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Cleon. This new and noble Notion of the Univerfe has fired the Mufes themselves, and fet the Poets in Emulation who should fing the lofty Theme in the most exalted Strains. Thus one;

Now if thou can't the mighty Thought fuftain,
If it not akes thy Soul, and racks thy Brain,
Conceive each STAR thou feeft another SUN,
In Bulk and Form, and Substance like thine own,
And a little below;

Confult with Reafon, Reason will reply,
Each lucid Point which glows in yonder Sky,
Informs a Syftem in the boundless Space,
And fills with Glory its appointed Place:
With Beams unborrow'd brightens other Skies,

And Worlds, to thee unknown, with Heat and Life fupplies.

Thus another fings;

Now to fresh Wonders, let thy Search remove;
Seeft thou thofe Orbs that numerous roll above;
Thofe Lamps that nightly greet thy visual Pow'rs,
Are each a bright capacious Sun, like ours.
The Telescopic Tube will fill defcry

UNIVERSE,

Myriads behind, that 'fcape the naked Eye.
And farther on, a new Difcovery trace,
Thro' the deep Circle of encompass'd Space,
How thick (difce nable to aided Sight)
Their Conftellations crowd the milky Height,
Whofe Sphere elude the Reach of naked Eyes,
And feem with Light to belt the whiten'd Skies.
If each bright Star fo many Suns are found,
With Planetary Syftems circled round,
What vaft Infinitude of Worids may grace,
What Beings people the ftupendous Space?
Whatever Race poffefs th' ethereal Plain,
What Orbs they people, or what Ranks maintain?
Tho' the deep Secret Heav'n conceal below,
One Truth of univerfal Scope we know.
Our nobler Part, the fame ethereal Mind,
Relates our Earth to all their reafoning Kind.
One Deity, one fole creating Caufe,

Our active Cares, and joint Devotion draws.

And

And again :

Thus has the Mufe, but with a tranfient View,
Roam'd the wide Circuit of our Syftem through;
But Millions more the Pow'r divine has plac'd,
Millions of Suns with circling Planets grac'd,
Suns large as ours, yet to th' unaided Sight,
Points fearce diftinguish'd in the Train of Night.
The Ball which fwiftly from the Cannon flies,
Piercing with equal Speed the yielding Skies,
Amazing Thought! feven hundred thousand Years
Must travel ere it reach thefe diftant Spheres.

Euphrof. Thefe Gentlemen defcant very finely, indeed, on the wonderful Subject; but as it is of fuch vaft Importance to the forming a right Idea of Nature, I fhall be glad to hear you rehearse particularly the Arguments on which this Doctrine of Solar Stars is founded.

Cleon. I will briefly recite to you the principal, which are as follow:

First. They all fhine by their own native Light, which is the Property of a Sun only.

Secondly. They are of a vaft Magnitude, like our Sun; or else they could not be seen at such an immense Distance.

Thirdly. They are placed at an almoft infinite Diftance from each other, as far at least as our Sun is from them. Fourthly. Were we removed to the Distance of the nearest Star, our Sun would appear no bigger than a Star, and would appear as fuch among the reft.

Fifthly. At the Distance of the Stars our Syftem of Planets would be invifible, even Jupiter himself, by Reason of their Smallness, and feeble reflected Light.

Sixthly. God made nothing in vain, therefore not the Stars, which conftitute almoft the whole Universe; but they answer fome great and glorious Purpose unknown

to us.

Seventhly. The Obfervation of new Stars, which are fupposed to be the Suns of fome new-created Systems; thus our Sun at the Mofaic Creation might appear as a new Star to others.

Eighthly. Some Stars have decayed, and become quite extinguished, which probably were the Suns of old Sy

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items, which had ftood their appointed Time. A Change which our Sun will probably undergo in Time.

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Ninthly. The Scripture fpeaks of a Plurality of Worlds; and it is not probable God would make but one System, whofe utmoft Extent is but a Point compared with the Universe.- From these, and fuch like Methods of Reasoning, it is more than probable that each fixed Star is a Sun, which is the Center of a Syftem of circulating Planets of feveral Kinds, and that these Planetary Orbs are inhabited by Creatures of various Sorts and Degrees of Perfection. This is agreeable to what we obferve in our Earth and Syftem; accordingly Mr. Baker:

Heed well this Orb, where Fate has fix'd thy Lot;
Seeft thou one ujelefs, or one empty Spot?
Obferve the Air, the Waters, and the Earth,
Each Moment gives ten thousand Creatures Birth.
Here ev'ry Place, fo far from lying waste,
With Life is crouded, and with Beauty grac'd;
Nor can thofe other Worlds, unknown by thee,
Lefs flor'd with Creatures, or with Beauty be;
For God is uniform in all his Ways,

And every where his boundless Pow'r difplays;
His Goodness fills immenfurable Space,
Reftrain'd by Time, nor limited to Place:

His Wifdom form'd great Nature's mighty Frame,
And rules by Laws eternally the fame.

