its parting rays-the consecrated island, surrounded by inexpressible brightness, seeming to float upon an abyss of fire," while the moon in milder splendour was rising full over the opposite expanse,-proceeds then to remark "how very different were the reflections caused upon leaving the deck by observing a sailor with a lighted match in his hand, and our captain busied in appointing an extraordinary watch for the night, as a precaution against the pirates who swarm in these seas. These wretches, dastardly as well as cruel, the instant they board a vessel, put every individual of the crew to death. They lurk about the isle of Fourni (to the north of Patmos,) in great numbers; taking possession of bays and creeks the least frequented by other mariners. After they have Patmos is wholly devoid of historical importance in an ordinary point of view; but this deficiency is amply compensated by the deep interest which attaches to it in the Christian mind from its connexion with the life of St. John, the last of the Apostles, or, as he was emphatically called, "the disciple whom Jesus loved." In the persecution of Domitian, which began in the year of our Lord 95, that holy evangelist was banished to Patmos; and we have his own testimony, that, during his residence in that island, he wrote his Apocalypse, or Book of Revelations. "I John," he says in his first chapter, addressing the Seven Churches which were in Asia, "who also am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." It was probably during his abode there, too, as is observed by the Rev. S. Hinds in the Encylopædia Metropolitana, that he wrote his Epistles. Upon the death of Domitian, and the annulling of his acts by the Roman senate, his successor, Nerva, recalled all whom he had banished; and our Apostle was restored in the beginning of the year 97 to his residence at Ephesus, where he continued undisturbed till the day of his death. His exile and residence in Patmos lasted only eighteen months, though the term has been extended by some to five and even fifteen years. Two early writers affirm that he was sent to Patmos to work in certain mines then supposed to be existing. It was either during the period of his banish-plundered a ship, they bore a hole through her bottom, ment, or after his recall, again to use the words of the authority above quoted, that he composed his Gospel. "The tradition of this island," says Archbishop Georgireues, "is very positive, that he writ his Gospel here likewise, and that, upon the request of the islanders, who, at his departure, after seven years' abode in the island, did importune him to leave them in writing what they ought to believe: whereupon he staid eight days longer, to dictate the Gospel to his disciples, who writ it. They add more, that, as he was beginning the work, there happened a great thunder-storm and earthquake, whereupon, looking up to heaven he spake these words,-In the beginning was the word. Besides, it is a most confirmed tradition, that the cavern which now goes by the name of the Holy Grotto, was made by the rupture of the earth in that earthquake." "the The " Holy Grotto" here mentioned, or Grotto of the Apocalypse," as it is also called, is marked out by another tradition as the place in which St. John wrote his Revelation,—a circumstance quite inconsistent with the "confirmed tradition" above mentioned, relative to the formation of the cavern at the very time of his departure. It is a natural cavern, situate about midway between the town on the top of the mountain, and the Port La Scala at its foot. It extends in the rock to the depth of about twenty feet, having a breadth of about thirty-six, and a height varying from ten to twelve feet. "In and around it," says Mr. Turner, "the Greeks have dressed up one of their tawdry churches; and on the same site is a small school attached to the church, in which a few children are taught reading, writing, and Hellenick; this is a very good institution, sink her, and take to their boats again." Georgireues complains bitterly of the pirates, "as well Christian as Mohammedan," that often in his time pillaged the poor people, who had no other remedy but patience, and "sometimes the pleasure," he maliciously adds, "of seeing them perish at sea that had been so injurious to a shore." The Patmosians used to complain more of the cruelty of the Christian pirates than of the Turks; and though the islanders had procured charters and patents from the Pope, from the King of France, from the state of Venice, from the Duke of Tuscany, and from the Grand Master of Malta, to secure them from the injuries of Christian corsairs, "it was so far from prevailing upon them to withhold their hands from rapine, that it did but provoke them to more fierceness." The knights of Malta used to be among the worst of these robbers. Mr. Turner saw in the library of the Monastery, three bulls from Pope Gregory the Thirteenth, Urban the Eighth, and the Emperor Charles the Sixth, issued to protect the island from their incursions. The island of Patmos is under the dominion of Turkey, and is one of the number that are considered to belong to the Capitan Pacha: the revenue which it yields is paid to him,-the greater part being furnished by the Monastery. THE season in which the exercise of kindness and friendwhen is it most wanted but in the hour of danger, distress, ship is most precious, is when it is most wanted; and persecution, and desertion? Let not selfish considerations detach us from those whose virtues merit our regard, and whose necessities require our interposition; but when others have forsaken them, let us show our disinterested affection by more persevering attachment, and more ex emplary attentions.