CHAPTER I. 



WHA T MA Y BE SEEN IN THE HE A VENS. 



Skies flower'd with stars, 

 Violet, rose, or pearl-hued, or soft blue r 

 Golden, or green, the light now blended, now 

 Alternate. 



P. J. BAILEY, Festus. 



UR observation of the celestial phenomena may 

 most easily be made in the winter-time. Then 



the nights are long, and the vault of heaven is 

 crowded with stars, and, unilluminated by the moon, 

 exhibits all its splendours. In the other seasons of the 

 year, and particularly in summer, the twilight gleam 

 encroaches, so to speak, upon a portion of the nights, 

 which are otherwise so brief, and precludes our vision 

 from any exact estimate of the stars. Those demi- 

 tints, those soft subdued reflections of light, scarcely 

 permit the eye to distinguish even stars of the first and 

 second magnitude, which shine like spots of dull gold 

 on a background of pale silver. 



