Ch. That I cannot tell.
Fa. Nor, perhaps, can I make you exactly comprehend it; but I can show you enough to convince you that it is an affair that requires much knowledge and early study. In former times, when a vessel left the sight of land, it was steered by observation of the sun by day, and the moon and stars by night. The sun, you know, rises in the east, and sets in the west; and at noon, in these parts of the world, it is exactly south of us. These points, therefore, may be found out when the sun shines. The moon and stars vary: however, their place in the sky may be known by exact observation. Then, there is one star that always points to the north pole, and is therefore called the pole-star. This was of great use in navigation, and the word pole-star is often used by the poets to signify a sure guide. Do you recollect the description in Homer’s Odyssey, when Ulysses sails away by himself from the island of Calypso—how he steers by the stars?
Ch. I think I remember the lines in Pope’s translation.
Fa. Repeat them, then.
Ch.
“Placed at the helm he sat, and mark’d the skies,
Nor closed in sleep his ever-watchful eyes;
There view’d the Pleiades, and the Northern Team,
And great Orion’s more effulgent beam,
To which, around the axle of the sky,