1O6 Meteors. 



aspect. In this repository is collected 

 the gentle dew and hoar-frost ; here 

 clouds are gathered and carried along by 

 the wind, to refresh the earth in falling 

 showers, give rise to rivers, spread vast 

 inundations of water over the fields, or 

 lay them under a covering of snow or 

 hail ; here mock-suns, mock-moons, ha- 

 loes, and rainbows make their gaudy but 

 transitory appearance ; and here the wa- 

 ter-spout, dreadful to the mariner ; here 

 rolls the dreadful thunder, here lightnings 

 dart their vivid flames, and sometimes, 

 striking upon the earth, destroy its pro- 

 ductions, fill its inhabitants with terror, 

 and sometimes strike them dead ; here 

 the auroras, or streamers, the ignesfatui, 

 or wandering fires, called also Jack with 

 the Lantern ; here falling stars, as they 

 are ignorantly termed, or fiery balls of va- 

 rious sizes, appear with splendour during 

 the gloom of night, and astonish man- 

 kind, who too often seem willing, with 

 superstitious awe, to find portentous o- 

 mens of dire calamities in these curious 

 phenomena, rather than investigate their 

 causes or discover their uses. 



