THE GREAT BEAR. 



it has been the fortune of the first of these two groups to 

 strike the eye of the most indifferent observer from the re- 

 motest antiquity ; and its likeness to a quadriga early procured 

 it the name of a car or chariot. For those Christians who 

 pleased themselves in studding the sky with Biblical per- 

 sonages, it is David's 

 Chariot. This species 

 of apotheosis was bor- 

 rowed from the Pa- 

 gans. They placed 

 in the skies their di- 

 vinities, their demi- 

 gods, their heroes, 

 and the principal facts 

 and stories of their 

 mythology. For the 

 Greeks and Romans 



the "Chariot Of FIG. 2. -The Great Bear and Little Bear. 



David " was the female of the Bear, an ursa, or 

 Whence came this transfiguration ? Listen to the fanciful old 

 myth. 



Callisto was the most beautiful of the daughters of the 

 King Lycaon. Jupiter, who may appropriately be styled 

 the " Don Juan " or " Lovelace " of the heathen Olympus, fell 

 in love with her ; and she bore him a son, named Areas, who 

 gave his name to Arcadia, that land of song and fable, groves 

 and streams, where Lycaon exercised his sovereign sway. 



