Smoke, and other opacous Matter, in various Parts of his Surface; this, as it gradually fpends itself, makes the Spots degenerate into others which look cloudy or mifty; and in the laft Place, the faid Calx, or dark Matter, being quite diffipated, an Eruption of horrid Flames fucceeds, as in a Volcano, which make the bright and flaming Parts, that fome have obferved to come in Place of the Spots. This is the beft Account, my Euphrofyne, that I can give of the Solar Spots.

Euphrof. I thank you, Brother; but it would be a greater Gratification to have a Sight of thefe Spots; could you no how shew them to me?

Cleon. Yes, very eafily; and 'tis what I intended, when we came out; for which Purpose, you fee, I have brought with me this fmall Telescope, in which I have put a fmoaked Glafs next the Eye, that the exceffive Brightnefs of the Sun might not hurt it in viewing him.

Euphrof. Dear Brother, I fee you are very careful to oblige me in every Thing; but the Sun is almost down, if you be not speedy, we fhall lofe Sight of him.

Cleon. There is juft Time enough; you will now fee him alfo gradually defcend the Horizon. Let the Tube be laid upon the upper Bar of this Gate, it will just fit. · your Eye.

Euphrof. It does fo indeed.

Cleon. The Telescope is now right to the Sun; put your Eye to the End.

Euphrof. I do.

Cleon. Can you fee any Thing?

Euphrof. Yes, the Orb of the Sun, prodigious large and bright.-I fee a Clufter of Spots in the upper Part; I think there is about 11 or 12.-I fee a very large one on the left Side,—and two more towards the Bottom.'Tis an extreme Curiofity, indeed, but it makes my Eye ake.

Cleon. Reft a little, and then view him as he fets.Euphrof. I will. But he feems now to touch the Earth.

-I'll view him.

Cleon. He is not fo near the Earth in the Glafs.Euphrof. He's yet a Foot above the Earth-Now he juft touches it;the two Spots below are just

D 3

hid

hid; the large Spot in the middle touches;-is gone;-the Clufter begins to dip;they are all down; -the Sun is almoft gone; there he is quite down.- -Well, of all Things I ever yet faw, this is the most delightful and ravishing Sight! How prodigious large he appears through the Glafs! Pray, can you tell how big he really is?

Cleon. Not certainly; because his Distance from the Earth is not certainly known; however, 'tis computed, that the Sun is in Diameter above Eight Hundred Thoufand Miles; and if fo, his Bulk will be a Million of Times greater than our Earth.

Euphrof. Prodigious! I do not wonder you place him in the Center of the Syftem; it would be a monstrous Piece of Contrivance, to make a Body fo immensely great as the Sun, move about the Earth, which in regard of him is fo very small.

Cleon. You conceive very well of the Matter, Sifter; fuch Conduct, in forming a World, can never be fuppofed in the all-wife Creator, as would be infufferable in a common Mechanic. But that the Sun is in the Center of our Syftem you have already feen fufficient Proof.

Euphrof. And has the Sun, then, no Motion at all? Cleon. If the Spots are only Blemishes in the Sun's Face, and are fixed there as Patches on a Lady's Face, 'tis certain, the Sun has a Motion about its own Center, or Axis; and that in about 25 Days 15 Hours. And this is now no longer an Uncertainty, but proved by the conftant Uniformity of their Motion.

Euphrof. But though the Sun may move upon its Axis, yet I fuppofe it to be at Reft in the Center of the Syftem, I mean, fo as not to move out of it's Place, is it not, Cleonicus ?

Clean. No, Sifter, not perfectly at Reft there neither. For you must understand, there is a certain Point, which is the true, or common Center of all the Planetary Motions, and this Point is at moft not quite a Diameter of the Sun diftant from it's Center; about this Point, therefore, the Sun, as well as all the Planets, move; but in what Time is uncertain.

Euphrof. Well, this Evening has been happily spent!

And

And now upon our Return Home, let me know what Kind of poetical Philofophers we have; for I make no doubt but the Mufes fing very harmoniously on such a glorious Subject.

Cleon. Oh, very finely indeed; the great Works and Scenes of Nature, you'll find, are the moft agreeable Themes of the Mufes; they never fing sweeter than when they chant the Wisdom and Magnificence of creating Power. Thus the Rev. Mr. Brown:

In the Beginning, the Almighty faid,

Let there be Light; that Infant Darkness fled;
All radiant Day her rofy Beams difplay'd,
And the young World in fplendid Drefs array'd.
The blazing Sun, uprising from the Eaft,
Like a young Bridegroom in his Glories drefs'd,
His fpiral Courfe thro' Voids immenfe begun,
Ages to roll, and fwift as Time to run,
Surveying and furvey'd, throughout the Vaft
Of the Creator's Works from first to laft,
Or if, as more fagacious Sages fay,

· He ftands faft fix'd amidst a Flood of Day,
Around his Orb harmonious Planets race,
By his Attraction mov'd, thro' boundless Space.
Hail facred Source of inexhaufted Light!

