[Illustration: _Plate I._ The COPERNICAN or SOLAR SYSTEM. _The comparative Distances of the Planets from the Sun_ _T. Conder Sculp^t._] THE STUDY OF ASTRONOMY, ADAPTED TO THE CAPACITIES OF YOUTH: _IN TWELVE FAMILIAR DIALOGUES_, BETWEEN A TUTOR AND HIS PUPIL: Explaining the General PHÆNOMENA of the HEAVENLY BODIES, the THEORY of the TIDES, &c. _ILLUSTRATED WITH COPPER-PLATES._ BY JOHN STEDMAN. _LONDON_: PRINTED FOR C. DILLY, IN THE POULTRY. M.DCC.XCVI. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ERRATA. Page 20. line 8. _for_ he _read_ the. —— 22. — 6. ⎫ ⎪ —— 23. — 2. ⎪ — disk — disc. ⎬ —— 42. — last ⎪ ⎪ —— 79. — 5. ⎭ —— 74. — 6. — it axis — its axis. —— 78. — 19. _dele_ Mercury. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE. It has long been a matter of surprize to those who are interested in the education of youth, that, among the numerous publications intended for their improvement, so few attempts have been made to facilitate the study of Astronomy. Many excellent treatises have been written on this important and useful science; but if it be considered that they abound with technical terms, unintelligible to juvenile minds, it cannot be expected that they should derive any great advantage from the perusal of them. To remove these difficulties, the Author has endeavoured, whenever he had occasion to use them, to give such illustrations as to leave no doubt on the young student’s mind respecting their true meaning. The subject appeared to him to be best calculated for dialogues, which are certainly more agreeable as well as more perspicuous to young persons, than the discouraging formality of a treatise. And it is presumed the language will be found natural and easy. In the order he has chosen, he has been careful not to introduce any thing new, till the former part, on which it depends, has been clearly explained. On the whole, it has been his aim to render it as concise and plain as the nature of the subject will admit; and he flatters himself, that at a time when the sciences are so universally studied, the introduction now offered to the public will not be unacceptable. ------------------------------------------------------------------------