Winter in that which is equally distant from the Equator on the other Side.

Cleon. I am glad to fee you apprehend it now; for that is indeed the Cafe; and thus, I think, you have as compleat an Idea of the Reasons of the Summer-Seafon, as at prefent I can give you; tho' I may have Occafion hereafter to fay fomething further on this Head. One Thing yet remains, and that is, to fhew you what Parts of the Earth participate of the Sun's Light and Heat, and which are excluded from it, in the prefent Situation thereof. For it is not now, as in the Spring, when all the Earth received the enlivening Influences of the Sunbeams in the Space of 24 Hours, and had an equal Share of his Abfence; but now fome Parts enjoy continual Day, while others are over-whelmed in Darkness of equal Duration.

Euphrof. This, I suppose, you can fhew by the Taper and darkened Room, as before.

Cleon. Yes, my Euphrofyne;I'll fhut the Windows-and fetting the Candle in the Place of the Sun, that the Light may fall on the Earth -I put the Machine in Motion, and you fee the Parts of the Terrella illuminated, either wholly, or in Part, or not at all, in every diurnal Rotation about its Axis.

Euphrof. I do; and it is very curious to behold!

-I fee all the Parts about the North Pole (N) as far as the Arctic Circle (a b) conftantly enlightened during the whole Rotation.- -On the contrary, I obferve all the Parts about the South Pole, to the Antarctic Circle (cd), are wholly in the dark-while all other Parts of the Earth, the nearer they are to the North Pole, or rather the Arctic Circle (a b), the more they fhare of the Sun's Light, in each Revolution of the Earth.

Cleon. Your Obfervations are all very juft, and take in almoft all I intended ;-but farther, you fee, that, as the Earth advances in her annual Orbit from Capricorn towards Aries (Y), the North Pole (N) recedes from the Sun; and leaves, by Degrees, thofe Places within the Arctic Circle (ab) remoteft from the Polar Point, to fhare a Part of the Night; and the more largely fo, as they are more remote from the Pole N.

VOL. I.

Euphref. Yes, all this I fee, Cleonicus, with infinite Pleafure. And farther obferve, that the fame Parts about the South Pole (S) which before lay obfcured in Night, are in the fame Manner restored by Degrees to cherishing Light and Day.

Clean. I do affure you, my Euphrofyne, without a Compliment, fuch is your Perfpicuity, that nothing I know of worthy Notice, has efcaped your Eye, in Relation to this Seafon, and the Phanomena thereof, by the Orrery. We will now again throw open the Windows, and reftore Phabus to his central Throne, that he may again prefide o'er the moving Orbs of the Syftem.— The Earth keeps journeying on:-fhe is now got near the Beginning of Aquarius (~~) and the Summer declines towards Autumn.

Euphrofyne. What Time do you fuppofe the Summer to end, and Autumn begin?

Cleon. About the Beginning of Auguft; when the Sun appears about the Middle of Leo ($), and the Earth is in the Middle of Aquarius, where in a few Minutes you will fee her.

Euphrof. If the Summer expires about Auguft, how comes it to pafs, that that is, for the moft Part, the hotteft Month in the Year?

Cleon. You may conceive the Reason of that after this Manner: During the Summer Months, the Days, being longer than the Nights, pour more Rays, or Heat upon the Earth, than the Coldness of the Nights can extinguifh; and therefore, there will every Day be an Excess of Heat remaining in the Earth; and this being every Day augmented thro' the whole Summer, must be very confiderable at the latter End; when the Earth will be heated, not only by the Sun-Beams falling on it, but alfo by thofe which remain in it in great Quantity, the Forces of both which conjoined, produce thofe almost infupportable, fultry Heats, which ofher in the Autumn.

Euphrof. What you fay, Cleonicus, feems very confonant to Reason; and now I have a much more extenfive and rational Idea of this Seafon, and its various Qualities, than I had before.'Tis true, the Summer Heat is fo exceffive, as makes it, in Point of Pleasure, yield to the Spring.

1

Cleon. Yes it does fo; but even thofe intense Heats, which to us are irkfome and almoft unfufferable, are in Nature as beneficial and neceffary as the Temperament of any other Season: For hereby all the Flowers, Fruits, and Seeds of Trees and Plants, in every Clime, are brought to Maturity and Perfection. But the fpecial Advantages of this, as well as the other Seasons, are moft beautifully defcribed by the Poets.Thus Sir Richard Blackmore:

The Heats of Summer Benefits produce,

Of equal Number and of equal Ufe.

