IX. Milton's Imaginative and Descriptive Astronomy 306

ILLUSTRATIONS


_PLATES_

A Typical Sun-spot _Frontispiece_
Venus on the Sun's Disc _To face page_ 66
Cluster in Hercules " 218
Great Nebula in Orion " 230
A Portion of the Moon's Surface " 268


_IN TEXT_

FIG. PAGE
1. The Ptolemaic System of the Universe 86
2. Milton's Division of Universal Space 96
3. A Binary Star System--70 Ophiuchi 184
4. The Orbits of the Components of Gamma Virginis 189
5. Apparent Orbit of the Companion of Sirius 190
6. A Sun-spot Magnified 247
7. The Corona during the Eclipse of May 1883 254
8. A Portion of the Milky Way 289



PREFACE


Many able and cultured writers have delighted to expatiate on the
beauties of Milton's 'Paradise Lost,' and to linger with admiration over
the lofty utterances expressed in his poem. Though conscious of his
inability to do justice to the sublimest of poets and the noblest of
sciences, the author has ventured to contribute to Miltonic literature a
work which he hopes will prove to be of an interesting and instructive
character. Perhaps the choicest passages in the poem are associated with
astronomical allusion, and it is chiefly to the exposition and
illustration of these that this volume is devoted.

The writer is indebted to many authors for information and reference,
and especially to Miss Agnes M. Clerke, Professors Masson and Young, Mr.
James Nasmyth, Mr. G. F. Chambers, and Sir Robert Ball. Also to the
works of the late Mr. R. A. Proctor, Sirs W. and J. Herschel, Admiral
Smyth, Professor Grant, Mr. J. R. Hind, Sir David Brewster, Rev. A. B.
Whatton, and Prebendary Webb.

Most of the illustrations have been supplied by the Publishers: Messrs.
Macmillan and W. Hunt & Co. have kindly permitted the reproduction of
some of their drawings.

MANCHESTER, _March 1896_.