The first enclosure of the Seven Towers is inhabited chiefly by poor Turks, who have houses, and live there with their families.  They also belong to the guard of the castle.

The air of the Seven Towers is in general unwholesome, and very likely to produce scrofula.  In the summer the walls, heated by the sun, transform the place into a furnace; and the apartments on the first floor are at all times extremely damp.

Our engraving, aided by the subjoined references, will, however, enable our readers to form an accurate idea of the topography of the Seven Towers.  It is copied from the Travels of M. Ponqueville, who devotes a chapter of his quarto volume to a minute description of towers, gardens, and fortresses.  Nothing can exceed the horror with which his catalogue of their miseries is calculated to impress the reader; indeed, they fall but little short of some of the highly-wrought fictions of barbarous romance.

* * * * *

ASTRONOMICAL OCCURRENCES FOR DECEMBER, 1827.

(For the Mirror.)

The sun enters the cardinal and tropical sign Capricorn on the 22nd, attaining his greatest austral declination at 1h. 31m. afternoon.

The moon is in opposition on the 3rd; in apogee on the 6th, and in conjunction and perigee on the 18th.

Mercury is in perihelion on the 1st, becomes stationary on the 9th, and reaches his greatest elongation on the 19th, when he may be seen before sunrise, as well as a few preceding and succeeding mornings; be rises on the abovementioned day at 6h. 8m.

Venus is in aphelio on the 18th, and in conjunction with the planet Herschel on the 28th at 9 h. evening; she sets on the 1st at 4 h. 48 m., and on the 31st at 5-1/2 h. evening.

Mars rises on the 1st at 3h, 14m., and on the 31st at 2 h. 46 m. morning.

Jupiter rises on the 1st at 4 h. 39 m. and on the 31st at 3h. morning; he has now receded far enough from the sun to render the eclipses of his nearest moon visible; the first immersion will take place on the 3rd at 6 h. 39 m. 4 s. morning; the next on the 19th at 4 h. 54 m. 42 s. morning, and the last on the 26th at 6 h. 48 m. 14 s. morning, those being the only ones that happen during the month.

Saturn who commenced retrograding on the 2nd, last month, in 20 deg. 18m. of Cancer, will on the 31st have reached 17 deg. 26 m. of the same sign, and will be found a few degrees below the star Pollux in the constellation Gemini, rising on the 1st at 6h. 49m., and on the 31st at 4 h. 27 m. evening.

Herschel culminates on the 1st at 3 h. 23m., and on the 31st at 1 h. 17 m.