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2. ANDROMEDA: Mirach and Almaach both o the second magnitude, are the principal stars in this constellation.

Andromeda is represented on the celestial globe by the figure of a woman almost naked, having her arms extended, and chained by the wrist of her right arm to a rock. She was the daughter of Cepheus, king of Æthiopia, who in order to preserve his kingdom, was obliged to tie her naked to a rock, near Joppa, now Jaffa, in Syria, to be devoured by a sea monster; but she was rescued by Perseus, in his return from the conquest of the Gorgons, who turned the monster into a rock by showing it the head of Medusa. She was made a constellation after her death, by Minerva. The fable of Andromeda and the sea monster has been explained by supposing that she was courted by the captain of a ship, who attempted to carry her away, but was prevented by the interposition of another more successful rival.

3. PERSEUS: Algenib and Algol, both of the 2nd magnitude, are the principal stars in this constellation.

Perseus is represented on the globe with a sword in his right hand, the head of Medusa in his left, and wings at his ankles. Perseus was the son of Jupiter and Danäe, the daughter of Acrisius. He was no sooner born, than he was thrown into the sea with his mother Danäe; but being driven upon the coast of the island of Seriphos, one of the Cyclades, they were found by a fisherman called Dictys, and carried to Polydectes, the king of the place. They were treated with great humanity, and Perseus was intrusted to the care of the priests of Minerva's temple.

At a sumptuous entertainment given by Polydectes to his friends, and to which Perseus was invited, he promised to bring that monarch the head of Medusa, the only one of the Gorgons who was subject to immortality. To equip him for this arduous task, Pluto lent him his helmet, which had the wonderful power of making its bearer invisible; Minerva the goddess of wisdom, furnished him with her buckler, which was as resplendent as glass; and he received from Mercury wings and the telaria, with a short dagger made of diamonds According to some, it was from Vulcan he received the

telaria or Herpe, which was in form like a scythe. Thus equipped, he cut off the head of Medusa, and from the blood which dropped from it in his passage through the air, sprung innumerable serpents which have ever since invested the sandy deserts of Lybia.

Diodorus and others explain the fable of the Gorgons, by supposing that they were a warlike race of women near Amazon, whom Perseus, with the help of a large army, totally destroyed.

The Abbe Bannier is of opinion that the Gorgons dwelt in that part of Lydia which was afterwards called Cyrenaica. He makes their father Phorcys to have been a rich and powerful prince, and engaged in a lucrative commerce. Perseus, he supposes, made himself master of a part of his fleet, and some of his riches, &c. See Lemprier's Classical Dictionary, Anthon's Ed.

4. AURIGA: Capella, a very remarkable star of the first magnitude, and 8 of the 2d, are the principal stars in this constellation.

Auriga is represented on the celestial globe, by the figure of a man in a a kneeling or sitting posture, with a goat and her kids in his left hand, and a bridle in his right.

The Greeks give various accounts of this constellation; some suppose it to be Erichthonius, the fourth king of Athens, and son of Vulcan and Minerva; he was very deformed, and his legs resembled the tails of serpents; he is said to have invented chariots, and the manner of harnessing horses to draw them. Others say that Auriga is Mirtilus, a son of Mercury and Phœtusa; who was charioteer to Enomaus, king of Pisa in Elis, and so experienced in riding and the management of horses, that he rendered those of Enomaus the swiftest in all Greece. But as neither of those fables seems to account for the goat and her kids, it has been supposed that they refer to Amalthœa, daughter of Melissus, king of Crete, who, in conjunction with her sister Melissa, fed Jupiter with goat's milk.

5. URSA MAJOR: In the Great Bear, there are seven very conspicuous stars, four of which, a, β, γ and d, form a trapezium, in the body; and the other three, ε, ζ and y, make a curve line in the tail of that animal, of which the first two are the continuation of the diagonal ẞd of the trapezium. These sevenstars, according to FRANCŒUR, are all of the second magnitude, (except d, which is of the third;) but, according to some other writers, a named Dubhe is of the first; & Alioth, & Mizar, η Benetnach, β, and y, are of the second; and 8 of the third magnitude.

Ursa Major is said to be Calisto or Helice, who was daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia, and one of Diana's attendants. Jupiter seduced her under the shape of Diana; and Juno in revenge changed her into a she bear; but the god, fearful of her being hurt by the huntsmen, made her a constellation of heaven. Ursa Major is well known to the country people at this day, by the title of the plough, which it resembles; it is also called in some places Charles's wain, because the ancients represented this constellation under the form of a waggon drawn by a team of horses.

