a man; tie that other to a tree; pass him through the pikes instantly, or shoot them all before my face; cut me in pieces those fellows, who hold out that steeple against the king; burn this village, set fire to the country for a quarter of a league round; and all this, without any intermission of his paters, till he had finished them, as he would have thought it a great sin to put them off for another hour, so tender was his conscience.'

This scrupulous devotion, and his intolerant zeal against heresy, have, however, given him the epithet of a christian hero; and he prided himself in nothing more than being the first Christian Baron of Europe. His great political maxim was, one faith, one law, one king;' and he steadily supported the royal authority, amid all the storms and vicissitudes of faction. As a general he had little success, yet he maintained the character of a great commander, which he deserved by a long series of useful and active services.

Astronomical Occurrences

In NOVEMBER 1818.

THE Sun enters Sagittarius at 50 m. past 8 in the evening of the 22d of this month; and he rises and sets, during the same period, as stated in the following

TABLE

Of the Sun's Rising and Setting for every Fifth Day. November 1st, Sun rises 12 m. after 7. Sets 48 m. after 4

6th,

11th,

20 29

Equation of Time.

To find mean or true time from apparent time, as

given by a good sun-dial, subtract the following quantities from the time as marked on the dial, and the remainders will be the true time required; viz.

Moon's Passage over the Meridian.

The Moon will pass the first meridian at the following epochs during this month, at convenient times for observation, should the weather prove favourable; viz.

November 3d, at 50 m. after 4 in the evening

4th, 50
5th, - 46

5

6th,
7th,

Eclipses of Jupiter's Satellites.

The visible eclipses of Jupiter's 1st and 2d satel lites this month are the following; viz.

EMERSIONS.

1st Satellite, 10th day, at 5 m. after 5 evening.
2d Satellite, 6th,

1

Other Phenomena.

The Moon will be in conjunction with Venus at 39 m. after 1 in the morning of the 2d; and with a in Scorpio at 22 m. after 7 in the morning of the 28th of this month. Mercury and Venus will also be in conjunction on the 12th, when the former will be 16' south of the latter. Mercury will likewise be in his superior conjunction at a quarter of an hour past midnight of the 9th. Saturn will be stationary on the 14th; and Mars in superior conjunction on the 19th, at a quarter past 3 in the morning.

On COMETS in general, and those of 1807 and 1811 in particular.

[Concluded from page 267.]

Having furnished our readers with some general notions relative to these bodies, and stated a few particulars respecting the most conspicuous that have recently appeared, we shall conclude with such brief remarks as naturally present themselves to a reflecting mind while contemplating the subject.

Notwithstanding the accumulation of knowledge respecting these wandering bodies, from the first dawn of science to the present hour, it can be regarded only as a department which still requires all the skill and vigilance of modern astronomers to complete; and in this state, not only the remarks of the profound, but the conjectures of the ingenious, merit attention. Under this impression we have noticed M. De Luc's opinions on this subject, fully agreeing with him, that, in conjectures like the present, the analogies on which they are founded can furnish only germs of a theory: time alone can show, by repeated observations, whether they be capable of becoming fruitful; but, at least, they afford matter for reflection and inquiry.

With respect to the circumstance of comets not re

turning as expected, the hypothesis advanced by the celebrated M. Lambert, in his Cosmogony, and Mr. Cole, in his Theory of Comets, is perhaps not unworthy of attention. They suppose that the orbit of a comet may not always continue to be elliptical, but that, having passed its perihelion, it acquires so great a velocity, that its centripetal force is overcome by its centrifugal, and that, consequently, the comet continues to fly off in a parabola or a hyperbola till it arrives within the attraction of some of the fixed stars; that this attraction may give it a new direction, and increase its velocity till it come to an apsis below that star, whence it may again fly off in a similar curve, till its direction is again changed by the attraction of some other star, and thus visit many different systems. If this hypothesis be admitted, it is not difficult to conceive that there may be comets which are not attached to any particular system, but may be common to many, and which, by visiting each in succession, make, as it were, the tour of the universe. The following conjecture of Baron Zach embraces both this hypothesis and that of M. De Luc. He observes, Why may not comets appear sometimes luminous, at others dark? The comet of 1770, therefore, might exist sometimes in an opake and sometimes in a phosphorescent state; and hence, perhaps, and from the perturbative power of the larger and more dense bodies, the unfrequency of their return may be explained. They come back, and we do not see them 3 they are present, and we do not perceive them." From this it would result, that the same comet may sometimes move in one conic section, and, at others, in another; and that those which move in ellipses are not always visible, even in their perihelia.

The idea, however, of comets being opake bodies is connected with consequences the most extensive, and conceptions the most sublime. For, if the universe be regarded as bearing the impressions, partaking of the character, and answering the benevolent in

tentions of its Great Author (and the contrary cannot be admitted), we are inevitably led to the conclusion, that it ought to contain the greatest number of moving and habitable bodies of which it is capable, without involving disorder and confusion. With this inference, however, the great eccentricity of most of the cometary orbits has been thought to be irreconcileable, with respect to both the number of moving bodies in the universe, and their habitability, in consequence of the insupportable extremes of heat and cold to which they were supposed to be subject in the different parts of their orbits. With respect to the first of these opinions, M. Lambert observes, that "the most perfect plan of our system will be that into which enters the greatest number of orbits, all separated from each other, and which in no point intersect one another. If then we should be able to prove that the orbits of the comets correspond to this end better than that of the planets, the reason of their superiority in point of number must be seen and admitted by minds of the most common capacity.' He then discusses the question, whether the greater number of elliptical or circular orbits can be most conveniently introduced into the solar system; and, on the principles of the Newtonian philosophy, determines in favour of the former figure; and shows that the eccentric orbits of comets, instead of being irreconcileable with the wisdom which is otherwise manifest in the works of creation, furnishes additional proofs that the greatest possible perfection obtains in the universe at large. There is also reason to believe that the number of comets may greatly exceed what is generally conceived; and the learned author, above referred to, after considering the subject, asserts that a very moderate estimate will give motion in our solar system to at least five hundred millions of comets !'

Should future observations prove that comets are opake bodies, and of the nature supposed by M. De Luc (and Dr. Herschel's observations on the Sun and