What is Chlorophyll? 366 Carnations and Pinks, 371 The Eglantine and the Convolvulus, 379 Metamorphosis: a Physico-philosophical Meditation, 384 * * * * * APPENDIX, 405 BOOK I. WINTER. Lastly, came Winter clothèd all in frieze, Chattering his teeth for cold that did him chill; Whilst on his hoary beard his breath did freeze, And the dull drops, that from his purpled bill As from a limbeck did adown distil: In his right hand a tippèd staff he held, With which his feeble steps he stayèd still; For he was faint with cold, and weak with eld; That scarce his loosèd limbs he able was to wield. --SPENSER, _The Faerie Queene_, Canto vi. (Of Mutability). * * * * * You naked trees, whose shady leaves are lost, Wherein the birds were wont to build their bower, And now are clothed with moss and hoary frost, Instead of blossoms, wherewith your buds did flower; I see your tears that from your boughs do rain, Whose drops in dreary icicles remain. --SPENSER, _The Shepherd's Calendar_, Eclogue I. [Illustration] CHAPTER I. _WHAT MAY BE SEEN IN THE HEAVENS._ Skies flower'd with stars, Violet, rose, or pearl-hued, or soft blue, Golden, or green, the light now blended, now Alternate. --P. J. BAILEY, _Festus_. [Illustration] Our observation of the celestial phenomena may most easily be made in the winter-time. Then the nights are long, and the vault of heaven is crowded with stars, and, unilluminated by the moon, exhibits all its splendours. In the other seasons of the year, and particularly in summer, the twilight gleam encroaches, so to speak, upon a portion of the nights, which are otherwise so brief, and precludes our vision from any exact estimate of the stars. Those demitints, those soft subdued reflections of light, scarcely permit the eye to distinguish even stars of the first and second magnitude, which shine like spots of dull gold on a background of pale silver. THE NUMBER OF THE STARS. How many are the stars? To such a question comes the immediate answer, They are infinite in number. But, after a little meditation, we begin to perceive that the question, apparently so simple, is, in reality, one of very great complexity. Let us endeavour to disentangle its various threads.