The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-07-19 00:00:00

nritson's ORA-I-Tarmac!.

The tont'udiag mid posihinionse volairie of Wifearr
American Ofnqhfilegi has boned from the Philadelphia
pow, and a r. • wursilwis may lie mess at At'esillinanesl
Itrpository,'iu As; Stripa, This wink does honour II) the
;groins and enterpr;se .4 Mr. WHAM, who tin& aervicate
representations in oh: t. sekle.a wilds sof Amerce trif every
species of the native bir,(s sif that vast aii interrifing
Continent, from the sherry o.` lanai or
the 31".i.5/ppi, and from the A lissitie clime to lbw wirriaw
of Imolai/ma. It is also the to Ist specimen we have sees' of
the dein. of perfection to which th t)pographic a. is car-
ried in the United States. The plat.'"aarith whieh it ilsonsids
are admirable tar She correctors', eel' hilih MOO, Ike
drawing, the beauty or Ilse eugravi.na. sad Inc.. and
splendour of their colouring. They cuu.m7 /he 16"41 easel
and perfect representation we lis'ive ever a,lels of the varied
and brilliant 'plumage of the feathered Wiwi Sisnalled de.
scriptions of which we worsen read of in oh." Iffs'w World.
This work will forum a most interesting and vai:lllalaht CMS-
imam to Tesimatuoit's on the Birds 01 Harm., .10 it his
considerably illustrated and ex:ended the discov.llki of
P • • , EDW41111)11, CATESIBT, and BARTILAM, %%.1.1.1"
intire,l,wiegiest advantage over anthem distinguia 'bed
naturalist., for his ardour in pursuit of new discoveries in I.
toil history was inch. that be explored in person nearly tha*
"hole American Continent, made his dritivisies on the
also, comparing, as he went slung, his own observations
and diseoverics wish those of his predecessors, the greater
part of whom tkpensled upon casual travellers for their
information, unit he then hash the whole lint In press,
under his own immediate revision and Inspection. 101111,011,
who had to make use of the imperfect wourriala of the pre-
decessors of WILtIOII, struck with the want of agreement
moose Ileac various theories, frequently exclaimed, " Would
In Heaven that American Naturalists would write the His.
tory of Nature to their country!" The wish of Burros has
been at length fnlAlled by Mr. WilLsos, and the public have
mow before them a complete and consecutive series of Win.-
'nation, in the wont delightful branch of Natural History,
illustrated wills beautiful plates' of each ',peeks of bird.,
accompanied with detailed, moil, in some instances, very uorel
and curious descriptions.
Orr limits will aid enable us to make extracts from this
work, nor could any which it would he in our power so
make do justice to the extraordinary merits of the Author,
who was a self-taught man, that emigrated a few years ago
from Scotland to America. Like his countryman Mac,
he possessed a powerful constitution and great mental
dour, which rose superior to all the difficulties it encoun-
tered, and like him, though not by open violence, he fell
an early victim lo the iatense labour of his occupations
This work must, from its owls intrinsic merits, command
great attention from the lovers of science and art. America.
though the seat and grave of Wtt.sou'a actin., the centre of
a man's labours, who, unaided and unsupported, largely
added to her stock of Natural History, yet seems to have
forgotten him when something more than idle panegyric ma
expected at the conclusion of his labours. America is not
as yet the beat soil for the culture of Literature and the
Arts; and we were not surprised to learn from Mr. Mktg/A
Biographer the following fact, speakiag of his patronage in
America :

--
" Of all bar literati, her amen of benevolence, taste, avid
riches, SEVENTY only, to Ilse period of the Author's decease,
had the liberality to coantenance him by a subscription.
more than half of whom were tradesmen, artists, and
those of the middle class of society ; whilst the little city of
New Ortesne, it the short space of 17 days, furnished 60
subseribers to the American Ornithology ! Among the
English suborribers we 6uJ the names of Air. WEST, the
venerable President of the Royal Academy, Mr. Roscoe,
of Liverpool, and a few other equally distinguished charac-
ters. In a country like this, a work at once so umbel and
ornamental, must attract considerable attention. It bus
already excited the warmest approbation of our Milos.

THE COMET.

(IMPORT 0111111.11VATOILIN JULY 110.

Cloudy and hazy weather has pre►ented is fur se►eral
nights from making further obser►ations on the real path of
this celestial phenomenon of general admiration. On Now.
day night (July 12), its nucleus appeared much larger and
more globular than on any former evening; and by t►e help
of ■ four and a half feet Achromatic telescope, a star of Ibe
sixth magnitude was seen through its tail, which is now
diminished considerably hi length stud splendour. The ful.
lowing obser►ations will determine the present position and
progressi►e motion of the Comet since it was first seen
bent; and from which it may be satisfactorily and easily
pro►ed by a common celestial Globe, that it bas passed its
perihelion :
deg. min. rec.
July 9d, North Polar distance 46 8 3
Distance from Mobile 40 0 0
Distance from Capella 19 15 0
July 14th, North Pular distance 37 7 0
Distance from Ruble 96 44 0
Distance from Capella 44 35 0
Hence it will be seen that the Polar distance of the Comet
has decreased 9 deg. 1 min. 3 sec. in ele►en days.

Observations on the comet, at Shrewsbury, on
Thursday, July Bth. at 11 min. p.m. mean time :-
4, The distances of the comet from the Pole Star,
and from Capills, were taken with au octant. and
its place found sr below:—
" North Polar distance, 46 deg. 5 min.
U Right ascension,? h is.l7 twin.
It appears that the comet had then gone in its
orbit about 71 degrees in five days, directing its
course towards the ,winters in Ursa Major ; having
diminished its Polar distance nearly 51 degrees, and
increased its right ascension :25 mill."

Amongst the novelties that display themselves on
the great high roads, where speed is every thing,
may be seen the servants travelling in • coach and
six, and the master coming down in the snail coach.
The Dander. 60, Captain EDWARD CHETNAN,
C.B. and the Podargas. Hon. Captain Roos, lave
goue into Portsmouth harbour to be paid off ; and
the Magicienne, Captain Puavtg, sailed on Wedaes-
day for Deptford. The Liffry, Hon. H. Dom.
CAN, C.E. is 81/0 gone into harbour to be docked.
The Leander is tat he paid off all standing, recom-
missioned fur the flag of Sir HiNair ELMAWOOD,
and fitted for the East Indio..

Remain at Spitlivati—Folosorth.. for Cork sta-
tion
; Myrmidon, waiting the arrival of the Alge.
rine Ambassador ; Mud and Cautekon, for Chan-
nel rervier.

A Belfast Paper says—" We learn that General
Count Al ACIRON E has received lettere from General
M'Coutrit, dated frogs Aux Cayes (Sr. Damingi,),
after Jos escape from ['Arlo Hello. .The General
acquits himself of all blame in the unfortunate
result (of course). Ile has been able to secure and
take away with him u con.iderable sum of Monty,
and is now, it is further stated, at the head of
nearly 2,000 men. Ile was preparing for milking
another landing on the Main. The AL:march and
the Rambler were taking in 860 men at New York,
and the agent* at Jamaica had enlisted for the
Same purpose 600 Mtn of the reduced Writ India
Regiment. Geo. 110411 E, who beat M!GhlGoe.,
is an Iriithrosn, said to be a native of Wexford:" '
On ThurKlay last, as Mi. ,f mos, of Reading,
accompanied by his son, were riding in' their gig,
near the Peck Saddle, Cevenhain, the hOrse took
fright and ran away; Mi. Flancif, juu. viai threwh
out, and his father afterwards jgaiped oat, and the
wheel "nog over his thigh broke it.