6. URSA MINOR: In this constellation there are also seven stars, forming a figure like those of the Great Bear, but both the figure and the stars are considerably less. The figure of the Lesser Bear * is also situated in a contrary position, with respect to that of the Great Bear. The principal star in Ursa Minor is called Alruccabah, or the pole star; which is situated in the tip of the tail.

Ursa Minor is said to be Arcas, the son of Jupiter and Calisto. He nearly killed his mother, whom Juno had changed into a bear. He reigned in Pelasgia, which from him was called Arcadia, and taught his subjects agriculture. After his death, Jupiter made him a constellation with his mother. Some consider Arcas the same as Bootes.

7. BOOTES: Arcturus, one of the brightest stars of the first magnitude, and Mirach of the third, are the principal stars in this constellation.

a

Bootes is supposed to be Arcas, a son of Jupiter and Calisto, (see Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.) Bootes is represented as a man in walking posture, grasping in his left hand a club, and having his right hand extended upwards, holding the cords of the two dogs Asterion and Chara, which seem to be barking at the Great Bear; hence, he is sometimes called the bear-driver, and the office assigned him is to drive the two bears round the north pole.

8. DRACO: There are four stars of the second magnitude in this constellation, the most remarkable of which, called Rastaben, is situated in the tail, nearly in a line between y of the Little, and Mizar of the Great Bear.

The Greeks give various accounts of this constellation; by some it is represented as the watchful dragon which guarded the golden apples in the garden of Hesperides, near Mount Atlas in Africa, and was slain by Hercules, being his eleventh labour. Juno, who presented those apples to Jupiter on the day day of their nuptials, took Draco up to heaven, and made a constellation of it as a reward for its faithful services. Those, who attempt to explain mythology, observe that the Hesperides were three sisters, who had an immense number of flocks; and that an ambiguous Greek word which signifies an apple, and a sheep, gave rise to the golden apples of these gardens. It is also asserted that Draco was their shepherd.

9. CEPHEUS: The principal star in this constellation is Alderamin of the third magnitude.

Cepheus was a king of Ethiopia, and the father of Andromeda. He was one of the Argonauts who went with Jason to Colchis to fetch the golden fleece.

10. CASSIOPEIA: Schedar of the third magnitude is the principal star in this constellation.

Cassiopeia, or the Lady in her Chair, was the wife of Cepheus, and the mother of Andromeda. She boasted that she was fairer than the Nereides. Neptune, at the request of those despised nymphs, to punish her insolence, sent a huge sea monster to ravage Ethiopia, the country where she resided; and the wrath of the god could only be appeased by exposing Andromeda, whom Cassiopeia tenderly loved, to the fury of the beast. (See Andromeda and Perseus.)

11. HERCULES: Ras Algethi of the third magnitude is the principal star in this constellation.

Hercules is represented on the celestial globe with a club in his right hand, the three headed dog, Cerberus, in his left, and the skin of the Nemæan lion thrown over his shoulders. This Hercules, generally called the Theban, was the son of Jupiter and Alcmena, and reckoned the most famous hero of antiquity. He was a scholar of Chiron, and accompanied Jason in the Argonautic expedition,

12. CERBERUS: There are no remarkable stars in this constellation.

Cerberus was a dog belonging to Pluto, the god of the infernal regions; this dog had fifty heads according to Hesiod, and three according to other mythologists: he was stationed, at the entrance of the infernal regions, as a watchful keeper, to prevent the living from entering, and the dead from escaping from their confinement. The last and most dangerous exploit of Hercules, was to drag Cerberus from the infernal regions, and bring him before Euristheus, king of Argos.

13. LYRA: Lyra or Wega, of the first, and ẞа quadruple star of the third magnitude, are the principal stars in this constellation.

Lyra, the harp, was at first a tortoise, afterwards a lyre, because the strings of the lyre were originally fixed to the shell of the tortoise; it is asserted that this is the lyre which Apollo or Mercury gave to Orpheus, and with which he descended the infernal regions in search of his wife Euridice. He played upon it with such a masterly hand, that even the most rapid rivers ceased to flow; the savage beasts of the forests forgot their ferocity; the mountains came to listen to his song, and all nature seemed animated. Orpheus, after death, received divine honours; the Muses gave an honourable burial to his remains, and his Lyre became one of the constellations.

14. PEGASUS: Markab and Scheat both of the second, and Algenib of the third magnitude, are the principal stars in this constellation.