avian origin and the locality Lapland:--

Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when called
In secret, riding through the air she comes,
Lured with the smell of infant blood, to dance
With Lapland witches, while the labouring Moon
Eclipses at their charms.--ii. 662-66.

In his description of the massive shield carried by Satan, the poet
compares it with the full moon:--

his ponderous shield
Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round,
Behind him cast. The broad circumference
Hung on his shoulders like the Moon.--i. 284-87.

The phases displayed by the Moon in her monthly journey round the Earth,
and which lend a variety of charm to the appearances presented by the
orb, are poetically described by Milton in the following lines:--

but there the neighbouring Moon
(So call that opposite fair star) her aid
Timely interposes, and her monthly round
Still ending, still renewing, through mid-Heaven
With borrowed light her countenance triform
Hence fills and empties, to enlighten the Earth,
And in her pale dominion checks the night.--iii. 726-32.

It is interesting to observe how aptly Milton describes the subdued
illumination of the Moon's reflected light, as compared with the
brilliant radiance of the blazing Sun, and how the distinguishing glory
peculiar to each orb is appropriately set forth in the various passages
in which they are described; their contrasted splendour enhancing rather
than detracting from the grandeur and beauty belonging to each.

THE PLANET EARTH[14]

No lovelier planet circles round the Sun than the planet Earth, with her
oceans and continents, her mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, and
plains; surrounded by heaven's azure, radiant with the sunlight of her
day and adorned by night with countless sparkling points of gold. This
beautiful world, the abode of MAN, is of paramount importance to us, and
is the only part of the universe of which we have any direct knowledge.

The Earth may be regarded as one of the Sun's numerous family, and is
situated third in order from the refulgent orb, round which it revolves
in an elliptical orbit at a mean distance of 92,800,000 miles. The Earth
is nearest to the Sun at the end of December, and furthest away at the
beginning of July; the difference between those distances is 3,250,000
miles--the extent of the eccentricity of the planet's orbit. The figur