LET. VII. AND DISCOVERIES. 121

f ( and from his lordly eye keep distance due,aloof amid the vulgar constellations thick.”Among the planets, also, there are several ordersof nobility. The Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn,are the lords of their dominions, and have thesatellites or moons for their attendants. Theyeach move round their master, in obedience tohis will, and are subject to the laws he imposeson them. Thus celestial and sublunary natureare the same ; order and regularity result fromseeming confusion, and subordination and de-pendance are to be seen in every part of theuniverse.

This illustrious philosopher had made his dis-coveries in geometry, and laid the foundationof his two celebrated performances, the Prin-cipia and the Optics, when he was only twenty-four years of age ; which is a circumstance noless extraordinary than the discoveries them-selves; and serves to countenance the idea ofMr. Fontenelle, who observes, upon this occa-sion, that if intelligent beings, of an order supe-rior to man, make a progress in knowledge bycertain gradations, they probably sty whilst wecreep, and pass over, without notice, many ofthe intermediate steps, which the confined limitsof the human mind render absolutely necessaryto our advancement.

“ When we consider, says this ingeniouswriter, that, according to the doctrine of New-ton.