For wonderful indeed are all his works,Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be allHad in remembrance always with delight!But what created mind can comprehendTheir number, or the wisdom infiniteThat brought them forth, but hid their causes deep?—iii. 703-708.
For wonderful indeed are all his works,Pleasant to know, and worthiest to be allHad in remembrance always with delight!But what created mind can comprehendTheir number, or the wisdom infiniteThat brought them forth, but hid their causes deep?—iii. 703-708.
It is very pleasant, as Milton says, to
sit and rightly spellOf every star that heaven doth show.
sit and rightly spellOf every star that heaven doth show.
It is also pleasant to know the astronomy of his ‘Paradise Lost,’ and to linger over the delightful and harmonious utterances associated with the sublimest of sciences, expressed in the melodious language of England’s greatest epic poet.
FOOTNOTES:[1]Chambers’sHandbook of Astronomy.[2]Brewster’sMartyrs of Science.[3]The transit occurred on a Sunday, and the ‘business of the highest importance’ to which Horrox alludes was his clerical duties.[4]A fresco by the late Mr. Ford Maddox-Brown, depicting Crabtree observing the transit of Venus, adorns the interior of the Manchester Town Hall.[5]William Crabtree died on August 1, 1644, aged 34 years.[6]The constellation Virgo.[7]Life of Galileo(Library of Useful Knowledge).[8]Miss Clerke’sSystem of the Stars.[9]Miss Clerke’sSystem of the Stars.[10]Miss Clerke’sSystem of the Stars.[11]Ibid.[12]An expression in Book VIII. 148-49 would seem to indicate that this was inaccurate, but the lines‘and other suns perhapsWith their attendant moons, thou wilt descry,’are an allusion to the planets Jupiter and Saturn, whose satellites had been recently discovered.[13]Mr. E. W. Maunder, inKnowledge, March 1894.[14]Though not a celestial body, it is considered desirable to describe the Earth as a member of the solar system.[15]Seediagram, chap. iii. p. 96.
[1]Chambers’sHandbook of Astronomy.
[1]Chambers’sHandbook of Astronomy.
[2]Brewster’sMartyrs of Science.
[2]Brewster’sMartyrs of Science.
[3]The transit occurred on a Sunday, and the ‘business of the highest importance’ to which Horrox alludes was his clerical duties.
[3]The transit occurred on a Sunday, and the ‘business of the highest importance’ to which Horrox alludes was his clerical duties.
[4]A fresco by the late Mr. Ford Maddox-Brown, depicting Crabtree observing the transit of Venus, adorns the interior of the Manchester Town Hall.
[4]A fresco by the late Mr. Ford Maddox-Brown, depicting Crabtree observing the transit of Venus, adorns the interior of the Manchester Town Hall.
[5]William Crabtree died on August 1, 1644, aged 34 years.
[5]William Crabtree died on August 1, 1644, aged 34 years.
[6]The constellation Virgo.
[6]The constellation Virgo.
[7]Life of Galileo(Library of Useful Knowledge).
[7]Life of Galileo(Library of Useful Knowledge).
[8]Miss Clerke’sSystem of the Stars.
[8]Miss Clerke’sSystem of the Stars.
[9]Miss Clerke’sSystem of the Stars.
[9]Miss Clerke’sSystem of the Stars.
[10]Miss Clerke’sSystem of the Stars.
[10]Miss Clerke’sSystem of the Stars.
[11]Ibid.
[11]Ibid.
[12]An expression in Book VIII. 148-49 would seem to indicate that this was inaccurate, but the lines‘and other suns perhapsWith their attendant moons, thou wilt descry,’are an allusion to the planets Jupiter and Saturn, whose satellites had been recently discovered.
[12]An expression in Book VIII. 148-49 would seem to indicate that this was inaccurate, but the lines
‘and other suns perhapsWith their attendant moons, thou wilt descry,’
‘and other suns perhapsWith their attendant moons, thou wilt descry,’
are an allusion to the planets Jupiter and Saturn, whose satellites had been recently discovered.
[13]Mr. E. W. Maunder, inKnowledge, March 1894.
[13]Mr. E. W. Maunder, inKnowledge, March 1894.
[14]Though not a celestial body, it is considered desirable to describe the Earth as a member of the solar system.
[14]Though not a celestial body, it is considered desirable to describe the Earth as a member of the solar system.
[15]Seediagram, chap. iii. p. 96.
[15]Seediagram, chap. iii. p. 96.