UNIVERSE.

Euphrof. I think the Reasons you alledge make it fufficiently probable to induce any one to believe a Plurality of Worlds.-But we have walk'd 'till the Evening is cold, and the Grafs very dewy; and tho' I have many more Things to enquire about the Stars, I will, if you chufe it, Cleonicus, refer them 'till the next fine Evening, when I fhall be glad to have a View of fome of them with the Telescope.

Cleon. That you fhall, my Euphrofyne; for befides that 'tis late, we are prevented any Thing of that Kind To-night by the Clouds coming on, and the Weather growing up, which Circumftance is aptly expreffed by Sir Richard Blackmore.

His mar fhall'd Clouds which intercept the Light,
Seal up the Stars, the twinkling Eyes of Night.

A

DIALOGUE

IV.

The Speculation of the STARS continued.

Euphrofyne.

FTER a few tempeftuous Nights, I fee the Heavens begin to refine, and the azure Expanfe renews its Sparkling Glory. We will, therefore, now re-affume qur Speculation of the Stars, if you please, Cleonicus, and confider divers other Circumftances, of which I have not yet a good Notion.

Cleon. You engage me with a great deal of Pleasure, Euphrofyne; I fhall gladly impart to you all that I know concerning the Stars.

Euphrof. The next Question then that I would ask is, whence comes it to país that each Star twinkles fo vehemently in a clear Night?

Cleon. The Twinkling, or Scintillation of the Stars, arifes from the continual Agitation of the Air, or Atmofphere, through which we view them; for the Particles. of the Air are always in Motion, and will cause a Twinkling in any diftant luminous Bodies, that are apparently lefs than those opake Particles, as the Stars all are; but the Planets, that appear larger, can fuffer no Occultation by them, and therefore admit of no fuch Scintillation. Euphrof. Then none of the Planets twinkle in the darkest Night, do they?

Cleon. No; and by that you may diftinguish them at any Time from the fixed Stars.

Euphrof. Pray, let me try that.

Cleon. You fhall; take this Telescope, and look at yon fparkling Star.

Euphrof. I fee which you mean, give me the GlassI fee it plainly-It appears very fteady, nor does it sparkle at all-yet it appears with a very ftrong Light-But this Telescope does not magnify much, I believe, for I can't perceive that the Star is bigger than it appears without it.

Cleon. This is not the Fault of the Glafs, it magnifies very much; but were it to magnify a hundred Times more, or a thousand, the Star would ftill appear but as a Point; for by Reafon of its immense Distance, it eludes the Force of any magnifying Glass. Yea, on

the contrary, the Stars are rather diminished in Appearance, by taking off their sparkling Luftre.

Euphrof. Well, then, the next Thing I would enquire is, why they are called Fixed Stars?

Cleon. Because they do not, like the Planets, change their Places, or alter their Situations in the Heavens, but keep at all Times the fame Distances and Pofition among themselves; that is, the fame Star, at the fame Time of the Year, always is feen in the fame Place, and at the fame Distance from others about it.

Euphrof. I know you'll refolve the apparent nocturnal Motion of the Stars, from Eaft to Weft, into a Confequence of the diurnal Motion of the Earth the contrary Way; but how happens it that at one Time of the Year we fee one Set of Stars in the Sky, and at another Time of the Year another?

Cleon. This arifes from the annual Motion of the Earth, and which I will explain to you by this little Scheme; where S is the Sun, and A, B, C, D the Earth, in four Pofitions of its Orbit; alfo EFGH the Firmament of the Stars, at an infinite Distance.

Now the Earth in each Situation appears half enlightened, and half dark, reprefenting Day and Night. And when it is at A, the Sun will appear at Noon in the Heavens at G, and will obfcure all the Stars in the Hemifphere, F G H; whereas at Midnight the Point of the Heavens E, will be in the Meridian, and then all the Stars in the other Hemifphere, F, E, H, will be vifible. Do you apprehend me?

Euphrof. Yes, pretty well; pray proceed.

Cleon. Then when the Earth, three Months after, is come to the Situation B, the Sun at Noon will be seen at H, and, all the Heavens, G H E, will be Day; and over all the other Half, E F G, the Stars will glitter at Night.

Euphrof. Then I perceive the Stars in the Quarter F G, will now be vifible, which (in the former Pofition) were not; and thofe in the Quarter H E, will become obfcured by Day-light.

Cleon. You conceive the Thing admirably well, my Euphrofyne: In like Manner when the Earth is at C, the Heavens, HEF, will be Day, and FGH Night, vhere all the Stars will fhine.

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