WHAT thefe New Stars are, is hard to determine: Meteors they cannot be, because they are of a long continuance, and much too far off, for Bodies that emit fo little light as Meteors do, to be feen by us. And as for other Opinions about them, they are too many, and too frivolous (fome of them) to be named (4), except one or two of the most probable. Among which, one is of fome that think they may be fuch Stars as have one fide darker than the other (as one of Saturn's Satellites is fuppofed to have) and so appear only when the bright fide is turned towards us, and disappear as the darker takes place. Some think they may be Fixt Stars that expire in Light and Vapours (5),

(4) If the Reader hath a mind to see a variety of thefe Opinions, he may find them largely enough handled in Riccioli's Almageft. ubi Jupra c. 17.

(5) This is what Sir Ifaac Newton furmifes in his Princip. L. 3. Prop. 42.

and

and are again rekindled, and recruited by the Access of Comets. Others take them to be Comets themselves. But if I may be admitted to speak my own opinion, I rather take them to be Erraticks of some kind or other, and that for thefe Reasons :

1. FROM some of them seeming to change their Places, and appearing fometimes farther off, and fome times nearer unto other Stars: as I have said in the Preface, pag. 48.

2. FROM that Increase and Decrease of their Light and Magnitudes which is conftantly obferved in them: they being at firft obfcure, and hardly difcernable, but by degrees grow ing brighter and brighter, till fome of them equal the light of Venus; and others the light of the Fixt Stars, of the First, Second, and Third Magnitudes: and then again as gradually grow lefs and lefs till they utterly disappear.

3. FROM

3. FROM their Periodical motion and return after a certain time. This indeed hath not been fo carefully and judiciously taken notice of as it deferves, or so as to bring their Periods under certain determinations ; but yet in some of Hevelius's and Caffini's obfervations, it hath been discovered that fome of the fame Stars have returned, as particularly that in the Whale's Neck, and that which now appears in the Swan's Neck, which, as I juft before in Note 3. faid, hath a Period of 404 days, according to Mr. Kirch's obferva

tions.

THESE are my reafons for fufpecting those New Stars to be Erraticks, rather than Fixt Stars either recruited, or having dark and light fides.

But the grand difficulty is, what kind of Erraticks they are, whether Wandering Suns, or Planets (like ours)

of

of other Syftemes? That they should be Wandering Suns, is fomewhat odd to affert : and of what use they fhould be, is hard to imagine, fince there is nothing of this kind in the Universe, that we know of, that may affift our imagination.

AND as to the latter opinion, I confefs I have been much enclined to suspect that they might be Planets revolving round fuch Suns as caft a much fiercer, and more vigorous Light than our Sun doth; and that these their Planets might be more dense than ours, and have Surfaces more ftrongly reflecting light, and perhaps be much larger too. But notwithstanding that Planetary RefleEted Light may be sent to very great distances by these means, yet without extravagant Suppofitions of this nature, it may be doubted whether it would reach us, fo far off as the Fixt Stars are. And befides this,

another

another doubt is, That altho' there are divers Stars near thofe New Stars, of greater Magnitudes than any of the New Stars are, which I ever yet have had the fortune to fee, yet I can scarce think them big enough, to conclude them to be the Suns about which those New Stars (if Planets) move. And therefore being uncertain what to determine in fo intricate a matter, I fhall leave it to future better Obfervations (which the late long dark Weather hath hindered me in the prosecution of) which I hope may afford us fo good light, as may lead us into a much greater knowledge of those rare Phænomena.

But whatever those New Stars are, they are a farther Demonstration of GOD's Power and Glory : and that there are many more of the grand Works of the Creation than what our Eyes behold at all, or that we have only now and then a glimpse

E

of.