ing the hemisphere.--vii. 381-84.

Milton describes the number of the fallen angels as

an host
Innumerable as the stars of night.--v. 744-45,

and the attention of Satan is directed by the archangel Uriel to the
multitude of stars formed from the chaotic elements of matter:

Numberless as thou seest, and how they move;
Each had his place appointed, each his course;
The rest in circuit walls this universe.--iii. 719-21.

Though Milton was doubtless familiar with the leading orbs of the
firmament and knew their names, and the constellations in which they are
situated, yet he makes no direct allusion to any of them in his poem.
Neither Arcturus, which is mentioned in the Book of Job, nor Sirius,
which attracted the attention of Homer, who compared the brightness of
Achilles' armour to the dazzling brilliancy of the dog-star, finds a
place in 'Paradise Lost.' And yet the superior magnitude and brilliancy
of some stars when compared with those of others did not escape Milton's
observation when, in describing the lofty eminence of Satan in heaven,
prior to his fall, he represents him as

brighter once amidst the host
Of angels than that star the stars among.--vii. 132-33.

There is but one star to which Milton makes individual allusion, and,
though not of any conspicuous brilliancy, yet it is one of much
importance to astronomers--

the fleecy star that bears
Andromeda far off Atlantic seas
Beyond the horizon.--iii. 558-60.

This is Alpha Arietis, the first point in the constellation of that
name, which signifies the Ram, and from which the right ascensions of
the stars are measured on the celestial sphere. In the time of
Hipparchus the ecliptic intersected the celestial equator in Aries,
which indicated the commencement of the astronomical year and the
occurrence of the vernal equinox; but, owing to precession, this point
is now 30 deg. westward of Aries and in the constellation Pisces. The star
was called Hamal by the Arabs, signifying a sheep, and the animal is
represented as looking backwards. Manilius writes:--

First Aries, glorious in his golden wool,
Looks back and wonders at the mighty Bull.

Aries is associated with the legend of the Golden Fleece, in quest of
which Jason and his valiant crew sailed in the ship 'Argo.' In the
autumn, Andromeda is situated above Aries, and would seem to be borne by