to a necklace of brilliant gems, and popularly associated with the "little she goats" that Sancho Panza saw on his aërial excursions.
We come now to a consideration of the individual stars of this celebrated group. Alcyone, the brightest of the Pleiades, represents in the sky the Atlantid nymph who became the mother of Hyrieus by Poseidon. It is sometimes called "the light of the Pleiades." The Arabs called it "the bright one" and "the Walnut." Alcyone is famous as locating the supposed centre of the universe, the point about which the starry heavens revolved. The German astronomer Mädler held this view, but there is no satisfactory reason for his opinion. Alcyone has three companion stars, and the three form a beautiful little triangle, a fine sight in a small telescope. The star culminates at 9 p.m., on the last night of the year. Miss Clerke considers that Alcyone exceeds the sun in brilliancy one thousand times.
Past fields of ether, crimson, violet, rose,
The vast star-garden of eternity,
Behold: it shines with white, immaculate rays,
The home of peace, the haven of repose,
The lotus-flower of heaven, Alcyone.
Frances Mace.
The star Maia represents the oldest and most beautiful of the sisters, and some have said that this star was the brightest of the group. Maia married Jupiter and became the mother of Mercury, of whom Shelley sings:
Of Jove and Maia sprung—never by me
Nor thou, nor other songs, shall unremembered be.
It was discovered in 1884 that Maia was surrounded by a nebulous cloud, while later and more perfect photographs showed that this was also true of nearly all the stars of the group.
Electra was the mother of Dardanus, the founder of Troy, and the ancestor of Priam and his house. Aghast
