nomy, we have a clearer view of our own insignificance, and our greatest progress in this science serves to shew how trifling is all that we have attained, in comparison with that which is yet unattainable.

I have witnessed no spectacle equally delightful with the calm magnificence of a starry night: there needs no science to admire its splendour, and enjoy its tranquillity; the unlettered eye may gaze with astonishment; the simple heart may dilate with rapture, and adore the Hand that has spangled the firmament with what they deem a beautiful and profuse disorder. But it is reserved for the philosophic mind*, for the enthusiastic lover of the sublime, to taste this enjoyment in its greatest perfection: the way to it is made easy by the labour of centuries, and by the discoveries of those men of immortal name, the profit of whose toils we may appropriate without following the abstruse calculations and close chain of reasoning, by means of which they penetrated so far into the most remote and therefore the most inexplicable of nature's works.

*The word philosophic must be understood here in its original and simple meaning, as derived from piλos A LOVER, σopias of

WISDOM.

A very superficial acquaintance with the science of astronomy will suffice to explain the phenomena of the heavenly bodies, connected with that system to which the earth that we inhabit belongs; their beautiful regularity, the simplicity of their laws, the inconceivable rapidity of their motion.

By extending the same ideas to still remoter space, and applying them to other far distant luminaries, as yet beyond the reach of our limited science, we see this apparent confusion reduced at once to the most exact order, and perfect harmony and regularity prevailing through regions too immense for the grasp of our feeble conception: one Hand sustaining and conducting; one Being animating the whole: that Hand omnipotent; that Being eternal.

It is surely a pardonable, perhaps a salutary enthusiasm, to which such contemplations lead every susceptible heart. I would rather witness a total eclipse of the sun than the ceremony of a coronation; and have gazed upon a comet with a degree of interest amounting almost to a desire to follow its whirling course, and trace the wonders of its path. May it not be a part of the righteous man's reward in another world, to have his eyes opened and his understanding enlightened, even

to the extent of comprehending all that is now hidden from his sight, and of beholding those things" face to face" which he now sees as through a glass darkly * ?”

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The wonders revealed to mankind by the science of astronomy lay hid in error and darkness, until the beginning of the sixteenth century, when Galileo, an Italian by birth, distinguished himself by some important discoveries regarding the laws of motion and attraction; which, instead of meeting with encouragement and furtherance among his contemporaries, brought upon him a furious persecution, backed by all the terrors of the Romish church. Galileo, hearing that a combi

* The use of a Scriptural text in any other sense than that one which it was intended to convey, is always dangerous. First, because it renders it liable to misconstruction by the ignorant. Secondly, because as the bold language of the inspired writers often expresses more, and more briefly than any other form of words could do; and phrases may be found in the Bible, applicable to all the common concerns of life; such a practice might lead to the borrowing of them on every trifling occasion, and end in a habit of continual profanation. I would not have ventured on adopting Sacred words, nor would they indeed have presented themselves on any theme that did not inspire serious thoughts, and lead me irresistibly to look "through nature up to nature's God."

nation of two glasses, by which objects were considerably magnified, had been discovered by a native of Holland, immediately went to work upon this hint, and, after a very short time, succeeded in constructing a telescope, and by its assistance daily enriched the scientific world with new objects of research. The hypothesis of Copernicus* concerning our solar system, which he had long been inclined to favour, now burst forth in all its truth and sublimity on his delighted eyes; the real figure of the moon, and its perfect analogy with the earth, could no longer be doubted: he beheld the satellites of Jupiter, the luminous ring of Saturn, and witnessed the phases † of Venus, which Copernicus had announced without the means of proving.

The reward of these invaluable discoveries marks the age of darkness and bigotry in which

*The doctrine of the sun occupying the centre of our system was taught by Pythagoras five hundred years before the birth of Christ, revived by Copernicus in the fifteenth century after Christ, and is now confirmed beyond question by the discoveries of modern astronomers, assisted by the telescope.

+ Phases, changes similar to those we behold in the moon's disk, or face, produced by her changes of situation with regard to the sun.

Galileo lived; he was denounced by the inquisition for supporting doctrines which were said to be inconsistent with sundry texts of Scripture, and obliged to promise that he would cease to promulgate his heretical opinions. But the truth was too important for him to refrain from completing its triumph; he soon after published the doctrine of Copernicus, concerning the system of the universe, supported by all his own recent observations; thus nearly completing the reform already begun in the science of astronomy. For this offence he was once more cited to appear before the court of inquisitors, and obliged, on his knees, to abjure the truth, and to declare that the supposition of the sun being placed in the centre of our system was an absurd error, false in philosophy, and contrary to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures; and that he renounced and cursed all the heresies he had taught. Submission to this barbarous abjuration was only to be avoided at the price of his life; but when he rose from his knees, he is said to have struck his foot with uncontrollable impatience against the earth, exclaiming, Eppure si muove*" Galileo was at this time

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"It moves for all that."