Do not be disappointed if your first views of celestial objects do not come up to your expectations. They seldom do, particularly in respect of the size which the planets present in the field. A good deal of the discouragement so often experienced is due to the idea that the illustrations in text-books represent what ought to be seen by anyone who looks through a telescope. It has to be remembered that these pictures are, for one thing, drawn to a large scale, in order to insure clearness in detail, that they are in general the results of observation with the very finest telescopes, and the work of skilled observers making the most of picked nights. No one would expect to rival a trained craftsman in a first attempt at his trade; yet most people seem to think that they ought to be able at their first essay in telescopic work to see and depict as much as men who have spent half a lifetime in an apprenticeship to the delicate art of observation. Given time, patience, and perseverance, and the skill will come. The finest work shown in good drawings represents, not what the beginner may expect to see at his first view, but a standard towards which he must try to work by steady practice both of eye and hand. In this connection it may be suggested that the observer should take advantage of every opportunity of seeing through larger and finer instruments than his own. This will teach him two things at least. First, to respect his own small telescope, as he sees how bravely it stands up to the larger instrument so far as regards the prominent features of the celestial bodies; and, second, to notice how the superior power of the large glass brings out nothing startlingly different from that which is shown by his own small one, but a wealth of delicate detail which must be looked for (compare Plate XV. with Fig. 22). A little occasional practice with a large instrument will be found a great encouragement and a great help to working with a small one, and most possessors of large glasses are more than willing to assist the owners of small ones. Do not be ashamed to draw what you see, whether it be little or much, and whether you can draw well or ill. At the worst the result will have an interest to yourself which no representation by another hand can ever possess; at the best your drawings may in course of time come to be of real scientific value. There are few observers who cannot make some shape at a representation of what they see, and steady practice often effects an astonishing improvement. But draw only what you see with certainty. Some observers are gifted with abnormal powers of vision, others with abnormal powers of imagination. Strange to say, the results attained by these two classes differ widely in appearance and in value. You may not be endowed with faculties which will enable you to take rank in the former class; but at least you need not descend to the latter. It is after all a matter of conscience.