Transcriber’s Note This book uses a number of astronomical symbols, including signs of the Zodiac (♈, ♉, ♊, ♋, ♌, ♍, ♎, ♏, ♐, ♑, ♒, ♓), symbols for planets (☿, ♀, ⊕, ♂, ♃, ♄) and for the sun and moon (☉, 🌑︎). If these characters do not display correctly, you may have to use an alternative font, such as Arial Unicode MS or DejaVu. When italics were used in the original book, the corresponding text has been surrounded by _underscores_. Mixed fractions have been displayed with a hyphen between whole number and fraction for clarity. Superscripted characters are preceded by ^ and when more than one character is superscripted, they are surrounded by {}. Some corrections have been made to the printed text. These are listed in a second transcriber’s note at the end of the text. [Illustration: The ORRERY, made by _JAMES FERGUSON_. _N. 1. The Sun, 2. Mercury, 3. Venus, 4. The Earth, 5. The Moon, 6. The Sydereal Dial plate, 7. The Hour Circle, 8. y^e Circle for y^e. Moon’s Age, 9. The Moon’s Orbit, 10. y^e Pointer, Shewing the Sun’s Place & Day of the Month, 11. The Ecliptic, 12. The Handle for turning y^e whole machine_ _J. Ferguson inv. et delin._ _G. Child. Sculp._ ] ASTRONOMY EXPLAINED UPON Sir ISAAC NEWTON’s PRINCIPLES, AND MADE EASY TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT STUDIED MATHEMATICS. By JAMES FERGUSON. HEB. XI. 3. _The Worlds were framed by the Word of_ GOD. JOB XXVI. 13. _By his Spirit he hath garnished the Heavens._ THE SECOND EDITION. [Illustration: decoration] _LONDON_: Printed for, and sold by the AUTHOR, at the GLOBE, opposite _Cecil-Street_ in the _Strand_. MDCCLVII. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE _GEORGE_ EARL of MACCLESFIELD, VISCOUNT _PARKER_ of EWELME in OXFORDSHIRE, AND BARON of MACCLESFIELD in CHESHIRE; PRESIDENT of the ROYAL SOCIETY of _LONDON_, MEMBER of the ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES at _PARIS_, OF THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES at _Petersburg_, AND ONE OF THE TRUSTEES of the BRITISH MUSEUM; DISTINGUISHED By his GENEROUS ZEAL for promoting every BRANCH of USEFUL KNOWLEDGE; THIS TREATISE of ASTRONOMY IS INSCRIBED, With the MOST PROFOUND RESPECT, By HIS LORDSHIP’s