Idea of this in the Parts of a Sign, than in Parts of the whole Circle; the minute Parts of fo grand a Whole, as the Circumference and Expanfe of the Heavens, obliged Aftronomers to make various Divifions of the celeftial Circles, and to range the irregular Diftribution of Stars in the Surface of the Skies, into certain and determinate Claffes of Conftellations, the better to reduce the Science to Order and Method.

Euphrof. To be fure Regularity and Method helps our Conception of Things very much. I can better apprehend in what Part of the Heavens the Sun, &c. is, when it is faid, he is in fuch a Degree of fuch a Sign, than I should otherwife been able to have done. But what other Ufes do they make of the Ecliptic?

Cleon. By the Ecliptic they estimate the Longitude, Latitude, and Declination of the heavenly Bodies.

Euphrof. How is the Longitude of thefe Bodies reck

oned ?

Cleon. It is estimated in Signs and Degrees of the Ecliptic, beginning from the first Minute of Aries, viz. in the Equinoctial Point (Q). Thus, fuppofe the Sun be now in the fifth Degree of Leo, S, we fay, his Longitude is four Signs, four Degrees, and Part of another; for he has already paffed the four Signs, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer, and four Degrees of Leo, and is in the fifth.

Euphrof. Very good; but the Sun is always in the Ecliptic; pray, how do you compute the Longitude of Planets and Stars, which are not in, but at a Distance from the Ecliptic on either Side?

Cleon. In this Cafe, their Places are reduced to the Ecliptic, by means of the Quadrant of Altitude fixed to the Brass Meridian upon the Pole of the Ecliptic, which then reprefents a Circle of Longitude: To do this will be a Problem you will be taught on the celestial Globe.

Euphrof. Well, and how do you eftimate the Latitude of the heavenly Bodies?

Cleon. Their Latitude is reckoned in an Arch of the Quadrant of Altitude (fixed as aforefaid) contained between the Planet, or Star, and the Ecliptic; that is, it is their Distance from the Ecliptic on either Side,

measured

measured upon a Circle of Latitude, which the Quadrant then represents; for Circles of Latitude are, with respect to the Ecliptic, the fame as Meridians with refpect to the Equinoctial, viz. they pass thro' its Poles, and cut it at right Angles.

Euphrof. Pray, what is the broad Circle you called the Zodiac, of which you gave me fome Account, when we were confidering the Theory of the Earth?

Cleon. That Circle, or rather Zone, is put upon Spheres and Globes; it reprefents the Space or Limits to which the Planets ftray on each Side the Ecliptic, which is about five Degrees; fo that the Breadth of this Belt is 10 Degrees, as I then told you; and therefore upon this broad Circle, which you obferve in this Sphere, are engraved the Figures of all the Animals of the 12 Signs; it ferves to few other Purposes but for Ornament, and to inhance the Price of the Machine. The Zodiac and Ecliptic are thus described by Manilius;

Two more oblique, and which in adverfe Lines
Surround the Globe, obferve: One bears the Signs,
Where Phoebus drives, and guides his fiery Horje,
And varying Luna follows in her Courfe.
Where Planets err, as Nature leads the Dance,
Keep various Measures, undisturb'd by Chance ;
Its highest Arch with Cancer's Beams doth glow,
Whilft Caper lies, and freezes in the low:
Twice it divides the Equinoctial Line,
Where fleecy Aries, and where Libra fhine.
Three Lines compofe it, and th' Ecliptic's found
I' th' Midft; and all decline into a Round.
Nor is it hid, nor is it hard to find,
Like others, open only to the Mind;
For like a Belt, with Studs of Stars, the Skies
It girds and graces, and invites the Eyes:
To twelve Degrees its Breadth, to thrice threescore
Its Length extends, and comprehends no more.
Within thefe Bounds the wand'ring Planets reve,
Make Seafons here, and fettle Fate above.

Creech, Lib. I. Euphrof. Do not the Aftronomers diftinguish thefe Signs into different Sorts, or Orders?

The Aftrono

Cleon. Yes, and the Aftrologers too. mers divide them into the Summer and Winter Signs. The Summer Signs are thofe fix which make the upper Half of the Ecliptic, or which lie above the Equinoctial, towards the North, viz. Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Les, and Virgo; for while the Sun is in them, it makes our Summer. The other fix, which make the lower Half of the Ecliptic, are called Winter Signs for the fame Reafon.

Euphrof. Pray, how do the Aftrologers divide the Signs?

Cleon. They, according to their ufual Abfurdity and Cant, make them of various Kinds, and afcribe to them wonderful Influences and Virtues. Thus, Manilius tells us fome are Male, others Female Signs; fome Human, others Brute:

Some Signs bear human Shape, and fome express'd

In fingle Figures, bear the Form of Beast.

