The National Register.
London, England, 1811-10-13 00:00:00

NATIONAL REGISTER.

- MISCELLANIES,

• • Ito

The Census Act is to undergo a modification in the ensuirg
Session of Parliament. The population of Ireland is, as it
ought to be, to be compreher.ded in the el:unierkvion ; as Asa
his Majesty's subjects serving in the navy, the army, the tra.r.
chants service, and on boaru small craft of every description.
Without a regulation of this kind, the returns mast be .;efficient,
the object of the Legislature frustrated, and the physical strength
of the Empire remain unascertained.
Mr. Colman has presented a pe! Rion to the Prince R, gent,
praying, that, by the interposition of his Royal Highness, either
the Winter Theatres may be limited to their usu&il time of closing,
viz. the 4th of June, or that he may be allowed to extend his
time of performing to eight months annually, to compensate for
the loss which the Haymarket Theatre sustains by that of Co.
vent-Garden being now kept open till August, and re-opening
early in September following.
The name of the drama which is forthcoming at Covent.
Garden Theatre, from the pen of Mr. C. Kemble, is to be
Kamschatka. It is understood to be, in the general outline, de-
rived from a play of Kotzebue, and is to be accompanied by
songs and music. The place of action affords scope for bold and
picturesque-scenery, but it is cold and barren!
A Court-martial is ordered to be assembled at Chelmsford, at
the instance of Lieutenant-General Ackland, to try the Major,
two Captains, the Adjutant and. Paymaster .o: the 2d Surrey
Militia, upon charges of a kind the most serious, as they affect
the confidence which the soldier ought to have in the honour of
his Officers.

The Maidstone frigate will be launched at Deptford on Friday;
the 18th inst ; the tide will serve about nue o'clock. It is the
intention of Government to lay down immediately upon the
slip of the La Hogue, a 50-gun ship, to be called the Salishury.
She will he built upon the plan of the Danish ship Christian 1111.
This vessel seems to he a great favour ite among the Officers wh•
have sailed in her. Her stern and afterpart beak a striking re-
semblance to the pink-sterned ships built in the early part of the
last century, and consequently enable the men to bring a greater
number of guns to bear, in case of her being raked ur cha'ed by
an enemy.

We have seldom heard a more distressing circumstance than
the death of the Pilot, Anderson, of Deal, which happened
about a week since, on hoard a vessel in Margate Routs, in a
hoary tale of wind, his head being actually severed from his
body by one of the ropes, .at the morneut of striking against
another vecsel in the same perilous situation. He has left a wife
and ten helpless children to lament his loss.
The following is an extract of a letter, dated Caernarvon,
Oct. 6 :—" A ship of about MO tons buithen- Las been off this
bar for three days, bottom up. Eighteen dead bodies, sup-
posed to be part of the crew, have been driven on shore."
Wednesday a Lieutenant of a frigate in Hamoaze, in a fit of
desperation, fired a pistol into his mouth, and actually blew off
the roof of his mouth. He was conveyed to the Royal Naval
Hrsspital with little hopes of recovery. The ball could not be
found; but on Thursday morning he was taken with a fit of
coughing, and actually brought off the ball from his stomach.,
Disappointment in love is said to be the cause of this' rash
action

Til E CO M FT.—The Comet having passed very near to . the
star at the end of the Great Bear's tail, it will not page near any
bright star for some time to come; but towards the middle of
Novemb, r, it seems likely to pass below the second brightest
star in the heavens, in the Constellation Lyre, at the distance
of about 14 degrees, nearly west, in. the early part of the even.-
ing, with an altitude of about 50 degrees. As the Comet is racy
moving nearly right acro-,4 the view of the earth, and will bb
nearest to it about the 231 instant, it will afterward be eeereas-
ing its distance From u!:, and we both then shall be moving con-
trary wrp, the Comet to the hit, -..nd the. Earth to the right:,
so that on this account, and also o❑ account of the Comet's en-
creasing distance from the Sun, v e n:ay expect it to be lets'
brilliant by the Middle of November, and not long afterwards
to lose it entirely from our sight.
THEORY or COME I S.—That every particle of matter in* the
universe, acts and re acts on each other, is adMittecl'hy all Emend
philosophers, and is the very essence of gravity: This accounts
tor the extraordinary appearance of the present Comet, in mo-
ving at one time forward and at another time backward, and any
person conversant in spheric trigonometry can prove, it will be
stationary over London with brilliant i fluence on Tuesday, the
22d of this month. Astrologers have always considered Comets
as being portentous of great events, and this is probably the rea-
iton that the Contractors with Government have fixed the draw-
ing of tire present Lottery on the ahovs day, as the Comet may
greatly imprcve the fortunes of adventurers who are now ut-
.vited to participate in its benign influence) by purchasing a
Ticket or a Share.