dazzling brightness amidst the flaming bodies, which you, as you have learned from the Greeks, term the Milky Way; from which position all other objects seemed to me, as I surveyed them, marvellous and glorious. There were stars which we never saw from this place, and their magnitudes were such as we never imagined; the smallest of which was that which, placed upon the extremity of the heavens, but nearest to the earth, shone with borrowed light. But the globular bodies of the stars greatly exceeded the magnitude of the earth, which now to me appeared so small, that I was grieved to see our empire contracted, as it were, into a very point.*

All

Which, while I was too eagerly gazing on, Africanus said, "How long will your attention be fixed upon the earth? Do you not see into what temples you have entered? things are connected by nine circles, or rather spheres; one of which (which is the outermost) is heaven, and comprehends all the rest, (inhabited by) that all-powerful God, who bounds and controls the others; and in this sphere reside the original principles of those endless revolutions which the planets perform. Within this are contained seven other spheres, that turn round backwards, that is, in a contrary direction to that of the heaven. Of these, that planet which on earth you call Saturn, occupies one sphere. That shining body which you see next is called Jupiter, and is friendly and salutary to mankind. Next the lucid one, terrible to the earth, which you call Mars. The Sun holds the next place, almost under the middle region; he is the chief, the leader, and the director of the other luminaries; he is the soul and guide of the world, and of such immense bulk, that he illuminates and fills all other objects with his light. He is followed by the orbit of Venus, and that of Mercury, as attendants; and the Moon rolls in the lowest sphere, enlightened by the rays of the Sun. Below this there is nothing but what is mortal and transitory, excepting those

* If we compare this passage with the fortieth chapter of the Prophecies of Isaiah, and also the fourth eclogue of Virgil, with other parts of the same prophecy, we shall find it difficult to believe that that inspired book had not in part or wholly come to the knowledge of the Romans as early as the age of Cicero.

souls which are given to the human race by the goodness of the gods. Whatever lies above the Moon is eternal. For the earth, which is the ninth sphere, and is placed in the centre of the whole system, is immovable and below all the rest; and all bodies, by their natural gravitation, tend towards it."

Which, as I was gazing at in amazement I said, as I recovered myself, from whence proceed these sounds so strong, and yet so sweet, that fill my ears? "The melody (replies he) which you hear, and which, though composed in unequal time, is nevertheless divided into regular harmony, is effected by the impulse and motion of the spheres themselves, which, by a happy temper of sharp and grave notes, regularly produces various harmonic effects. Now it is impossible that such prodigious movements should pass in silence; and nature teaches, that the sounds which the spheres at one extremity utter must be sharp, and those on the other extremity must be grave; on which account, that highest revolution of the star-studded heaven, whose motion is more rapid, is carried on with a sharp and quick sound; whereas this of the moon, which is situated the lowest, and at the other extremity, moves with the gravest sound. For the earth, the ninth sphere, remaining motionless, abides invariably in the innermost position, occupying the central spot in the universe.

"Now these eight directions, two of which* have the same powers, effect seven sounds, differing in their modulations, which number is the connecting principle of almost all things. Some learned men, by imitating this harmony with strings and vocal melodies, have opened a way for their return to this place; as all others have done, who, endued with pre-eminent qualities, have cultivated in their mortal life the pursuits of heaven.

"The ears of mankind, filled with these sounds, have become deaf, for of all your senses it is the most blunted.

Thus,

* Mercury and Venus are the planets here referred to. The idea of the music of the spheres has embellished the compositions of many poets, both ancient and modern. One passage, however, in the pages of Shakspeare appears to have been suggested by this part of the writings of Cicero. It is as follows:

"Sit, Jessica, see how the floor of heaven

Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold;

the people who live near the place where the Nile rushes down from very high mountains to the parts which are called Catadupa, are destitute of the sense of hearing, by reason of the greatness of the noise. Now this sound, which is effected by the rapid rotation of the whole system of nature, is so powerful, that human hearing cannot comprehend it, just as you cannot look directly upon the sun, because your sight and sense are overcome by his beams.”

Though admiring these scenes, yet I still continued directing my eyes in the same direction towards the earth. On this Africanus said, "I perceive that even now you are contemplating the abode and home of the human race. And as this appears to you diminutive, as it really is,† fix your regard upon these celestial scenes, and despise those abodes

There is not a single star which thou beholdest

But in its motion like an angel sings,

Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim.

Such harmony is in immortal souls:

But while this muddy vesture of decay

Doth grossly close us in, we cannot hear it."

*

Merchant of Venice.

"If minds in general are not made to be strongly affected by the phe nomena of the earth and heavens; they are, however, all subject to be powerfully influenced by the appearances and character of the human world. I suppose a child in Switzerland, growing up to a man, would have acquired incomparably more of the cast of his mind from the events, manners, and actions of the next village, though its inhabitants were but his occasional companions, than from all the mountain scenes, the cataracts, and every circumstance of beauty or sublimity in nature around him. We are all true to our species, and very soon feel its importance to us (though benevolence be not the basis of the interest) far beyond the importance of anything that we can see besides. Beginning your observation with children, you may have noted how instantly they will turn their attention away from any of the aspects of nature, however rare or striking, if human objects present themselves to view in any active manner."-John Foster, Essay I.

