44 ■ ON THE ART OF IBLENE8S. May 1 8, 



write a volume, and perhaps finifh in the clouds. How 

 puny, how diminutive are thofe difcoveries we uled 

 formerly to boall of, when compared to thofe of Her- 

 fchell, who puts up millions of covies of wox-lds at a 

 beat. My conception is not ample enough to take in 

 even a Iketch of his glimpfes ; and left I fhould lofe 

 myfelf in attempting to follow his inveftigations, I re- 

 cal my mind home, and apply it to refledl on what we 

 thought we knew, when xve imagined we knew fome- 

 thing (which we deemed a vaft deal) pretty correctly. 

 Segrais, 1 tliink it was, ivho faid with mucli contempt, 

 to a lady who talked of her flar ; " Your ftar ! there 

 '* are but two thoufand ftars in all ; and do you iraa- 

 " gine, madam, that you have a whole one to yourfelf?" 

 The foolifii dame, it feems, was not more ignorant tlian 

 Segrais himfeif. If our fyfleni includes twenty mil- 

 lions of worlds, the lady had as much right to pretend 

 to a whole ticket, as the philofopher had to treat her 

 like a fervant-maid, who buys a ci)ance for a day in a 

 Hate lottery. 



*' Stupenduous as Mr. Herfchell's invefligations are, 

 and admirable as his talents, his exprelTion of ourrf- 

 tircd corner feems a little improper. When a little 

 emmet ftanding on its ant-hill, could get a peep mto 

 infinity, how could he think he faw 'a corner of it ? a 

 retired corner ! Is there a bounded fide to infinitude ? 

 If there are twenty millions of worlds, v/hy not as "many 

 and as raany more? Oh ! one's imagination cracks I I 

 long to bait within diftance of home, and reft at the 

 moon, Mr. Herfchell will content me, if he can difco- 

 ver thirteen provinces there, well inhabited by men 

 ■ and women, and protected by the law of nations 5 that 

 law which was cnnfted by Europe for its own emolu- 

 iTicnt, to the prejudice of the other three parts of the 

 frlobe, and wliich beftows the property of the whole 

 :fealm3 on the firll perfon who happens to efpy them, 

 can annex them to the crown of Great Britauij in lieu 

 of th-ffi it has loft beyond tlie Atlantic. 



