Pupil. Without doubt.
Tutor. Then you find that the earth is 190 millions of miles nearer to the star at one time of the year than it is at another; and yet the magnitude of the star does not appear the least altered, nor is its distance affected by it.
Pupil. A proof of its amazing distance.—I was going to ask a silly question.
Tutor. What is it? perhaps not so simple as you may imagine.
Pupil. Whether the most conspicuous stars are not supposed to be the nearest to us?
Tutor. Undoubtedly.—And are called stars of the first magnitude; the next in splendor, stars of the second magnitude; and so on to the sixth magnitude; and those beyond, which are not visible to the naked eye, are called telescopic stars.
Pupil. The distance of the telescopic stars must be great indeed, beyond all conception.
Tutor. You judge rightly; and their numbers are beyond all computation. Doctor Herschell says, he has not a doubt but that the broad circle in the heavens, called the Milky Way, is a most extensive stratum of stars, he having discovered in it many thousands. Besides, some stars appear to him double, others treble, &c. not that they are really so, but are stars at different distances from us, which appear nearly in a right line.
“As in the milky-way a shining white
“O’erflows the heav’ns with one continued light,