ASTRONOMY
1.IT was a pleasant evening in the month of May，and my sweet child and I had sauntered up to the castle’s top，to enjoy the breeze that played around it，and to admire the unclouded firmament，that glowed and sparkled with unusual luster from pole to pole.The atmosphere was in its purest and finest state for vision；the Milky Way①was distinctly developed throughout its whole extent；every planet and every star above the horizon，however near and brilliant，or distant and faint，lent its lambent light or twinkling ray to give variety and beauty to the hemisphere；while the round，bright moon seemed to hang off from the azure vault，suspended in midway air，or stooping forward from the firmament her fair and radiant face，as if to court and return our gaze.
2.We amused ourselves for some time in observing，through a telescope，the planet Jupiter，sailing in silent majesty with his squadron of satellites，along the vast ocean of space between us and the fixed stars；and admired the felicity of that design by which those distant bodies have been parceled out and arranged into constellations，so as to have served not only for beacons to the ancient navigators，but，as it were，for landmarks to astronomers at this day；enabling them，though in different countries.to indicate to each other with ease the place and motion of those planets，comets，and magnificent meteors，which inhabit，revolve，and play in the intermediate space.We recalled and dwelt with delight on the rise and progress of the①Milky Way；a bright belt encompassing the heavens，supposed to be composed of stars.
science of astronomy；on that series of astonishing discoveries through successive ages，which display in so strong a light the force and reach of the human mind；and on those bold conjectures and sublime reveries，which seem to tower even to the confines of divinity，and denote the high destiny to which mortals tend.
3.We dwelt on that thought，which is said to have been first started by Pythagoras①，and which modern astronomers approve，that the stars which we call fixed，although they appear to us to be nothing more than large spangles，of various sizes，glittering on the same concave surface，are，nevertheless，bodies as large as our sun，shining，like him，with original and not reflected light，placed at incalculable distances asunder，and each star the solar center of a system of planets which revolve around it，as the planets belonging to our system do around the sun.
4.That this is not only the case with all the stars which our eyes discern in the firmament，or which the telescope has brought within the sphere of our vision，but according to the modern improvements of this thought，that there are probably other stars whose light has not yet reached us although light moves with a velocity a million times greater than that of a cannon ball：that those luminous appearances，which we observe in the firmament，like flakes of thin，white cloud，are windows，as it were，which open to other firmaments，far，far beyond the ken of human eye or the power of optical instruments，lighted up，like ours，with hosts of stars or suns.
5.We dwelt on the thought that this scheme goes on through infinite space，which is filled with those suns，attended by ten thousand times ten thousand worlds，all in rapid motion，yet calm，regular，and harmonious，invariably keeping the paths prescribed to them；and these worlds peopled with myriads of intelligent beings.One would think that this conception，thus extended，would be bold enough to satisfy the whole enterprise of the human imagination.
