bules, is insignificant, compared with the same magnitude for the single star Vega, or a Lyræ!

But the term nebula, or nebule, has been used in more senses than even the two I have just mentioned, since the time when, in the seventeenth century, Cassini called the Nebule of the Sun, his supposed matter of that appearance which is at present called the Zodiacal Light. I shall tell you about the Zodiacal Light, in one of my ensuing chapters.

CHAP. XXXIII.

ABOUT THE MILKY WAY, CALLED BY SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL THE PROJECTION OF THE NEBULE OF THE EARTH. ABOUT AN ASTRONOMICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE REGIONS OF THE HEAVEN. THE MILKY WAY SOMETIMES CALLED SAINT-JAMES'S WAY.

SIR William Herschel set down the positions of no fewer than two thousand nebules; and, in a small portion only of the Milky Way, he counted fifty thousand distinct stars, and thought he saw indistinctly twice as many more.

The Milky Way is the white or milk-like band which stretches across the sky from east to west, and the whiteness of which is found to consist in the light of the myriads, not to say the millions, of stars which are thus assembled in it. The Milky Way is sometimes called Saint-James's Way.

Sir William believed the Milky Way to be the projection of the nebule which contains the earth, the solar system, and all the fixed stars of which we commonly speak; thus placing the

Milky Way at a still greater distance from us than the most distant of the fixed stars!

The thickness of the Milky Way is small, compared with its length and breadth. Sir William Herschel believed the earth to be fixed about midway between the inner and outer surfaces of the Milky Way, near the point at which it spreads into two branches.

As to the nebules beyond the Milky Way, many (whether truly or otherwise) are at present generally believed to consist, not in clusters of stars, but only of a self-luminous phosphorescent substance, in a high state of rarefaction, or composing only a milky film.

When it is remembered, however, that many of the acknowledged clusters of stars (and the Milky Way among the rest) appear to unassisted vision like thin white clouds or vapour,' and are compared with "milky films;" is there no hastiness in absolutely denying, that even these distant milk-like clouds or nebules may be yet starry clusters also?

But, decide that question as we may, the several regions of the heaven, as they depart from the earth, appear susceptible of astronomical arrangement as in the present diagram*:

The Heaven beyond the Nebulæ, or beyond all human observation.

* For a fuller explanation of this diagram, accounts of the nebules, and various other astronomical and general information,

In allusion to the famous Roman, or RomanBritish road, called Watling Street, which, beginning in London, runs so far throughout the kingdom, an old English poet has called the Milky Way, "the Watling Street of the sky."

see "Burford Cottage and its Robin Redbreast; a Village Tale. By the Author of Keeper's Travels :"-" Setting out with a natural description of rural life, a commencement always beautiful and grateful to human sense, Mr. Kendall introduces us to his dramatis personæ; Mr. and Mrs. Paulett, and their son and daughter; Schoolmaster Gubbins and his family, and others; and, above all, to Robin, the hero of the tale. Linked to his adventures, observations, and accounts of the same, this pleasant volume proceeds to furnish interesting matter on a vast variety of subjects, drawn equally from reading and from intelligent views of the passing world.... Hoping that these heads, and our sincere praises of the work, will recommend it to as general and deserved popularity as its predecessor, Keeper,' we shall resort to only a few brief extracts to approve our opinion, and enforce our recommendation. We have only to add, that the descriptions of the Cobbler's house and other localities are perfectly graphic; and that the Robin's own speculations on Traps, being caught by the Cat, and feeding and taking liberties with his human friends, are very true to nature and entertaining."-LITERARY GAZETTE.

"Full of sound information and kind feeling."-ATHENÆUM.