I should even have contracted a fondness for
astronomy, had I been in possession of instruments, but was obliged to
content myself with some of the elements of that art, learned from
books, and a few rude observations made with a telescope, sufficient
only to give me a general idea of the situation of the heavenly
bodies; for my short sight is insufficient to distinguish the stars
without the help of a glass.
I recollect an adventure on this subject, the remembrance of which
has often diverted me. I had bought a celestial planisphere to study
the constellations by, and, having fixed it on a frame, when the
nights were fine and the sky clear, I went into the garden; and fixing
the frame on four sticks, something higher than myself, which I
drove into the ground, turned the planisphere downwards, and contrived
to light it by means of a candle (which I put in a pail to prevent the
wind from blowing it out) and then placed in the center of the
above-mentioned four supporters; this done, I examined the stars
with my glass, and, from time to time referring to my planisphere,
endeavored to distinguish the various constellations. I think I have
before observed that M. Noiret's garden was on a terrace, and lay open
to the road. One night, some country people passing very late, saw
me in a most grotesque habit, busily employed in these observations:
the light, which struck directly on the planisphere, proceeding from a
cause they could not divine- the candle being concealed by the sides
of the pail), the four stakes supporting a large paper, marked over
with various uncouth figures, with the motion of the telescope,
which they saw turning backwards and forwards, gave the whole an air
of conjuration that struck them with horror and amazement.
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