of an innumerable clufter of small stars, is not, however, new; for among the various conjectures of Manilius, we find the following:

"Or is the fpacious band ferenely bright From little stars, which there their beams unite, And form one folid and continued light?"

The stars appear of a fenfible magnitude to the naked eye, because the retina is not only affected by the rays of light which are emitted directly from them, but by many thousands more, which falling upon our eye-lathes, and upon the vifible aerial particles about us, are reflected into our eyes fo ftrongly, as to excite vibrations, not only in those points of the retina, where the real images of the stars are formed, but alfo in other parts round about it. This makes us imagine the ftars to be much bigger, than they would be if we faw them only by the few rays which come directly from them to our eyes, without being intermixed with others. You will be fenfible of this, by looking at a star of the firft magnitude, through a long narrow tube; which, though it takes in as much of the sky as would hold a thousand of fuch ftars, fcarce renders that one vifible.

The number of the ftars almoft infinitely exceeds what we have yet been fpeaking of. An ordinary telescope will discover, in feveral parts of the heavens, ten times as many stars as are visible to the naked eye. Hooke, in his Micrographia, fays, that with a telescope of twelve feet he difcovered feventy-eight ftars among the Pleiades, and with a more perfect telefcope, many more. Galileo reckoned eighty in the fpace between the belt and the fword of Orion, and above five hundred more in another part of the fame conftellation, within the compafs of one or two degrees fquare.

004

fquare. Antonia Maria de Rheita counted in the fame conftellation above two thoufand ftars. Future improvements in telescopes may enable us to difcover numberlefs ftars that are now invifible; and many more there may be, which are too remote to be seen through telescopes, even when they have received their ultimate improvement. Dr. Herfchel, to whofe ingenuity and affiduity the aftronomical world is fo much indebted, and whose enthufiaftic ardour has revived the fpirit of difcoveries, of which we fhall fpeak more largely in another part of this effay, has evinced what great difcoveries may be made by improvements in the inftruments of obfervation. In fpeaking here of his discoveries, I fhall ufe the words of M. de la Lande.* «In paffing "In paffing rapidly over the heavens with his new telescope, the univerfe increased under his eye; 44000 ftars, feen in the fpace of a few degrees, feemed to indicate that there were feventyfive millions in the heavens." He has also fhewn, that many stars, which to the eye, or through ordinary glaffes, appear fingle, do in fact confift of two or more stars. The galaxy or milky way owes it's light entirely to the multitude of small stars, placed fo close as not to be difcoverable even by an ordinary telescope. The nebulæ, or small whitifh fpecks, difcerned by means of telescopes, owe their origin to the fame caufe; former aftronomers could only reckon 103, Dr. Herfchel has discovered upwards of 1250 of these clusters, befides a fpecies which he calls planetary nebulæ. But what are all thefe, when compared to those that fill the whole expanfe, the boundless fields of ether! 'Indeed, the immenfity of the universe muft contain fuch numbers, as exceed the utmost ftretch of the human imagination. For who can

* Memoires de l'Academie de Dijon, 1785.

fay,

fay, how far the universe extends, or where are the limits of it? where the Creator stayed "his rapid wheels," or where he "fixed the golden compaffes?"

TO OBTAIN A KNOWLEDGE OF THE CONSTELLATIONS,

Let us fuppofe ourselves, in a frofty and bright evening of the month of January, feated about nine or ten o'clock, on a commanding eminence, beneath an open sky; when every planet walks forward in fteady ftatelinefs, when the hoft of stars crowd the heavens with glory.

The first view of the heavens creates a confufion of pleasure and aftonishment. The general irradiation elevates, but the feemingly irregular affemblage confounds the mind. Willing to form an intimacy with each portion of thefe glorious maffes, fix on fome of the most diftinguishable groups, and make use of those as marks, to conduct you through the reft. To every clump of ftars, if we may use the expreffion, we will affix the name that antiquity first gave it.

The collection we proceed from is that large irregular fquare, within which you may obferve three bright stars, placed very near each other, on a ftrait oblique line; beneath which are three others, of inferior luftre, hanging from them in a manner. This the ancients called Orion. The two highest stars in this fquare form his arms; the two loweft, his legs; the three bright ftars in the middle are his belt; and the three fmaller, which hang from them, are understood to defign the garment that covers his thighs, or more properly his faulchion.

These three bright ftars, fometimes called Orion's Belt, fometimes the Three Kings, by their direction

direction point out to us, on one fide, Sirius, or the Dog Star; on the other, the Pleiades. Sirius is that remarkable ftar, diftinguishable from any other by it's fcintillation and luftre. You will fee it on the fouth-eaft fide of Orion.

The Pleiades, or the Seven Stars, lie on the north-west of Orion: they are very cafily known, by being fo clofely maffed together. Befides, they are almoft in a direct line from Sirius, through Orion's Belt; they are on the back of another conftellation, called the Bull.

That very large ftar, on a right line, half way betwixt the Pleiades and the ftar that forms the western fhoulder of Orion, is called the Bull's Eye, or Aldebaran.

That large ftar, which, you may perceive, forms a triangle of equal fides with Sirius and Orion's Belt, is called Procyon, or the Leffer Dog. It lies to the north of Sirius, and to the caft of Orion.

Imagine a ftrait line, extending towards the north, from Procyon or the Leffer Dog; and the first bright ftar it meets with is Caftor, or one of the conftellations called Twins: very near which is another bright ftar, called Pollux, the fecond of the Twins. This laft lies fouth-eaft with regard to Caftor.

Thofe four ftars that lie in a right line, at equal distances, and about half way betwixt the caft fhoulder of Orion and the Twins, are the four feet of the Twins.

A line drawn from the bright ftar that forms the weft foot of Orion, through the ftar that forms his weftern fhoulder, carries you on to the next ftar, called the fouthern born of the Bull. This ftar, and the weft foot of Orion, are equally diftant from his weft fhoulder.

The northern born of the Bull is brighter than

the

the fouthern; it lies on a ftrait line with the east fhoulder of Orion, and the southern horn of the Bull.

The Ecliptic, or the annual path which the fun feens to make in the heavens, paffes betwixt the two horns of the Bull.

A line prolonged from the weft foot of Orion, through Procyon, or the Leffer Dog, brings you to that very bright ftar called Regulus, or the Lion's Heart, which lies eaft by north-eaft from Procyon, and at fome diftance from it.

If you fancy a line drawn from the star in the middle of the Twins, through Regulus, it will there pafs beneath a fquare of bright ftars near Regulus, which form the conftellation called the Lion. The first bright star, lying eaft by north-east from Regulus, and almoft as large as itfelf, is called the Lion's Fail.

Extend, in imagination, a line from a bright ftar, that lies half way betwixt the feet of the Twins and their heads, towards a bright star that lies eaft, and it will pass through the Crab (which lies exactly half way betwixt the Twins and the Lion) remarkable by one bright ftar, and a cloudy clump of fmall ftars adjoining to it. This conftellation, you may obferve, is hard to be remarked.

If you fuppofe a line drawn through the Twins, north-west by north, it will touch a bright star in the helmet of the conftellation called Auriga, which is at a confiderable diftance.

A very confpicuous ftar lies fouth-weft by fouth from this one. This beautiful ftar is called the Goat; and, due eaft, oppofite to it, lies another, which, with three or four more near them, fituate to the fouth, forms the whole conftellation Auriga.

A line drawn from Procyon, by Aldebaran, weftward,