Cleon. Very good, you remember and apprehend the Thing well. But fee, the Earth has now reached the critical Point, I mean the Beginning of Cancer,-and now is the Depth of Winter to all the northern Latitudes, and the Height of Summer to all the fouthern Parts.

The Sun, you obferve, appears now to enter Capricorn ().-The highest Part of the enlightened Hemisphere, you fee, reaches but to the Arctic Circle, and leaves all beyond it to the Pole in Darkness, or rather Twilight.For, as I fhall fhew you hereafter on the Globe, there are but five Degrees about the Pole, which are now in abfolute Darkness.

Euphrof. Well, 'tis very admirable to see Nature thus mimicked and represented by Art! To fee the Change and Succeffion of Seafons all performed in fo fhort a Space, is wondrous and delightful.-The Earth, I fee, is advancing a-pace towards the Vernal Equinox, whence it first fet out; and there our artificial Year will end.

Cleon. It will;-and as the Earth moves on, you'll fee, by Means of the Parallelifm of the Earth's Axis, how all the northern Parts are gradually turned towards the Sun again, and re-enjoy his Beams;-how the Days lengthen, and the Nights decrease, contrary to what happens beyond the Equator ;-and how the chilly, darksome Seafon moves off, fucceeded by the fmiling Spring.The Qualities of this Seafon afford a copious Theme to the Poets; among whom we find many beautiful Descriptions of Winter; the first and principal of which is that of old Homer, in his 12th Iliad, which is thus:

As when sharp Boreas blows abroad, and brings
The dreary WINTER on his frozen Wings;
Beneath the low-hung Clouds the Sheets of Snow
Defcend, and whiten all the Fields below.

And a little after;

in this Seafon may be collected, as from a View of the Earth itself in the Machine; and indeed there is no other Way by which this important Affair can be fo justly and naturally reprefented to the Understanding. I hope no one will think he has too much Affiftance in a Matter fo little understood, as the Rationale of the Seafons.

High Jove his fharp Artillery forms,
And opes his cloudy Magazine of Storms;
In Winter's bleak uncomfort ble reign,
A fnowy Inu dation hides the Plain;
He fills the Winds, and bids the Skies to fleep;
And pours the filent Tempeft trick and deep :
And firft the Mountain-Tops are cover'd o'er,
Then the green Fields, and then the fandy Shore;
Bent with the Weight, the nodding Woods are feen,
And one bright Wafte hides all the Works of Men,
The circling Seas alone abjorbing all,

Drink the diffolving Fleeces as they fall.
So from each Side increas'd the ftony Rain,
And the white Ruin rifes o'er the Plain.

Euphrof. This is very beautiful, indeed! Pray, what does Virgil fay on this cold Subject ?

Cleon. The Theme is a frozen one, 'tis true; but it does not abate the Poet's Fire.-For he very copiously defcribes the Winter and all its various Incidents in the following admirable Manner; where fpeaking of the northern Climates, he gives us the Defcription of a Seythian Winter in the fubfequent Lines.

Early they ftall their Flocks and Herds; for there
No Grafs the Fields, no Leaves the Forefts wear:
The frozen Earth lies bury'd there, below
A billy Heap, fev'n Cubi's deep in Snow;
And all the weft Allies of formy Boreas blow.
The Sun, from far, peeps with a fickly Face;
Too weak the Clouds, and mighty Fogs to chafe;
When up the Skies he fhoots his rofy Head,
Or in the ruddy Ocean fecks his Bed.
Swift Rivers are with fudden Ice confirain'd;
And ftudded Wheels are on its Back fuftain'd.
An Hafiry now for Waggons, which before
Tall Ships of Burden on its Bofom bore.
The brazen Cauldrons with the Froft are flaw'd;
The Garment, fiff with Ice, at Hearths is thaw'd;
With Axes first they cleave the Wine, and thence,
By Weight, the folid Portions they difpenfe.
From Locks, uncomb'd, and from the frezen Beard,
Long Ifiles depend, and crackling Sounds are heard.

Mean

Mean Time, perpetual Sleet, and driving Snow
Obfcure the Skies, and hang on Herds below:
The Starving Cattle perish in their Stalls,
Huge Oxen fiand inclos'd in wintry Walls
Of Snow congeal'd; whole Herds are buried there
Of mighty Stags, and fcarce their Horns appear;
The dextrous Huntsman wounds not there a-far,
With Shafts or Darts, or makes a diftant War
With Dogs; or pitches Toils to flop their Flight;
But clofe engages in unequal Fight.

