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ascribed it to the goodness of the Deity, not doubting but that he had ordered it so on purpose for their advantage.

James. But the people at the equator do not enjoy this benefit.

Tutor. Nor is it necessary that they should, for in those parts of the earth the seasons vary but little, and the weather changes but seldom, and at stated times; to them, then, moonlight is not wanting for gathering the fruits of the earth.

Charles. Can you explain how it. happens, that the moon at this season of the year rises one day after another with so small a difference of time?

Tutor. With the assistance of a globe I could at once clear the matter up. But I will endeavour to give you a general idea of the subject

without that instrument.

That the moon loses more time in her risings when she is in one part of her orbit, and less in another, is occasioned by the moon's orbit lying sometimes more oblique to the horizon than at * others.

James.

But the moon's path is

not marked on the globe.

Tutor. It is not; you may, however, consider it, without much error, as coinciding with the ecliptic. And in the latitude of London, as much of the ecliptic rises about Pisces and "Aries in two hours as the moon goes through in six days; therefore, while the moon is in these signs, she differs but two hours in rising for six days together, that is, one day with another, about 20 minutes later every day than on the preceding.

There is a time, well known to husbandmen,
In which the moon for many nights, in aid
Of their autumnal labours, cheers the dusk
With her full lustre, soon as Phoebus hides
Beneath th' horizon his propitious ray:
For as the angle of the line, which bounds
The moon's career from the equator, flows
Greater or less, the orb of Cynthia shines
With less or more of difference in rise;

In Aries least this angle: thence the moon
Rises with smallest variance of times

When in this sign she dwells, and most protracts Her sojourning in our enlighten'd skies.

LOFFT.

Charles. Is the moon in those signs at the time of harvest?

Tutor. In August and September you know that the sun appears in Virgo and Libra, and, of course, when the moon is full, she must be in the opposite signs, viz. Pisces and Aries:

Charles. Will you explain, sir, how it is that the people at the equator have no harvest moon?

Tutor. At the equator, the north and south poles lie in the horizon, and therefore the ecliptic makes the same angle southward with the horizon when Aries rises, as it does northward when Libra rises; but, as the harvest moon depends upon the different angles at which different parts of the ecliptic rise, it is evident there can be no harvest moon at the equator.

The farther any place is from the equator, if it be not beyond the polar circles, the angle, which the ecliptic makes with the horizon, when Pisces and Aries rise, gradually diminishes, and, therefore, when the moon is in these signs, she rises with a nearly proportionable difference later every day than on the former, and this is more remarkable about the time of full moon.

James. Why have you excepted the space on the globe beyond the polar circles?

Tutor. At the polar circles, when the sun touches the summer tropic, he continues 24 hours above the horizon, and 24 hours below it when he touches the winter tropic. For the same reason, the full moon neither rises in the. summer, when she is not wanted, nor sets in the winter, when her presence is so necessary. These are the only two full moons which happen when the sun is in the tropics, for all the others rise and set. In summer the full moons are low, and their stay: above the horizon short; in winter they are high, and stay long above the horizon. A wonderful display this of the divine wisdom and goodness, in apportioning the quantity of light, suitable to the various necessities of

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