es Ross's case, the ships were hemmed
in by a pack of ice, fifty miles in circumference, and were carried
along, utterly helpless, at the rate of eight or ten miles daily, for
upwards of 250 miles--the navigators fearing the adverse winds might
drive them on the rocky coast of Baffin's Bay. At length the wind
changed, and carried them clear of ice and icebergs (detached masses of
ice, sometimes several hundred feet in height) to the open sea, and back
to their native land.

With all its dreariness, we owe much to the ice-bound Pole; to it we
are indebted for the cooling breeze and the howling tempest--the
beneficent tempest, in spite of all its desolation and woe. Evil and
good in nature are comparative: the same thing does what is called harm
in one sense, but incalculable good in another. So the tempest, that
causes the wreck, and makes widows of happy wives and orphans of joyous
children, sets in motion air that would else be stagnant, and become the
breath of pestilence and the grave.

[Illustration: MIDSUMMER NIGHT IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS.]

* * * * *

THE CROWN JEWELS.

[Illustration: Letter A.]

All the Crown Jewels, or Regalia, used by the Sovereign on great state
occasions, are kept in the Tower of London, where they have been for
nearly two centuries. The first express mention made of the Regalia
being kept in this palatial fortress, occurs in the reign of Henry III.,
previously to which they were deposited either in the Treasury of the
Temple, or in some religious house dependent upon the Crown. Seldom,
however, did the jewels remain in the Tower for any length of time, for
they were repeatedly pledged to meet the exigences of the Sovereign. An
inventory of the jewels in the Tower, made by order of James I., is of
great length; although Henry III., during the Lincolnshire rebellion, in
1536, greatly reduced the value and number of the Royal store. In the
reign of Charles II., a desperate attempt was made by Colonel Blood and
his accomplices to possess themselves of the Royal Jewels.

The Regalia were originally kept in a small building on the south side
of the White Tower; but, in the reign of Charles I., they were
transferred to a strong chamber in the Martin Tower, afterwards called
the Jewel Tower. Here they remained until the fire in 1840; when being
threatened with destruction from the flames which were raging near them,
they were carried away by the warders,