The Sprouting Births and beauteous vernal Bloom,
By warmer Rays to ripe Perfection come;
Th' auftere and pond'rous Juices they fublime,
Make them afcend the porous Soil, and climb
The Orange Tree, the Citron, and the Lime:
Which, drank in Plenty by the thirsty Root,
Break forth in painted Flowers and golden Fruit.
They explicate the Leaves, and ripen Food
For the Silk-labourers of the Mulb'ry Wood:
And the fweet Liquor on the Cane bestow,
From which prepar'd the lufcious Sugars flow:
With gen'rous Juice enrich the spreading Vine,
And in the Grape digeft the fprightly Wine.
The fragrant trees, which grow by Indian Floods,
And in Arabia's' aromatic Woods,

Gwe all their Spices to the Summer's Heat,
Their gummy Tears, and odorif rous Sweat.
Now the bright Sun compacts the precious Stone,
Imparting radiant Luftre like his own:
He tinctures Rubies with their rofy Hue,
And on the Saphire Spreads a heav'nly blue ;

For the proud Monarch's dazzling Crown prepares
Rich, orient Pearl, and adamantine Stars.

}

Creation, Lib. II.

And Mr. Thomfon, in his admirable Poem:
When the bright Virgin gives the beauteous Days,
And Libra weighs in equal Scales the Year;
From Heav'n's high Cope, the fierce Effulgence fbook,.
Of parting Summer, a ferener Blue,

With golden Light irradiate, wide invests
Q 2.

The

I

The happy World. Attemper'd Suns arife,
Sweet-beam'd, and shedding oft thro' lucid Clouds
A pleafing Calm; while broad, and brown, below,
Unbounded Harvests hang the heavy Head.
Rich, filent, deep, they fland; for not a Gale
Rolls its light Billows o'er the bending Plain;
A Calm of Plenty! 'till the ruffled Air

Falls from its Poize, and gives the Breeze to blow.
Rent is the fleecy Mantle of the Sky;
The Clouds fly different; and the fudden Sun,
By Fits effulgent, gilds th' illumin'd Field,
And black by Fits the Shadows fweep along.
A gayly checker'd, wide extended View,
Far as the circling Eye can foot around,
Convolv'd, and toffing in a Flood of Corn.

DIALOGUE XI.

Of AUTUMN.

Euphrafyne.

Think we have had a very pleafing Speculation on the two first Seasons, Spring and Summer; and they fucceed fo faft in this Machine, that Autumn is already very far advanced upon us, the Earth being fome Degrees in Pifces (X)

Cleon. Yes, the Days now grow fhorter, and the Nights lengthen; the Parts towards the North Pole, and within the Arctic Circle, are now carried farther and farther from the Sun, as thofe, towards and about the South Pole, are turned more and more to its Beams. And thus, with the former, the Summer-Heats as with the latter, the Winter-Colds abate, and Nature is again reftored to an Equilibrium, or a due and equal Distribution of Light and Heat, Day and Night, to all Parts of the Earth equally diftant from the Equator, on each Side. And this obtains, when the Earth enters Aries (v), or the Sun is feen in Libra (a).

Euphrof. Though there be an Equality of Days and Nights, &c. in Autumn, as in the Spring; yet it is not near so pleasant a Seafon. The Trees and Fields are then green and blooming; now brown and fading.

Nature

Nature seems now fickening, and drawing towards its Diffolution; but then revived and regenerated in its various Produce. Yet I can't say, but Autumn has its Pleasures too; the Harvest-Fields of ripened Grain, the Labourers performing their feveral Tafks therein, the autumnal Seasons of Ploughing and Sowing, and various other Things, make rural Scenes delightful at this Seafon. -I am greatly delighted with Homer's beautiful Defcription of the HARVEST-FIELD—

Another Field rofe high with waving Grain;
With bended Sickles ftand the Reaper-train:
Here fretch'd in Ranks the levell'd Swarths are found,
Sheaves heap'd on Sheaves, here thicken up the Ground.
With Sweeping Stroke the Mowers ftrow the Lands;
The Gath'rers follow, and collect in Bands;
And laft, the Children, in whofe Arms are borne
(Too fhort to gripe them) the brown Sheaves of Corn.
The ruftic Monarch of the Field deferies,
With filent Glee, the Heaps around him rife.
A ready Banquet on the Turf is laid,
Beneath an ample Oak's expanded Shade;
The Victim-ox the sturdy Youth prepare;
The Reaper's due Repast, the Womens Care.
And of the VINTAGE-

Next, ripe in yellow Gold, a Vineyard fhines,
Bent with the pond'rous Harvest of its Vines;
A deeper Dye the dangling Clusters fhow,
And curl'd on filver Props, in Order glow:
A darker Metal mix'd, intrench'd the Place,
And Pales of glittring Tin th' Enclosure grace.
To this, one Path-way gently-winding leads,
Where march a Train with Baskets on their Heca.
(Fair Maids and blooming Youths) that fmiling bear
The purple Product of th' autumnal Year.
To thefe a Youth awakes the warbling Strings,
Whofe tender Lay the Fate of Linus fings;
In meafur'd Dance behind him move the Train,
Tune foft the Voice, and answer to the Strain.
And that of PLOWING feems to be admirably fine.
A Field deep furrow'd next the God defign'd,
The third Time labour'd by the fweating Hind: