The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-10-07 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY COMM

sot—Haring lately read in your paper an ac-
rot of a new Comet, I hale been induced to think
hat the following
communication m4y not be un-
cceptable to your readers. Your's,
Trcuo

Ligglen ohi,irestory, Ott. 4, IP7.
in the course of the summer, I think in the month
July last, was observed at Edinburgh and at
ochester, a lumintsas body, having the aypear-
e 3 star of the first magnitude. Upon mare
• ote observation, however, it proved to be
of t!: use pin:mous visitors in the [leavens called
Comet.
The disk or face of itis wandering body was of a
Ale copper cols-Air, sometimes lo•.vering and die-
and of tragic asped ; at ether times wearing
de:eitful snale. It was of t'ie order of those de-
.minated by Sir Isaac Newton. Cope/lilt:14 Galilee,
e. crinous or hairy, the f ,ce of it being sur -
vended with a nebulosity like thin grey hair. It
bad also a tail about the length and appearance
of an or.litiary queue.
When seen at Edinburgh, it appeared to have
wired M its Aphelion, and to be moving in a much
owe eccentric orbit than any Comet hitherto dis-
covered, so much so that it did not seem to be regu-
lated by t':e ordinary laws of gravity, or aged
upon by those powers in nature, which have been
known to keep the most erratic planets within their
orbits There was accordingly often ground of
alarm, lest it should derange the whole solar sys-
tem, and reduce every thing in its way to chaos and
confusion. The revolution of this extraordinary
fanomenon, upon its own axes, was alsn at times
very irregular And unsteady. Most of the heavenly
bodies hitherto di.:cvered have been found to pre-
serve a certain mink with the plane of their orbit.
hot Cm reverse was the case with the Comet of
• lam speaking. So much vaccination and
• never have been observed in the moon, or
say other of the most erratic a Iti uncertain planets.
[s motion we, wabbling and unsteady, like a body
that Wei top-heavy, and threatening every moment
to fin to the ground. the orbit in which it moved
vas more anomalor, e..eentric, and ellinical. than
lb.t of any of the Comets that have hitherto tra-
versed the solar system. Among the twelve signs
of the Zodiac, or houses as they are called. this new
Comet has been traced into the signs of the Ram,
the Rail, the Lion, kc. but it has been uniformly
oleerved to fly off in a tangent from Aqua, ins or the
wit-ty sign, which has always afted upon it with a
wi,cderfully repulsive efficacy. From this anti-
paty it was at first supposed to be the Dog Star, in
aft if ebir..phtbin ; but as it has been known, like
et!:er heavenly bodies, visible at Brighton. Margate,
sal Itamsgare, to dip at times in the Ocean, that
it: position soon appeared to tee an error.
No Comet, perhaps, was ever viewed thrcni
oa many glasses, eye-glasses, opera-glasses, Ste. or
examined with such critical severity. Neither did
Greet ever reckon so many fair among its admirers
—fin the younlest and most toeaut:f II womis, in
London, appear to have doe ~e 3 more time and at-
tend°. to it, than the oldest and troq. sage As-
tronomers. It was first observed in the horizon of
Covent-garden Theatre, when it sh le a W.lze o;
light, dazzling the beholders It wis in its later
movements observed approaching Virgo, and in con
joodion with Ptnus ; but still later accounts state,
that it vase:amplest:ly in age San, ans. is cm:equently
low in an eclipse. This, it true, s.cisfeelorily
taunts for its present disappearance, which has af.
forded so much conversation and inquiry.
In aura/five powers this new and extraordinary
Comet exceeds all the ether Comets, Planets, and
Stars together. The influence of the moon, in pro-
dating an overflow, is nothing in comparison with
This has been frevently proved by experience,
at Covent.gardet,, Bristol, Manchester. Liverpool,
Dallis, Edinburgh, and other towns, whore it has
I&d with peculiar force and energy. Nor has its
Power been confined to the regions below. The re-
gions above have felt ha force. when it has been an.
se'ered with thuns:er, in loud asst responsive claps,
d set ail the Gods and Goddesses Man uproar. '
.;uch ate some of the peculiarities of this ext►aor-
dioary Comet. to which may be added, that, like
119 res, it used to appear in the evening, but was
seldom visible in the day time. or after eleven at
sight.

Shordy after the death of Julius Cmssr, a very
konAht Star made its appearance in Ole heavens, and
the Astronomers having recognised io it the late
Emperor, called it the fs.?isyn zidai, or Julian Star.
Now, combining the ezcentrieities, and
external appearances of the celebrated fir. Cooke,
the a!?nr„ of Covent-garden Theatre, and his
Lae disappearance, with the anomalies of the
rrwlhli coveted Comet, it may be inferred.
t':at he 1::.s been translated to the skies.—
fie.abea Islyiliolozy furnishes hundreds of cave in
wh;sh minktis, not half so beloved by the Gods and
Coddessees have been snatched trots earth. and

~~

planted ht the heavens, where they snow shine as
Planets, Constellations, and Stars of various mag-
nitu le. Nor is this pra&ice confined to the time
of Julius Cesar, and Heathen Mythology. It must
have been very common in the time of Romeo end
Juliet, a; we find that charming girl contemplating
her Inver, cut into little Stars, and shining so bright
in the heavens, that " birds might sing, and think it
was the morn." We also learn, that the sharp-
sighted Astronomers in the Univerbity of Weimar,
have lately discovered, that the buttons of one of
Bonaparte's old coats have been lately seen in the
heavens, where they constitute an entire Galaxy of
Stars, under the title of .6 The Stars of Napoleon."