"Is it for no purpose that the human eye is permitted to traverse the immensity of space? or is it with no moral intention that now at length, and after five thousand years of labour and conjecture, a true notion of the material universe has been attained and has become diffused among all ranks in every civilized community ? At last, and in these times, man knows his place in the heavens, and is taught to think justly of the relative importance of the planet which has given him birth. During a long course of centuries, it was to little purpose, or to little in relation to man, that the emanations of light had passed and re-passed from side to side of the universe; for until of late, that is to say, the last three centuries, it was not certainly known whether this earth (itself unexplored) were not the only

of men. What celebrity are you able to attain to in the discourse of men, or what glory that ought to be desired? You perceive that men dwell on but few and scanty portions of the earth, and that amidst these spots, as it were, vast solitudes are interposed! As to those who inhabit the earth, not only are they so separated that no communication can circulate among them from the one to the other, but part lie upon one side, part upon another, and part are diametrically opposite to you, from whom you assuredly can expect no glory.

You are now to observe, that the same earth is encircled and encompassed as it were by certain zones, of which the two that are most distant from one another, and lie as it were towards the vortexes of the heavens in both directions, are rigid as you see with frost, while the middle and the largest zone is burnt up with the heat of the sun. Two of these are habitable; of which the southern, whose inhabitants imprint their footsteps in an opposite direction to you, have no relation to your race. As to this other, lying towards the north, which you inhabit, observe what a small portion of it falls to your share; for all that part of the earth which is inhabited by you, which narrows towards the south and north,* but widens from east to west, is no other than a little island surrounded by that sea, which on earth you call the Atlantic, sometimes the great sea, and sometimes the ocean; and yet with so grand a name, you see how diminutive it is! Now do you think it possible for your renown, or that of any one of us, to move from those cultivated and inhabited spots of ground, and pass beyond that Caucasus, or swim across yonder Ganges? What inhabitant of

scene of life, and whether the sun, the stars, and the planets were anything more than brilliants floating in an upper ether."-Taylor's Physical Theory of Another Life, chap. 15.

* Which narrows towards the south and north, &c. This is a very curious passage, and if our author's interpreters are to be believed, he was acquainted with the true figure of the earth, a discovery which is generally thought to have been reserved for Sir Isaac Newton, and to have been confirmed by some late experiments; but I own I am not without some doubts as to our author's meaning, whether he does not here speak, not of the whole face of the earth, but of that part of it which was possessed or conquered by the Romans.-Guthrie.

"What might be," says Dr. Johnson, after quoting this passage, "the

the other parts of the east, or of the extreme regions of the setting sun, of those tracts that run towards the south or towards the north, shall ever hear of your name? Now supposing them cut off, you see at once within what narrow limits your glory would fain expand itself. As to those who speak of you, how long will they speak?

Let me even suppose that a future race of men shall be desirous of transmitting to their posterity your renown or mine, as they received it from their fathers; yet when we consider the convulsions and conflagrations that must necessarily happen at some definite period, we are unable to attain not only to an eternal, but even to a lasting fame.* Now of effect of these observations conveyed in Ciceronian eloquence to Roman understandings, cannot be determined; but few of those, who shall in the present age read my humble version will find themselves much depressed in their hopes or retarded in their designs; for I am not inclined to believe, that they who among us pass their lives in the cultivation of knowledge, or acquisition of power, have very anxiously inquired what opinions prevail on the further banks of the Ganges, or invigorated any effort by the desire of spreading their renown among the clans of Caucasus. The hopes and fears of modern minds are content to range in a narrower compass; a single nation and a few years, have generally sufficient amplitude to fill our imaginations. A little consideration will indeed teach us, that fame has other limits than mountains and oceans, and that he who places happiness in the frequent repetition of his name, may spend his life in propagating it, without any danger of weeping for new worlds, or necessity of passing the Atlantic sea. "If, therefore, he that imagines the world filled with his actions and praises, shall subduct from the number of his encomiast, all those who are placed below the flight of fame, and who hear in the valleys of life no voice but that of necessity; all those who imagine themselves too important to regard him, and consider the mention of his name as a usurpation of their time; all who are too much or too little pleased with themselves to attend to anything external; all who are attracted by pleasure, or chained down by pain to unvaried ideas; ail who are withheld from attending his triumph by different pursuits; and all who slumber in universal negligence, he will find his renown straitened by nearer bounds than the rocks of Caucasus, and perceive that no man can be venerable, or formidable, but to a small part of his fellow-creatures.

"That we may not languish in our endeavours after excellence it is necessary that, as Africanus counsels his descendant, we raise our eyes to higher prospects, and contemplate our future and eternal state, without giving up our hearts to the praise of crowds, or fixing our hopes on such rewards as human power can bestow."-Rambler, No. 118.

* "Lastly, leaving the vulgar arguments that by learning man excelleth man in that wherein man excelleth beasts; that by learning man ascendeth to the heavens, and their motions, where in body he cannot come, and the like; let us conclude with the dignity and excellency of knowledge and