And while they ftrive, in vain, to make their Way
Through Hills of Snow, and pitifully bray;
Afaults, with Dint of Sword, or pointed Spears,
And homeward, on his Back, the joyful Burden bears.
The Men to fubterranean Caves retire;

Secure from Cold, and crowd the chearful Fire?
With Trunks of Elms and Oaks, the Hearth they load,
Nor tempt th' Inclemency of Heav'n abroad ;
Their jovial Nights in Frolic and in Play
They pass, to drive the tedious Hours away,

And their cold Stomachs with crown'd Goblets cheer,
Of windy Cyder, and of barmy Beer.
Such are the cold Raphëan Race; and fuch
The favage Scythian, and the German Dutch;
Where Skins of Beafts the rude Barbarians wear,
The Spoils of Foxes and the furry Bear.

And thus Sir Richard Blackmore:

Dryd. Virg. Georg. III.

At length, forfaken by the folar Rays,
See blooming Nature fickens and decays,
While Winter all his fnowy Stores difplays:
In hoary Triumph unmolested reigns

O'er barren Hills, and bleak, untrodden Plains.
Hardens the Glebe, the shady Grove deforms,
Fetters the Cold, and shakes the Air with Storms;
Now attive Spirits are reftrain'd with Cold,

}

And Prifons crampt with Ice the genial Captives hold.
The Meads their flow'ry Pride no longer wear,
And Trees extend their naked Arms in Air;
The frozen Furrow, and the fallow Field,
Nor to the Spad, nor to the Harrow yield.

Creation, Book II,

The Approach of Winter is alfo thus admirably reprefented by Mr. Thomson, on the Seasons.

Now when the chearless Empire of the Sky
To Capricorn the Centaur Archer yields,
And fierce Aquarius ftains th' inverted Year;
Hung o'er the fartheft Verge of Heav'n, the Sun
Scarce Spreads o'er Ether the dejected Day.
Faint are his Gleams, and ineffectual shoot
His ftruggling Rays, in horizontal Lines,
Thro' the thick Air; as cloath'd in cloudy Storm,
Weak, wan, and broad, he skirts the fouthern Sky;
And, foon defcending, to the long, dark Night,
Wide fhading all, the proftrate World refigns.
Nor is the Night unwish'd; while vital Heat,
Light, Life, and Joy the dubious Day for fake.
Mean Time, in fable Tincture, Shadows vaft,
Deep-ting'd and damp, and congregated Clouds,
And all the vapoury Turbulence of Heaven
Involve the Face of Things. Thus Winter falls
A heavy Gloom, oppressive o'er the World,
Thro' Nature Shedding Influence malign,
And roufes up the Seeds of dark Difeafe.
The Soul of Man dies in him, loathing Life,
And black with more than melancholy Views.

The Cattle droop; and o'er the furrow'd Land,

Fresh from the Plough, the dun, difcolour'd Flocks,

Untended Spreading, crop the wholefome Root.
Along the Woods, along the moorish Fens,
Sighs the fad Genius of the coming Storm;

And up among the loofe disjointed Cliffs,

And fractur'd Mountains wild, the brawling Brook,
And Cave, prefageful, fend a hollow Mean,
Refounding long in lift'ning Fancy's Ear.

Euphrof. Well, Cleonicus, the Pleasure which these Converfations on the Seafons afford me are inexpreffible. Their Nature explained by the Orrery, and their Properties and Qualities as finely defcribed by the Poets, give me perfect Ideas thereof; fuch as I fhould never have otherwise been able to have attained.-But fee, the Year is compleated, and the Evening is fpent.-The Machine may therefore reft for this Time. And, pray, Cleonicus, what do you propose for the next Speculation?

Cleon. I purpose to fhew you next, the Theory of Day and Night, the Alternation, and various Length of each, in every Seafon of the Year; and that in the fame Manner by the Orrery, as I have explained to you

the Seasons.

DIALOGUE XIII.

The THEORY of DAY and NIGHT, explained by the ORRERY.

Euphrofyne.

O you think, Cleonicus, the Orrery the apteft and beft Machine for explaining the Nature and Difference of Night and Day.

Cleon. Undoubtedly, 'tis the best Inftrument for that Purpose ever yet invented. For here you fee the very Thing itself in Miniature. Here the Taper is the Sun, illuminating one Half of this small, terraqueous Globe, which reprefents the Earth; having all the Parts of Land and Water duly reprefented on it, with all the Meridians and Parallels of Latitude.-As it moves in its annual Courfe, you obferve it turns about its own Axis; and is furnished with an Hour-Circle and Index for measuring the Time. All which Things are now to be regarded in the Representation of Day and Night by the Machine.

Euphrof. Thefe Things I fhall readily attend to.

Therefore, put the Machine in Order, for the Experiment, and I'll put to the Window-fhutters to darken the Room.

Cleon. Stay a little, 'till I have placed the Earth in its proper Pofition for fhewing the fhorteft Night and longeft Day of the Year; and that is, in the Beginning of Capricorn, when the Sun will appear to enter Cancer.

-In the next Place, we will put a very small Patch on the Place of London, which, by its Rotation, will fhew the Parallel of London (X Y Z), described in each Revolution of the Earth about its Axis.Laftly, to