"This gorgeous apparatus! this display! This theatre;-What eye can take it in ? The fixed stars are so called, to distinguish them from the planets and other wandering bodies that move among them; for in respect to these they seem to be fixed, and with regard to each other they do not appear to change place. Thus, while the planetary bodies are not to be found in precisely the same place for any two successive days together, the stars, for instance, in the constellation of Ursa Major, or the Great Bear, have not been observed to alter their situation with respect to each other since the creation of the world. But there are few rules without exception, and here it must be observed, that new stars have been discovered which were unknown to the ancients, and many of those that appeared in old catalogues are not now visible, while numbers seem gradually to vanish, and others appear to have a periodical increase and decrease of magnitude *. All the fixed stars, however, have an apparent motion round the heavens once in 24 hours; for although that of the star nighest the pole, and consequently called the polar star, be so imperceptible as to be scarcely distinguished, yet even that star appears to move in a very small circle; and this imaginary motion is occasioned by the same cause as produces the rising and setting of the sun; viz. the revolution of the earth on its axis. Though the number of the fixed stars, visible to the naked eye, fall infinitely short to what a superficial observer might be apt to imagine; yet, from the great resemblance they bear to each other, and the confused manner in which they appear at such vast distances, it was found necessary by the ancient astronomers to class and arrange them under various figures and resemblances, to which they gave the names of several persons and things; and these imaginary likenesses, many of which, individually, obtained the name of persons celebrated in antiquity, were, in general, called constellations↑. · The * Dr. HERSCHEL in the Philosophical Transactions for 1783, has given a large collection of stars which were formerly seen but are now lost, together with a catalogue of variable stars and of new stars. -Query. May not these stars be comets belonging to other systems, or that take so vast a time to perform their revolution as seldom to have their returns noticed. +PTOLEMY has enumerated 48 constellations; and there are upon our globes about 70. The stars which could not be comprehended in the ancient constellations were cailed unformed stars; but several new ones have been made out of them by the moderns. Phe distances of the fixed stars from the earth is supposed De very great-so much so, that, were a cannon ball disged from the nearest of them, it is computed that it would 7,000,000 years before it could reach the earth*. So indeed, are these luminous orbs removed from us, that r magnitude cannot be increased by the best magnifiers; , notwithstanding the great extent of the earth's orbit or h round the sun, a fixed star does not appear to be nearer is when the earth is in that part of its orbit nearest to it, n it seemed to be when the earth was at the greatest disce, or 190 million of miles farther removed from the star! As to the size of the fixed stars, some idea may be formed m the vast distance at which they are visible. Were the 1 removed to as great a distance from us as we are from › nearest of these stars, it is not probable that he would apar greater to us, and the different apparent magnitudes of e stars is supposed only to arise from their different disces. Indeed, from a comparison of the light afforded by a ked star to that of the sun, it has been concluded, that the ed stars do not differ materially in magnitude from that minary; and as it is impossible that these bodies can shine om such a distance with a reflected light, it has also been ncluded, that the fixed stars must be of the same nature of e sun, and, like him, shine with their own native lustre. THE USES OF THE FIXED STARS. "Ask for what end these heavenly bodies shine, "But do these worlds display their beams, or guide A moment thy duration; foolish man!t" AS every part of the vast machine of the universe, seems visely made in some degree or other subservient to the whole, otwithstanding the vast distances of the stars from the earth, it would be extremely improper to deny that they may be *Dr. BRADLEY calculates the nearest fixed star from the Earth to be 40,000 times the diameter of the earth's orbit, and the distance of Draconis from the earth to be 400,000 times that of the sun, or 35,000,000,000,000 miles !!! As well may the minutest emmet say, The be to a certain extent useful to man. How often do the serve to cheer the gloom of the midnight sky when neither sun nor moon appears. In the early ages those who wa down to the sea in ships had scarce any other sure guide their wandering vessel. They still serve to direct the benig ed traveller in his solitary journey; and by means of the re volutions of the stars, the ploughmen, even had he no other directory, would know exactly when to plough his fields and sow his seeds. But if, as we have seen, the stars bear such a striking analogy to the sun in their magnitude, their nature, and some of their properties, have we not reason to conclude that they have far more important offices to fulfil than mere ly to be useful in a few respects to man; that they also, the sun, are each the centre of its respective system. But where does this reasoning lead us? for, if the stars are s and centres of other systems than that to which our earth be longs, does it not naturally follow, that there must be othe worlds revolving around them? and if other worlds, must they not also be inhabited ? This is a humiliating lesson t the sons of pride, who have indulged the thought that every thing in the universe was intended chiefly for their use; but it is not to be supposed, that the Omnipotent Creator, who has not left a leaf or drop of water unpeopled, should have left such immense bodies destitute of inhabitants. "It is surely much more rational, to suppose them the abodes of intelligent beings; of beings endowed with capacities of know ing, loving, and adoring their Creator; provided and blessed with every object conducive to their happiness; many them, perhaps, in a far greater state of purity than the inhab tants of our earth; in possession of superior degrees of bliss, and all under the direction, indulgence, and protection of in finite wisdom and goodness;" so that the poet is correct in his reasoning: "What read we here?