40 History of Nature. [BooK II. 



the starry Heaven, and treat of all the rest between it and 

 the Earth. 



The Planet which they call Saturn* is the highest, and 

 therefore seemeth to be least : also he performeth his Revo- 

 lution in the greatest Circle of all : and it is certain, that in 

 thirty Years' Space he retnrneth again to the Point of his 

 first Place. Moreover, the Motion of all the Planets, and 

 also of the Sun and Moon, go a contrary Course to that of 

 the starry Heaven ; namely, to the left hand [i. e. eastward] ; 

 whereas the said Sky itself always hasteneth to the right 

 [i. e. westward]. And whereas in that continual turning 

 with exceeding Celerity, those Planets be lifted up aloft, and 

 hurried by it into the West, and there set : yet by a contrary 

 Motion of their own, they pass every one through their 

 several Ways eastward ; and this because that the Air, roll- 

 ing ever one Way> and to the same Part, by the continual 

 turning of the Heaven, should not grow stagnant whilst the 

 Globe thereof resteth idle ; but should be minutely divided 

 by the violent adverse Action of these Stars. The Planet 

 Saturn is of a cold and frozen Nature, but the Circle 

 of Jupiter is much lower than it, and therefore his Revo- 

 lution is performed with a more speedy Motion, in twelve 

 Years. The third, of Mars, which some call Hercules, is 

 fiery and ardent, by Reason of the Sun's Vicinity, and run- 

 neth his Race in about two Years. And it is by the exceed- 

 ing Heat of Mars, and the Cold of Saturn, that Jupiter, who 

 is placed betwixt, is well tempered of them both, and so be- 

 cometh salutary. Next to them is the Course of the Sun, 

 consisting of 360 Parts [or Degrees] : but that the Observa- 

 tion of the Shadows which he casteth may return again to 

 their former Marks, five Days be added to every Year, with 

 the fourth Part of a Day over and above. Whereupon, in 

 every fifth Year one odd Day is added to the Rest ; to the 

 End that the Reckoning of the Seasons may agree with the 



1 The planets since discovered two of them, Herschel, or Uranus, 

 and the new, and as yet unnamed, star, still more remote than it, and the 

 others exceedingly small must have been beyond the reach of ancient 

 observation, from ignorance of the telescope. Wern. Club. 