Prodigious Inftance of creating Might!
His Distance Man's Imagination foils;
His Numbers fcarce avail to count the Miles.
His globous Body how immenfely great!

How fierce his Burnings! How intenfe bis Heat!
As fwift as Thought he darts his Radiance round,
To diftant Worlds his Syftem's utmost Bound.
Of all the Planets the directing Soul,
That beightens, and invigor a testhe Whole.

And Mr. Baker, in his Universe:

Along the Skies the Sun obliquely rolls,
Forfakes by Turns, and vifits both the Poles.
Diff'rent his Track, but conftant his Career,
Divides the Times, and measures out the Year.

To Climes returns, where freezing Winter reigns,
Unbinds the Glebe, and fructifies the Plains.
The crackling Ice diffolves; the Rivers flow:

Vines crown the Mountain-Tops, and Corn the Vales

below.

Of his genial Influences and Virtue which he communicates to the Earth.

His Fires the gentle Flame of Life fuftain;
Hence Men and Beafts and the innum'rous Train
Of Vegetables thrive; hence spring the Pow'rs
Which breathe in Animals, and bloom in Flow'rs.
Prize-Verses, No. IV. On Aftronomy.

And Cowley thus:

The glorious Ruler of the Morning, fo
But looks on Flowers, and ftrait they grow;
And when his Beams their Light unfold,

Ripens the dull Earth, and warms it into Gold.

And of his Beams and Luftre, which enlightens the whole Solar Syftem, Mr. Hulfe thus poetically defcants.

Around the Sun the Planets Orbs are hurl'd,
That Center, Eye, and Glory of the World.
See from his Orb, array'd in all it's Pride,
A fpreading Luftre ftreams on ev'ry Side,
And in a Moment gilds the mighty Void!
His Orb fo rich, his Beams fo fwift and bright,
Proclaim the God that made him infinite!

Euphrof. As the glorious Orb of the Sun appears in all Ages the fame, pray what did the Antients think of it, Cleonicus?

Cleon. Think! why they understood fo little of Nature, exercifed fo little Reafon, and were fo very fuperftitious and devout, that, in fhort, they made a GOD of him, and really worshipped him as fuch, under the Titles of Phoebus, Apollo, &c. as you will find at large in the Pantheon. And the Cafe is the fame at this Day with the barbarous Indians, Chinese, and other Nations abroad.

Nay,

Nay, our Sabbath is called Sun-day, as being the Day appropriated to the Worship of the SUN by our idolatrous Ancestors, the Saxons.

Euphrof. There's no Doubt but they worshipped him as the God of Day, Light, and Heat; but what other Characters did he fuftain amongst them?

Cleon. They efteemed him alfo the God of Wisdom and Harmony; they painted Apollo with his Harp; and from the confummate Beauty, Order, and Regularity which they observed in the Difpofition, and Motion of the heavenly Bodies, they affigned them all to his Dominion, and thence their Poets are often chanting the Music of the Spheres, as we shall hereafter fee.

Euphrof. Pray, Cleonicus, has the Sun any great Influence on the Weather, by which its Alterations can be foretold?

Cleon. Yes, Sifter, he has Influence enough on the Atmosphere, and his Heat is the general Cause of all Meteors, and Variety of Weather; and, indeed, by viewing his Orb thro' the Body of the Air, variously modified and altered by Vapours, they who are used to it, as Husbandmen, Shepherds, &c. may become fo Weather wife, as often to foretel the Changes that will happen in it. And so far the Precepts of Virgil are pertinent. Thus, of the rifing Sun

-The Sun, who never lies,

Foretels the Change of Weather in the Skies.
For if he rife, unwilling, to his Race,
Clouds on his Brow, and Spots upon his Face;
Or, if thro' Mifts, he fhoots his fullen Beams,
Frugal of Light, in loofe and fraggling Streams,
Sufpect a drifling Day, with fouthern Rain,
Fatal to Fruits, and Flocks, and promis'd Grain.
Or if Aurora, with half-open'd Eyes,
And a pale, fickly Cheek, falute the Skies;
How fhall the Vine, with tender Leaves, defend
Her teeming Clufters, when the Storms defcend?
When ridgy Roofs and Tiles can fearce avail
To bar the Ruin of the rattling Hail.

Then of the fetting Sun.

But more than all, the fetting Sun survey,
When down the Steep of Heav'n he drives the Day.