hope of scaring away the dragon from his dreaded purpose. For a time their efforts are in vain. The glorious sun disappears gradually in the mouth of the voracious monster; but at last increasing din seems to effect its purpose. The monster appears to pause, and, like a fish that has nearly swallowed the bait, but, on second thought, rejects it, gradually disgorges the burning morsel. When the sun is quite clear of the jaws, a shout of joy is raised, and the villagers disperse with the pleasing satisfaction that they have done the luminary a good service. This is but a type of the human mind in its untutored state, when it is unable to rise to the conception of a God whose glory lies in the orderly and regular evolution of His works of providence.
The power of predicting the time of eclipses, has divested such phenomena of their terror. The most ignorant Hindu could hardly but be ashamed of his superstition, and have his faith in his tomtom shaken, if the astronomer told him, beforehand, the precise moment when the monster would come and depart. Eclipses, more than anything else, demonstrate the perfect regularity of the motions of the heavenly bodies, and of the wisdom of Him who so exquisitely adjusted to one another, all the parts of the celestial machine. No doubt, the whole nautical almanac, with its mass of figures, is full of predictions, which manifest an order equal to that indicated by eclipses. Still, an eclipse, with its imposing phe-
