LETTER the FIFTH.
Of the Order, Distance, and Multiplicity of the Stars, the Via Lactea, and Extent of the visible Creation.
SIR,
W
WE are told, and, if I remember right, it is also your Opinion, that three of the finest Sights in Nature, are a rising Sun at Sea, a verdant Landskip with a Rainbow, and a clear Star-light Evening: All of which I have myself often observed with vast Delight and Pleasure. The first I have frequently beheld, and always with an agreeable Surprize; the second I have as often taken notice of, with no small Degree of Admiration; but the last I shall never look up to without an Astonishment, even mixed with a kind of Rapture. The Night you last left us, this admirable Scene was in its full Beauty; and, as Milton says,
Silence was pleas'd: now glow'd the Firmament
With living Saphirs; Hesperus that led
The starry Host rode brightest.——
I found it was impossible to look long upon this stupendious Scene, so full of amazing Objects, and particularly the Via Lactea, which (the Moon being absent) was then in great Perfection, without being put in Mind of my Task. This surprizing Zone of Light being the chief Object I have undertaken to treat of and demonstrate.
This amazing Phænomenon which have been the Occasion of so many Fables, idle Romances, and ridiculous Opinions amongst the Antients, still continues to be unaccounted for, and even in an Age vain enough to boast Astronomy in its utmost Perfection.