The care of appointing a successour
has long disturbed me; the night and the day have been spent in
comparisons of all the characters which have come to my knowledge, and I
have yet found none so worthy as thyself.'
CHAP. XLIII.
THE ASTRONOMER LEAVES IMLAC HIS DIRECTIONS.
"'Hear, therefore, what I shall impart, with attention, such as the
welfare of the world requires. If the task of a king be considered as
difficult, who has the care only of a few millions, to whom he cannot do
much good or harm, what must be the anxiety of him, on whom depends the
action of the elements, and the great gifts of light and heat!--Hear me,
therefore, with attention.
"'I have diligently considered the position of the earth and sun, and
formed innumerable schemes, in which I changed their situation. I have
sometimes turned aside the axis of the earth, and sometimes varied the
ecliptick of the sun: but I have found it impossible to make a
disposition, by which the world may be advantaged; what one region
gains, another loses by an imaginable alteration, even without
considering the distant parts of the solar system, with which ye are
unacquainted. Do not, therefore, in thy administration of the year,
indulge thy pride by innovation; do not please thyself with thinking,
that thou canst make thyself renowned to all future ages, by disordering
the seasons.
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