Some Signs are fingle, others double, as Gemini and Pifces:
Thofe Signs are fingle; now observe the Pairs ;

For double Shapes give double Force to Stars,
And each Companion ftill in each creates

A Change, and vaft Variety of Fates.

Some Signs are of different Species, as Capricorn, and Sagittarius:

Such is the Goat, he twifts a fealy Train,

The Centaur fuch, half Horse, and half a Man.
Some Signs belong to the Day, others to the Night:
Yet fwift, my Mufe, like Lark on tow'ring Wings,
Mounts to the Skies, and as fhe mounts fhe fings;
She fees Signs various in her ai'ry Flight,

Some which the Day refpect, and fome the Night.
Some Signs govern the Water, others the Land:
Some Signs, 'tis obvious, do the Sea command,
And others claim Dominion o'er the Land.
Thus wat'ry Pifces, and the Crab retain
Their proper Nature, both, and rule the Main,
The Bull and Ram poffefs their old Command ;
They lead the Herds, and ftill they love the Land.
Some they reckoned fruitful, and others barren Signs!
The Crab is fruitful, and a numerous Brood
Fierce Scorpio yields, and Pifces fills the Flood;

The

The Lion's barren, and no Vows can gain
The Maid; Aquarius fpends his Youth in vain.
Ah! too remov'd, too far disjoin'd to prove
The fruitful Pleafures of encreafing Love!

Befides thefe, there are various other Diftinctions made of the Signs, not one Jot lefs whimfical; as you will find in Manilius's fecond Book of his poetical Aftronomy and Aftrology. But leaving the Dreams and vain Imaginations of the Ancients, let us proceed to the Circles which remain.

Euphrof. With a very good Will, Cleonicus; let the little Time we have be spent to the Purpose; I had rather be poffeffed of a little Sterling Science, than all the Parade of trumpery Nonsense.

DIALOGUE VI.

Of the COLURES, TROPICS, POLAR-CIRCLES, and the POLES of the WORLD.

TH

Cleonicus.

HE next Circles we are to confider, in the Sphere, are those two called the Colures, both which pafs through the Poles of the World, and cut the Equinoctial at right Angles.

Euphrof. And one of them paffes thro' the Equinoctial Points, I obferve.

Cleon. It does fo; and therefore it is called the Equinoctial Colure; the other, which paffes thro' the Beginning of Cancer, is called the Solftitial Colure.

Euphrof. Whence hath it that Name?

Cleon. From hence, that when the Sun, in his annual Course, comes near to the Beginning of these Signs on either Side, he feems to move neither Northward nor Southward for fome Time, but as it were to be ftationary, which Standing ftill of the Sun, is in the Latin called Solftitium, whence thefe two Points are called the Solftices,

Euphrof. What Diftinction is made of these Solftitial Points?

Cleon. Because the Sun, when it is in the Beginning of Cancer makes Midfummer, that Point is called the Summer Solstice; thus the other Point is called the Winter Solstice; because, when the Sun is in it, it is then Mid-winter.

Euphrof. And have not the other Points, which you call the Equinoxes, in which the other Colure cuts the Ecliptic, fome diftinct Denomination from the Seasons alfo ?

Cleon. Yes; for when the Sun is in the Beginning of Aries, it is then the Middle of the Spring, which in Latin is called Ver, and therefore this Equinox is called the Vernal Equinox; and when the Sun is in the other Equinox, it is the Middle of Autumn, which therefore is called the Autumnal Equinox.

Euphrof. Then thefe two Colures, I perceive, are, in a Sort, the Boundaries of the Seasons.

Cleon. That is their Office; they each of them point out two oppofite Seasons by their two oppofite Parts upon the Ecliptic. And these are the two most notable Meridians of those that are fixed; and the Solftitial Colure has this in particular, that it also paffes through the Poles of the Ecliptic, and therefore cuts it alfo at right Angles. Of thefe Circles Manilius has given us this general Description.

From Pole all round to Pole two Lines exprefs'd,
Adverfely drawn, which interfect the Reft,
And one another: They furround the Whole,
And croffing, make right Angles at each Pole.
Thefe into four juft Parts divide the Sphere,
And mark by Signs the Seasons of the Year.

After this, he gives us a particular Defcription of each
Colure, and their Courfe through the various Conftella-
tions of the Heavens: And firft of the Equinoctial Colure-
One drawn from Heav'n's high Top, defcends from far,
And cuts the Serpent's Tail, and the dry Bear:
The Equinoctial Scales, the Snake's Extremes,
And next the Southern Centaur's middle Beams;
Then thwarts the adverfe Pole, and next divides
The mighty Whale, and parts its fcaly Sides.
Bright Aries Point, and fplendid Trigon paft
The fair Andromeda below the Waift;