-BISHOP MANT. HALLEY'S COMET. THERE is something very remarkable in our familiar association of the names of individual astronomers with some of those heavenly bodies which are the works of one great Creator, who calleth them all by their names. When we speak, for instance, of Halley's Comet, our minds are called to contemplate a double wonder :-the luminous body which traverses vast tracts of space at regular intervals and under the direction of certain laws, and the intellect of man, which has calculated those intervals and gained some acquaintance with those laws. We have thus before us an astonishing exhibition of the Creator's power at once in the material and in the intellectual world; and, if we duly consider them, the latter wonder may well appear to us to be the greater of the two. Surely we are at once short-sighted and unthankful, if, while we admire the works of God in the heavens above us, we fail to observe, as an operation of the same omnipotence and skill, the human minds which are around us and within us. Some account of comets in general has already been given in this work*: our present design is to furnish such particulars as may be generally interestng with respect to the one which has lately become visible, agreeably to the predictions of astronomers. This comet receives its name from Halley, an English astronomer, contemporary with Newton, who first ascertained the period of its revolution, and predicted its return in the year 1759. Little or nothing was known with respect to the nature of comets until within the last two centuries: the reports which have been handed down by chroniclers and historians concerning their appearance at different times are often exaggerated, or otherwise incorrect, and can never be relied on; and, therefore, the early history of the comet under consideration is very obscure, and, in fact, cannot be said to be known. It is possible that this is the comet which appeared B. c. 130, a year rendered remarkable in history by the birth of Mithridates; that another of its periodical returns ook place A. D. 550, the year in which Rome was aken by Totila; and that it is the same which appeared A. D. 1305, and is described as having been of terrific magnitude, and followed by a severe plague. These returns of the remarkable visiter are, however, only the subject of conjecture. The first return which is clearly ascertained and verified, took place in the year of our Lord 1456; and it appeared afterwards, at intervals of about seventy-five or seventy-six years, A.D. 1531, 1607, 1682, and 1759. It may be interesting to have some few particulars of its history, connected with these several appearances. In the year 1456, the comet appears to have been of a size unusually large; and its tail is reported, whether truly or not, to have extended over a thirdpart of the visible hemisphere. At this time, the Mohammedan power had been exceedingly powerful, and had filled Europe with alarm: the comet, as usual, was supposed to be ominous of evil; and it is said, that the Pope (Calixtus the Third,) solemnly exorcised both the comet and the Turks. Surely, when we read of such foolish mummeries as this, we ought to feel grateful in the reflection that the present return of the same heavenly body finds the light of science almost univerally diffused, and the still better light of the Reformed Religion spread over a large portion of Europe. And well may Englishmen, especially, be thankful that their country is provided with ministers of the Gospel, whose office it is to hold forth the pure word of life, and who, at the * See Saturday Magazine, Vol, I., pp. 145, 146. same time, are among the foremost in supporting the cause of true philosophy and science. In 1531, the comet was observed by Peter Apian, an astronomer of Ingoldstadt, for the purpose of verifying his theory respecting the direction of the tails, or trains, of these remarkable bodies: and the observation which he had made was hereby fully established, that the direction of the tail is (nearly) in a prolongation of the line from the sun to the comet; or, in other words, that the tail issues from the comet in a line almost directly opposite to the sun. In 1607, its apparent magnitude does not seem to have been so great as on former occasions; and its light, at the same time, was less brilliant. It was observed by the astronomers Kepler and Longomontanus. The return of the comet in 1682, although we do not hear of anything remarkable in its appearance, was rendered highly important by the observations of astronomers. It was observed, in England, by Halley; and, six years afterwards, Sir Isaac Newton, in his Principia, announced his discovery that comets move in elliptical orbits round the sun; inviting, at the same time, the astronomers of his day to ascertain the periodical return of some of those which had already been observed. This task was accomplished by Halley, who succeeded in establishing the identity of the comet of 1531, 1607, and 1682, and pronounced, although with some hesitation, its return at the end of the year 1758, or the beginning of 1759. This prediction, it may be observed, was the result of an acquaintance with the laws of gravitation. The return of the comet in 1759, thus foretold, was expected with great eagerness by astronomers; and its appearance was a signal proof of the advance and triumphs of science. It was first seen, as was afterwards known, on the 25th of December, 1758; but its appearance was not announced until the 21st of January in the following year. Towards the middle of February, it plunged into the rays of the sun, whence it emerged about the end of March; and it was visible, at different times, until the end of June. According to most accounts, the comet, on this occasion, was not attended by any visible tail or train. It is not, indeed, necessary to conclude that it was without a train; but the circumstance that none was seen is extraordinary, and distinguishes this appearance from all others which are recorded of the same body. At its present return, it has displayed a train of great length and brilliancy. Since the time of Halley, astronomical observations and calculations have become more exact, and great progress, in various ways, has been made in the science. The present return of the comet, accordingly, has been fixed with greater confidence, and with more precision; but astronomers still find it impossible to predict the time of its perihelion, or nearest approach to the sun, with complete exactness. One chief reason of this is, that comets, in a still greater degree than planets, are subject to pertur bations in their course, from the action of the other heavenly bodies near which they pass; that is to say, that they move with greater or less rapidity, according as they approach more or less near to larger bodies in their course. "The great number of small quantities," says M. de Pontécoulant, in his treatise on this comet*, "which are necessarily neglected in calculation; the uncertainty which still exists respecting the size of some of the planets, particularly Notice sur la Comete de Halley, et son Retour en 1835, par G. de Pontécoulant: a work to which we are indebted for many par ticulars recorded in this paper. Uranus; the resistance of a very rarefied medium, | the sea, "Thus far shalt thou come and no further," which evidently had an influence on the course of the comet of 1819, and may have the effect