Trembling awhile they stand, and scarcely dare At length assur'd, they catch the favouring gale, What atom forms of insect life appear! And who can follow Nature's pencil here ? Their wings with azure, green, and purple gloss'd, Studded with colour'd eyes, with gems emboss'd, Inlaid with pearl, and mark'd with various stains Of lively crimson through their dusky veins. Some shoot like living stars athwart the night, And scatter from their wings a vivid light, To guide the Indian to his tawny loves, As through the woods with cautious step he moves. What shining arms his polish'd limbs enchase! 47. The Cross-Crucifixion. Appears'; seems. Gen'eral; common. Express'ly; particularly. Detailed'; described. Pun'ishment; penalty. Capt'ure; taking. Monar'chical; kingly. Adjudged'; sentenced. Originally; at first. Indiscrim'inately; without distinction. Dishonourable; shameful. Cus'tomary; usual. Col'umn; pillar, post. Retained'; preserved. Crim'inal; guilty person, culprit. Transverse'; in a cross direction. THE cross appears to have been used as a very general instrument of punishment among various nations, from the earliest times of which we have any record. The "hanging on a tree," in Scripture, has been interpreted by many commentators as crucifixion; although, again, others have believed that the cross was unknown among the Jews till the time of Alexander Janneus, when the word "crucify" is expressly used by Josephus. In Thucydides, we read of Inarus, an African, who was crucified by the Egyptians. The similar fate of Polycrates, who suffered under the Persians, is detailed by Herodotus; who adds also, that no less than 3000 persons were condemned to the cross by Darius, after his successful siege of Babylon. Valerius Maximus makes crucifixion the common military punishment of the Carthaginians. That the Greeks adopted it is plain, from the cruel executions which Alexander ordered after the capture of Tyre, when 2000 of the captured sufferers were nailed to crosses along the seashore. With the Romans it was used under their early monarchical government, and it was the death to which Horatius was adjudged, and by which he ought to have suffered for the stern and savage murder of his sister. Though originally a punishment extending indiscriminately to every rank, it laterally, at least among the Romans, became the most dishonourable of all deaths, and was confined principally to the lowest orders, and to slaves. Before the sufferer was exposed upon the cross, it was customary to scourge him; and the column to which our Saviour was fastened during this cruel infliction, is stated to have existed in his time in the portico of the Holy Sepulchre, and to have retained marks of the blood of our Lord. Bede places this column within the church, where we believe it is still shewn, and Gregory of Tours dilates on the miracles wrought by it. The criminal carried the instrument of his punishment, or, most probably, only the transverse part of it, to the place of execution. Here he was fastened naked upon the cross, which occasionally was not raised from the ground till after his affixion, by cords, or more frequently by nails (and sometimes by both), driven through the hands and feet. The number of nails by which our Saviour was thus fastened, has been a subject of very learned dispute. Nounus affirms that three only were used, both feet having been confined by the same. Ni colaus Teutanus, a physician, to whom the question of the capability of the hands to support the weight was proposed, decided in the affirmative, upon experiment. The martyrologies are full of extraordinary relations of the length of time during which somet of those condemned to the tortures of the cross have continued to endure them, before they were released by death from their pangs. St. Andrew is said to have remained alive two days; Victorinus, who was crucified with his head downwards, under the reign of Nerva, for three; and Timo theus and Maura, no less than nine; a marvel which it is scarcely possible to exceed. Some who have been taken down while yet alive, are said to have recovered. Josephus mentions that such was the case with one out of three of his friends, whose release he obtained from Titus. At length, in the reign of Constantine, this horrible punishment was abolished in the Roman world. The edict of Constantine for the suppression of the cross, is attributed to the holy vision which preceded his engagement with Maxentius ; and henceforward that instrument, which had proverbially betokened infamy, was exalted on the standard, by which the warriors of the empire were wont to rally on the field of glory, and became the symbol of military honour in the Labarum.-Encyclopædia Metropolitana. The Polar Winter. The sun from far peeps with a sickly face, H Of snow congeal'd; whole herds are buried there And while they strive in vain to make their way Secure from cold, and crowd the cheerful fire : Their jovial nights in frolic, and in play, Dryden's Virgil. 43. Salt Mines of Cracow. Excavations; cavities. Entirely; completely. Extent'; distance. Lim'its; boundaries. Descend'ing; going down. Com'monwealth; republic. Subterra'neous; under-ground. Polity; form of government. Destination; place appointed. Opportunities; occasions. Prospects; views. Spa'cious; roomy, large. Stag'nated; stood still. Reflect'ed; thrown or bent back. Or'namented; decorated. Immured'; imprisoned, shut up. THESE celebrated excavations are about five miles distant from Cracow, in a small town named Wielieza, which is entirely undermined, the cavities reaching to a considerable extent beyond its limits. The length of the great mine, from east to west, is six thousand feet; its breadth, from north to south, two thousand; and its greatest depth, eight hundred; but the veins of salt are |