AUGUST. The Virgin lends her Bosom to aswage And pacify Sol's burning furious Rage. They embrace, and down to Thetis' Bed descend: SEPTEMBER. The torrifying Heat of Sol now fails, OCTOBER. The SUN withdraws, and aged grows the Year, NOVEMBER. We cannot justly on bright Venus lay Those am'rous Tho'ts by which we're led astray Parker. DECEMBER. SOL in the Winter Solstice doth array (Instead of Green) the Earth in Silver grey, INTERLINED WISDOM AND HUMOUR. JANUARY. A Silver Currency as unlikely as a Crown in a Poet's Pocket. Now some Lady is honour'd. Strange Disagreements even among old Friends. FEBRUARY. Now freezing cold Which makes old Maids to fret and scold. That sort of Weather that now happens will continue a long while. I leave the good weather to come between and now predict another storm and a smart one too. MARCH. Expiring Winter shakes his threat'ning Rod. Winds from the frozen Lake Makes frighten'd Men, & starving Cattle quake. Dirty travelling. Boots very convenient. An honest Mind, with Diligence and Frugality may be Easy, in hard Times. Nature presents the long'd for Spring to birth. French Fashions still in vogue. Joan's back, must have a Sack. MAY. The Lady's Dress, tho' fine and gay don't come up to charming May. Many Projections to little or no Purpose, but tending to Discord. JUNE. A disturbed air, at length rain, Which makes some Country-men and Frolickers Complain. Pleasant Evenings for Ladies. JULY. Our Province defended by some of its Friends, A Scheme just started for the Benefit of a great Number. AUGUST. The Stars about this Time portend something unusual. SEPTEMBER. An unexpected Turn of Times. This Year there's rais'd both Wheat and Flax At or near New-Halifax. OCTOBER. Butter and Cheese, as much as you please. If no Money comes in we know what to trust to And what we can't well do, we must do. NOVEMBER. The Plot of November We ever remember. The Sun now and then casts a Smile on his old Friend the North, but Night soon checks him for't. DECEMBER. I should predict good Weather this Week, but there's so many Courts, the Lawyers may raise a Storm, but may be soon over. The Year ends with falling Weather. Vale. AMES 1750. JUNE the 18th Day 1749, that remarkable hot Day, the Heliocentrick Place of Mars in his Orbit is found to be 9 Signs, 6 Deg. 30 M. The Earth's Hel. Orbit Place 9 S. 7 D. 30 M. The Place of the Moon in her Orbit at our Noon 8 S. 29 D. 1 M. The Earth's Aphelion 9 S. 6 D. 57 M. The Distance of the Aphelion of Mars from the vernal Equinox 5 S. o D. 48 M. the Moon's Perigeon 11 S. o D. 21 M. But that my Reader may see with his Eyes the remarkable Situation of our Earth, and her Attendant Moon, and the Planet Mars on that Day, I shall here insert the following G DIAGRAM. E Explanation of the foregoing DIAGRAM. Let the Curve A → C. D represent the Ellipsis in which the center of the Earth revolves about the Sun, that Focus in the Ellipsis where the Sun is placed, the Line D the greater Axis of the Earth's Orbit, the other Line A. C. the lesser Axis. The other Curve E F G H. represents the Ellipsis in which Mars in like Manner revolves about the Sun. F. H. the greater Axis of his Orbit, (which Line you see crosses the greater Axis of the Earth's Orbit at the Center of the Sun) E G. the lesser Axis. The Aphelion of the Earth and Heliocentrick Place are near the same Point, viz: about VS 6, where the Character of the Earth is placed thus an Eye at the Sun would behold the Earth, the Moon and Mars all in Conjunction: Now since the Sun is at the Earth at, and Mars at ; it is evident that Mars must be in the middle of his Regress, and appears to us on Earth to be in to the Sun; but if Mars had been at , he would have been in the middle of his Progress, and would have appeared to an Inhabitant of the Earth to be in o with the Sun, the Moon likewise at O, is between Mars and the Earth. It appears by this Scheme that on the Account of Mars's being in Opposition to the Sun at ♂, he is an entire Diameter of the Orbis Magnus nearer the Earth at that Time than if he had been in ♂ with the Sun at ; not only so, but by Reason the Aphelion of these Planets fall in such parts of their Orbits as to make the nearest approach of their Orbits at those Points where Mars and the Earth happened to be on that Day, On this account I say, Mars never was nearer the Earth, nor can he possibly be nearer the Earth than he was the 18th of June last, and the Moon at that point of Time Step'd (?) in between them; and as Astrologers phrase it, handed down the Influence of that burning Planet to the Earth. The famous Kepler hath made it evident, that the Planet's Course about the Sun is not Circular but Elliptical, and the Sun does not possess the Center of the Ellipsis but one of the Foci: and the Planets as they are carried along their Orbits by the Rays drawn from them to the Sun, describe Areas exactly proportional to the Time they spend in their Revolution: This Sir Isaac Newton has demonstrated from the Laws of Nature. The subjoined poem was found among the papers of Dr. Ames written on the same sheet which contained the copy for the above calculations, and was doubtless crowded out this year: Should Christ lay by his Father's glitt'ring Rays, And in the Forme of a poore Humble Man, Or would he treat him as he did before? |