ed; therefore tell me how he di&longs;-ingageth him&longs;elf in the next place <lb/>
from that particular of the Stars having con&longs;tantly kept the &longs;ame <lb/>
di&longs;tance from the fixed Stars circumjacent to it.</s></p>

<p type="main"><s>SALV. </s><s>He betakes him&longs;elf, in like manner, to two threads, yet <lb/>
more unable to uphold him than the former: one of which is like <lb/>
wi&longs;e fa&longs;tened to refraction, but &longs;o much le&longs;s firmly, in that he <lb/>
&longs;aith, that refraction operating upon the new Star, and &longs;ublimating <lb/>
it higher than its true &longs;ituation, maketh the &longs;eeming di&longs;tances un <lb/>
tain to be di&longs;tingui&longs;hed from the true, when compared to the cir <lb/>
cumpo&longs;ed fixed Stars that environ it. </s><s>Nor can I &longs;ufficiently ad <lb/>
mire how he can di&longs;&longs;emble his knowing how that the &longs;ame refra <lb/>
ction will work alike upon the new Star, as upon the antient one <lb/>
its neighbour, elevating both equally, &longs;o as that &longs;uch a like acci <lb/>
dent altereth not the &longs;pace betwixt them. </s><s>His other &longs;ubterfuge is <lb/>
yet more unhappy, and carryeth with it much of ridiculous, it be <lb/>
ing founded upon the errour that may ari&longs;e in the in&longs;trumen talo <lb/>
peration it &longs;elf; whil&longs;t that the Ob&longs;ervator not being able to <lb/>
con&longs;titute the centre of the eyes pupil in the centre of the Sex <lb/>
tant (an In&longs;trument imployed in ob&longs;erving the di&longs;tance between <lb/>
two Stars) but holding it elevated above that centre, as much as <lb/>
the &longs;aid pupil is di&longs;tant from I know not what bone of the cheek, <lb/>
again&longs;t which the end of the In&longs;trument re&longs;teth, there is formed <lb/>
in the eye an angle more acute than that which is made by the &longs;ides <lb/>
of the In&longs;trument; which angle of rayes differeth al&longs;o from it <lb/>
&longs;elf, at &longs;uch time as a man looketh upon Stars, not much elevated <lb/>
above the Horizon, and the &longs;ame being afterwards placed at a <lb/>
great height; that angle, &longs;aith he, is made different, while the In <lb/>
&longs;trument goeth a&longs;cending, the head &longs;tanding &longs;till: but if in moun <lb/>
ting the In&longs;trument, the neck &longs;hould bend backwards, and the <lb/>
head go ri&longs;ing, together with the In&longs;trument, the angle would then <lb/>
continue the &longs;ame. </s><s>So that the Authours an&longs;wer &longs;uppo&longs;eth that <lb/>
the Ob&longs;ervators in u&longs;ing the In&longs;trument have not rai&longs;ed the head, <lb/>
as they ought to have done; a thing which hath nothing of likeli <lb/>
hood in it. </s><s>But granting that &longs;o it had been, I leave you to judge <lb/>
what difference can be between two acute angles of two equicru <lb/>
ral triangles, the &longs;ides of one of which triangles are each four <lb/>
[<emph type="italics"/>Italian] Braces<emph.end type="italics"/> [<emph type="italics"/>i.e.<emph.end type="italics"/> about three Engli&longs;h yards] and tho&longs;e of the <lb/>
other, four braces within the quantity of the diameter of a Pea; <lb/>
for the differences cannot be ab&longs;olutely greater between the length <lb/>
of the two vi&longs;ive rayes, whil&longs;t the line is drawn perpendicularly <lb/>
from the centre of the pupil, upon the plain of the Rule of the <lb/>
Sextant (which line is no bigger than the breath of the thumb) <lb/>
and the length of the &longs;ame rayes, whil&longs;t elevating the Sextant, <lb/>
without rai&longs;ing the head together with it, that &longs;ame line no longer <lb/>
falleth perpendicularly upon the &longs;aid plane, but inclineth, making