76 



SCENERY OF THE HEAVENS. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE MOON AND LUNAR PHENOMENA. 



EXT to the greater light that rules the day, the most useful and 

 interesting to us of all the bodies in the universe, is the lesser light 

 that rules the night. The proximity of the moon, the relation in 

 which she is linked to the earth, the power she exerts upon the 

 ocean in drawing up its billows, and the great importance of the 

 lunar theory to safe navigation, have intently fixed the eye of 

 science upon her orb ; while the mild radiance with which she 

 shines in the heavens, the advantage of her light to the terres- 

 trial traveller, and the beauty and regularity of her changing 

 phases, have elicited the admiration of barbarian and polished 

 races. The unfailing performance within a definite period of a synodical revolution, or 

 the cycle included between each conjunction with the sun, when she is invisible, called 

 synodical, from the Greek word signifying a coming together, has rendered the moon a 

 convenient time-keeper to men in rude states of society, and won for her the love and 

 respect of savage tribes. Among the wandering hordes of the western continent, such a 

 number of moons measures the duration of a journey, and the lapse of events ; and suc- 

 cessive lunar appearances are discriminated by coincident terrestrial occurrences, as the 

 wild-Strawberry moon, the wild-rice gathering moon, the ice moon, the deer-rutting moon, 

 and the leaf-falling moon. Some of the sacred ceremonies of the Jews, in the early 

 periods of their history, Were regulated by the sign of the lunar crescent in the heavens, 

 and the rabbins relate, that persons were stationed on the tops of the mountains to watch 

 for the first appearance of the moon, which event was proclaimed by signal fires 

 throughout the land. In all ages, the eye of man has gazed with delight upon her face, 

 whether in courtly of in rustic life, from old baronial halls or cottages obscure. The 

 meek splendour, the quietude, the fidelity, of which the luminary is a visible image, 

 bewitch the senses, excite the imagination, and have originated some of the most cap- 

 tivating strains of poetic description, among which the Trojan bivouac scene in the Iliad 

 still stands peerless. 



" The troops exulting sat in order round, 

 And beaming fires illumin'd all the ground. 

 As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night* 

 O'er heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light ; 

 When not a breath disturbs the deep serene, 

 And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene, 

 Around her throne the vivid planets roll, 

 And stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole ; 

 O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, 

 And tip with silver every mountain's head; 

 Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect risej 

 A flood of glory bursts from all the skies ; 

 The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight, 

 Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light." 



An imaginary soliloquy, put into the mouth of Milton by a living Writer, strikingly 

 expresses the emotions of such a mind, upon first perceiving the curtain about to fall 