-Th' existence of a GOD? Natives of ether! sons of higher climes!" In this view of the subject, what a grand and magnifice spectacle does the starry heavens present?-What lofty and enlarged ideas must it give of the DEITY, to suppose every st which we behold a sun, and each sun the centre of its respec tive system, of planets and comets moving within the spher of its attractive energy, and irradiated by its beams. Mus The craggy rock projects above the sky, And the whole ocean's confluent waters swell, Only to quench his thirst, or move and blanch bis shell Pri such a consideration inspire us with the grandest and st sublime ideas of that Being, who has not only formed, launched forth those numerous orbs into the immensity of ce, and who preserves them in the greatest order and rearity, so that there is not the least danger, nor the smallest sibility of their running into confusion; but to stretch our gination still farther beyond the bounderies of the visible ation, and to suppose other stars, and consequently other as and systems of inhabited worlds, moving in the same autiful order and regularity beyond these, how awful the ught! How overwhelming the consideration!-What an gust, what an amazing conception does this give of the rks of the Creator! thousands of thousands of suns multiplied thout end, and ranged all around us at immense distances m each other, attended by ten thousand times ten thousand rlds, all in rapid motion, yet calm, regular, and harmonious, ariably keeping the paths prescribed them; and these orlds doubtless peopled with myriads of beings, formed endless progression in perfection and felicity! "Not only this which we by custom call Thus we see, that the GREAT ALMIGHTY CREATOR F THE UNIVERSE, like gold well tried in the furnace of the finer, rises more AUGUST, more GRAND, more SUBLIME, more EXPRESSIBLE beyond what our finite capacities can conceive, our tongues express, the more we extend our researches into ture-that, in the words of my motto, when I entered on is pleasing and delightful task, the works of the Lord are, deed, great, in proportion as they are sought out of all them at have pleasure therein while MAN, an atom of an atom orld, dwindles into insignificance as he becomes sensible of is own imperfections and weakness; and even the most deout and diligent student of nature, while he is forced to exlaim as he contemplates the wonders of the skies: The heavens eclare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy ork,' is also obliged, from a sense of his own littleness, when ut in competition with those mighty orbs, to adopt the ollowing beautiful sentiment, When I consider the heavens the ork of thy fingers; the moon and the stars which thou hast orained: WHAT IS MAN that thou art mindful of him? and he son of man that thou visitest him?" C. P. Evening Instructions; OR, A FATHER'S ADVICE TO HIS SON ON THE CHOICE OF A TRADE T OBACCO is imported to Britain from America in the leaf, in a dry state, in hhds. from 10 to 19 or 20 cwt. The most common method of manufacturing it in this country, is by spinning it into twist, and making it into snuff. In the first of these processes the leaf is taken from the hhd, and every sprig carefully separated from each other; it is then sprinkled with clear water, and laid aside in a heap for 12 or 24 hours, till it gets moist and soft for working; afterwards it is given to boys to strip out the stalks from the sprigs, and dress it for spinning, which is performed by means of a wheel, with an iron cleck in the centre of the fore part, to convey the twist to the table, where a man with a board on his right hand, rubs round the twist, and with his left pitches in the wrappers, (or the half of the sprig,) served to him by boy, and thus he goes along the table, (which is about 10 feet long and 3 broad,) pitching and rubbing, and when at the far end the twist is thrown off, and rolled up on the wheel by a boy stationed there for the purpose. When a quantity is wrought up, it is made into rolls from 4 to 12 lb. weight each. The outside of the rolls is tightly rolled with a stout cord and put into a press, where the tobacco is pressed end or end, to make the twist more firm. The snuff operation is performed by taking a given quanti ty of leaf tobacco, or the returns of tobacco, with a certain proportion of stalks damped, and cutting the whole into) small pieces with a large knife; afterwards it is laid into a heap till it heat to a certain degree, then it is cooled and sent to the mill, where it is made into any kind of snuff required. An Apprentice to a Tobacco-spinner is bound 5 or 6 years, gets 23. per week first year, 2s. 6d. second year, 3s. the third, 4s. the fourth, 5s. the fifth, and Gs. the sixth year. Journey men have from 18s. to 21s. set wages, per wees. but in general they work by the piece, and gain from 20s! 30s. per week, |