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EOPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
THE TELESCOPE. 
BY JAMES BREEN, P.R.A.S. 
T HE lines of Wordsworth in which he seeks for the cause 
of his disappointment in looking through a telescope — 
a disappointment very frequently expressed by those who look 
through “ optic glass ” for the first time — are well known : — 
Yet, showman, where can lie the cause ? Shall thy instrument have 
blame — 
A boaster that, when he is tried, fails and is put to shame ? 
Or is it good as others are, and be their eyes in fault — 
Their eyes or minds ; or, finally, is this resplendent vault ? 
Or is it rather that conceit rapacious is and strong, 
And bounty never yields so much but it seems to do her wrong ; 
Or is it that when human souls a journey long have had 
And are returned into themselves, they cannot but be sad ? 
The bard of Rydal was, however, but an indifferent judge 
of what should be expected from a telescope. On a subsequent 
occasion, whilst gazing through one of the finest and largest 
instruments in the kingdom, the appearance which most 
attracted the “ poet’s eye ” was that presented by a star 
or planet with the eye-piece out of focus, when with its 
coloured fringes and prismatic rings it assumed, as the poet 
himself expressed it, that “ beautiful bird-of-paradise aspect ” 
which is not at all popular with opticians, who much prefer 
distinct and colourless images. 
It must, however, be confessed that many are disappointed 
with the telescopic appearance of the brightest single stars, 
which appear smaller the more perfect the instrument. 
It is different indeed with, the larger planets, the sun, but 
above all the moon, which latter, with its vast and rocky 
mountains, particularly during- its first and last quarters, is 
always a glorious object. In a large instrument, too, the 
sight presented by the resolution of one of the globular 
clusters, where thousands of stars are huddled into a space 
apparently but a few inches in diameter, is wonderful in the 
extreme. Perhaps, however, in all of these the amateur 
observer is more or less disappointed, when he hears that he 
is looking at those glorious orbs with powers magnifying from 
five hundred to a thousand times, — not considering how far they 
