POPULAR

GRAMMAR

OF THE

ELEMENTS OF ASTRONOMY,

ADAPTED TO THE USE OF

STUDENTS AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

BY THOMAS SQUIRE.

ILLUSTRATEd with thirty-seven ENGRAVINGS.

London:

PRINTED FOR J. SOUTER, NO. 73, ST. PAUL'S

CHURCH-YARD.

1818.

Price 9s. 6d. bound in Green.

TO MY

RESPECTED FRIEND

MR. HENRY ANDREWS

OF ROYSTON,

ASTRONOMICAL CALCULATOR TO THE BOARD OF LONGITUDE,

WHO, for nearly forty years, has performed, in modest retirement, the laborious calculations of the Nautical Almanack, and of the various Almanacks published by the Company of Stationers, these condensed Elements of the most Sublime of Human Sciences, are dedicated, as a Token of Esteem, by

THOMAS SQUIRE.

449014

Epping, June 4th, 1818.

PREFACE.

IF THERE be one Science more worthy of the preference of studious persons than another, we may be allowed to give that preference to Astronomy. Yet, without extolling it as more serviceable to mankind than moral and chemical sciences, we may be permitted to assert, that there is no subject more sublime, none to which all capacities seem so well adapted, and none so fitted to establish in youth the firmest conviction of those eternal truths on which the moral and physical government of the world are built.

The progress which hath hitherto been made in Astronomical discoveries, is one of the greatest proofs of this science being eminently advantageous to mankind; a progress which declares, beyond controversy, their conviction of this truth, that the study of the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, and the stars, is friendly to civilized society. And reciprocally, we may affirm, that the advancement of Astronomical science is mainly due to the full persuasion which its cultivators have ever felt, of its usefulness to promote and augment the civilization of the world.

But mankind are not now to be taught, that progress in intellectual improvement conduces to the happiness of our species; nor that Astronomy, which most effectually conspires to accomplish this noble object, invites to its knowledge, all who desire to participate in the blessings, which the genius of nations, and the industry of ages, have piled up for their gratification.