%% STUDIES OF NATURE, 



cern thoùfands. Are thofe very ftars, fo varioufly 

 coloured, really Suns ? Are thofe planets, which 

 revolve around ours, adually inhabited, as ours 

 is? From whence came the planet Cybele "*, dif- 

 covered but yefterday, by a German of the name 

 of Herjchel? It has been running it's race from 

 the beginning of the Creation, and was, till of 

 late, unknown to us. Whither go thofe uncer- 

 tainly revolving comets, traverhng the regions of 

 unbounded fpace ? Of what confifts that milky 

 way which divides the firmament of Heaven ? 

 What are thofe two dark clouds, placed toward 

 the Antar6lic Pole, near the crofs of the South ? 

 Can there be ftars which diffufe darknefs, con- 

 formably to the belief of the Ancients ? Are there 

 places in the firmament which the light never 

 reaches ? The Sun difcovers to me only a terref- 

 trial infinity, and the night difclofes an infinity al- 

 together celeftial. O, myfterious ignorance, draw 

 thy hallowed curtains over thofe enchanting fpec- 

 tacles ! Permit not human Science to apply to 

 them it's cheerlefs compafTes. Let not virtue be 

 reduced, henceforth, to look for her reward from 

 the juftice and the fenfibility of a Globe ! Permit 

 her to think that there are in the Univerfe, defti- 

 nies far different from thofe which fill up the mea- 

 fure of woe upon this Earth. 



* The Englifh, in compliment to their Sovereign, George III. 

 give it the name of Ceorgium Si Jus. 



Science 



