terest, and one calculated to make a deep impression upon
his devoutly poetical mind. The serious character of Milton's verse, and
the reverent manner in which celestial incidents and objects are
described in it, impress one with the belief that his contemplation of
the heavens, and of the orbs that roll and shine in the firmament
overhead, afforded him much enjoyment and meditative delight. For no
poet, in ancient or in modern times, has introduced into his writings
with such frequency, or with such pleasing effect, so many passages
descriptive of the beauty and grandeur of the heavens. No other poet,
by the creative effort of his imagination, has soared to such a height;
nor has he ever been excelled in his descriptions of the celestial orbs,
and of the beautiful phenomena associated with their different motions.

In his minor poems, which were composed during his residence at Horton,
a charming rural retreat in Buckinghamshire, where the freshness and
varied beauty of the landscape and the attractive aspects of the
midnight sky were ever before him, we find enchanting descriptions of
celestial objects, and especially of those orbs which, by their
brilliancy and lustre, have always commanded the admiration of mankind.

For example, in 'L'Allegro' there are the following lines:--

Right against the eastern gate
Where the great Sun begins his state,
Robed in flames and amber light,
The clouds in thousand liveries dight;

and in 'Il Penseroso'--

To behold the wandering Moon,
Riding near her highest noon,
Like one that had been led astray
Through the heaven's wide pathless way,
And oft as if her head she bowed,
Stooping through a fleecy cloud.

In the happy choice of his theme, and by the comprehensive manner in
which he has treated it, Milton has been enabled by his poetic genius to
give to the world in his 'Paradise Lost' a poem which, for sublimity of
thought, loftiness of imagination, and beauty of expression in metrical
verse, is unsurpassed in any language.

It is, however, our intention to deal only with those passages in the
poem in which allusion is made to the heavenly bodies, and to incidents
and occurrences associated with astronomical phenomena. In the
exposition and illustration of these it has been considered desirable to
adopt the following general classification:--

1. To ascertain the extent of Milton's astronomical knowledge.

2. To describe the star