of altering, more or less, the shape of a comet's orbit, and, consequently, of diminishing the time of its revolution. All these circumstances may concur in baffling our expectations, and may either shorten or lengthen the period assigned for the return of the comet to its perihelion." However, the calculations such as have been made, verified as they now are by the actual return of the comet, cannot but be regarded as indicating a great and gratifying progress in the science of astronomy; and it is satisfactory to know, that the present appearance of the expected comet will assist astronomers in adjusting their calculations, and lead to the attainment of still greater accuracy and precision. The day on which it has been supposed that the comet will be at its perihelion, or the part of its orbit nearest to the sun, is the 13th of November; and it is during the days immediately succeeding, that it may be expected to appear with its greatest brilliancy. There are then many reasons why we cannot but look with great interest on this illustrious visiter. The comet is, in itself, a beautiful and unusual spectacle, and presents to our contemplation an astonishing effect of creative and upholding Power: it has been the subject of successful scientific prediction, and will tend to shed still further light on the science of astronomy. There are but very few persons now alive whose memories record its last visit; and we may be certain that the greater number of men of the present generation will not witness its next. Before this comet shall come again towards the sun, our spirits will have returned to God, who gave them. has marked out, also, the path of the comet, and the movements of the whole planetary system. Besides this, a Christian may add, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled; though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." J. E. R. Ps. xLvi. 1—3. THE FLY IN TURNIPS. IN the month of August this year many of the turnipcrops in Kent were totally destroyed by a small black caterpillar, vulgarly called the Nigger. This county had not been afflicted with such a visitation for upwards of twenty years; at which time, I have been told, that many enterprising farmers had saved such fields where the injury had scarcely began, by turning in hundreds of ducks, with a boy going before them with a long pole, brushing the caterpillars off the leaves of the plants; and that it was amusing enough to witness the ducks waddling after their courier, and devouring these insects with avidity, eyeing both sides of every leaf, lest they should miss such palatable morsels. In the middle of September I still observed several stragglers, or perhaps larvæ of a second brood. Anxious to ascertain the imago, or perfect insect into which such larvæ might turn, I captured several, and placed them in a box prepared for the occasion, feeding them with turnip-leaves fresh gathered every morning, with a sprinkling of mould at the bottom of the box. For the first few days they appeared to thrive; but, from some cause of which I was ignorant, they gradually declined and died off. The periods of the revolutions of this comet which These caterpillars, or larvæ, I found to be of are clearly ascertained, are as follows:-the first, different lengths, varying from five-eights to fourseventy-six years, two months; the second, seventy-eighths of an inch. They appear to eat only the five years; the third, seventy-six years, six months; the fourth, or last, seventy-six years, eight-months. Comets have been supposed to possess an unfavourable influence on the atmosphere of the earth; but this opinion has been entertained, as it appears, without sufficient reason. Sir Isaac Newton supposed that these bodies, so far from being noxious or pestilential, are of use in supplying a portion of wholesome moisture to the atmosphere; and it is reasonable to infer, from our general acquaintance with the universe, that, even if we cannot ascertain precisely in what way comets are of service, yet they have been formed for some wise end, and accomplish some useful and important purpose in their periodical returns to the sun. There are very many unknown benefits and mercies for which we are indebted to the Giver of all good. It has been asked, Is it possible for a comet to come in contact with the earth; and, If such an event should occur, what would be the consequence? To which astronomers reply, that, for aught we know, it is quite possible for such a collision to take place in the course of ages; but that the size of all comets which have been observed, is so very small in comparison of that of the earth, that the shock given to our planet would not be very great, and the damage only be local. If, however, a comet at all like the earth in magnitude should come into contact with this planet, the event would produce a change in the direction of the earth's axis, and thence a vast disturbance of our system. One thing, however, is certain;-our earth will remain in its present position as long as it may be the will of God, the Almighty Creator, that it shall be there. He who hath said to fleshy part of the turnip-leaf, leaving the fibres, and are not often found on Swedes or rape. The upper part is, at first appearance, black; but upon a closer inspection, with a slight magnifier, it is more of a dark slate-colour than absolutely black. Along the centre of the back is a black line from head to tail: on either side, there is a longitudinal light gray line, succeeded by a line of dark slate, the under part being also of a light gray: the head is black and retractile, or capable of being drawn in, with very short pointed antennæ, scarce perceptible to the naked eye. It has six short legs articulated, and eight pair of light gray stumps tipped with black. Upon being touched it forms a circle, joining its head to its tail. The skin is particularly fine and transparent, and if punctured, slate-coloured matter issues from the wound. The colours of many insects are so difficult to describe with accuracy, that without adopting such indefinite words as grayish, blueish, and blackish, one is at a loss to describe their different tints; for there happens to be in this very caterpillar I have attempted to describe, a certain tint of dark blue throughout that part which I have termed "black and dark slate," and that which I have called "light gray" has a transparent horny appearance. Notwithstanding the ill success of my endeavours to ascertain, by personal observation, into what these caterpillars might turn, I flatter myself that I can |