ceitful smile. It was of the order of those denominated by Sir Isaac Newton, Copernicus, Galileo, &c. crinous or hairy, the face of it being surrounded with a nebulosity like thin grey hair. It had also a tail about the length and appearance of an ordinary queue.

When seen at Edinburgh, it appeared to have arrived at its aphelion, and to be moving in a much more eccentric orbit than any comet hitherto discovered; so much so that it did not seem to be regulated by the ordinary laws of gravity, or acted 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 system, and reduce every thing in its way to chaos and confusion. The revolution of this extraordinary phenomenon upon its own axis, was also at times very irregular and unsteady. Most of the heavenly. bodies hitherto discovered, have been found to preserve a certain angle with the plane of their orbit, but the reverse was the case with the comet of which I am speaking. So much vacillation and oscillation never have been observed in the moon, or any other of the most erratic and uncertain planets. Its motion was wabbling and unsteady, like a body that was top-heavy, and threatening every moment to fall to the ground. The orbit in which it moved was more anomalous, eccentric, and elliptical, than that of any of the comets that have hitherto traversed 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 Bull, the Lion, &c. but it has been uniformly observed to fly off in a tangent from Aquarius or the watery sign, which has always acted upon it with a wonderfully repulsive efficacy. From this antipathy it was at first supposed to be the Dog-star, in a fit of hydrophobia;

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hydrophobia; but as it has been known, like other heavenly bodies visible at Brighton, Margate, and Ramsgate, to dip at times in the ocean, that supposition soon appeared to be an error.

No comet, perhaps, was ever viewed through so many glasses, eye glasses, opera-glasses, &c. or examined with such critical severity. Neither did comet ever reckon so many fair among its admirersfor the youngest and most beautiful women in London appear to have devoted more time and attention to it, than the oldest and most sage astronomers. It was first observed in the horizon of Covent Garden Theatre, when it shone a blaze of light, dazzling the beholders. It was in its later movements observed approaching Virgo, and in conjunction with Venus; but still later accounts state, that it was completely in the sun, and is consequently now in an eclipse. This, if true, satisfactorily accounts for its present disappearance, which has afforded so much conversation

and inquiry.

In attractive powers, this new and extraordinary comet exceeds all the other comets, planets, and stars together. The influence of the moon in producing an overflow, is nothing in comparison with it. This has been frequently proved by experience, at Covent Garden, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, Dublin, Edinburgh, and other towns, where it has acted with peculiar force and energy. Nor has its power been confined to the regions below. The regions above have felt its force, when it has been answered with thunder, in loud and responsive claps, and set all the gods and goddesses in an uproar.

Such are some of the peculiarities of this extraordinary comet, to which may be added, that, like Hesperus, it used to appear in the evening, but was seldom visible in the daytime, or after eleven at night.

Shortly after the death of Julius Cæsar, a very

bright

bright star made its appearance in the heavens, and the astronomers having recognised in it the late Emperor, called it the Julium Sidus, or Julian Star.

Now, combining the eccentricities, qualities, and external appearances of the celebrated Mr. Cooke, the actor, of Covent Garden Theatre, and his late disappearance, with the anomalies of the newly-discovered comet, it may be inferred, that he has been translated to the skies.-Heathen mythology furnishes hundreds of cases, in which mortals, not half so beloved by the gods and goddesses, have been snatched from earth, and planted in the heavens, where they now shine as planets, constellations, and stars of various magnitude. Nor is this practice confined to the time of Julius Cæsar, and heathen mythology. It must have been very common in the time of Romeo and Juliet, as we find that charming girl contemplating her lover 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 university 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 "the stars of Napoleon."

IF

ANECDOTES OF MRS.

"Let the gall'd jade wince, our withers are unwrung."

[From the Oracle.]

HAMLET

F an accomplished, youthful, and pretty woman, although not honoured with an intimacy in the house of Abraham Newland and Co. marry an elderly gentleman, with a good estate, she instantly becomes an object for jealousy and malevolence to point

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their

their slow unmoving fingers at." The disappointed ladies, whose bloom has faded by the relentless hand of time, generally stand foremost in the scandalous circles, whenever such an event becomes the subject -of conversation. All the ancient females instantly become pregnant with envy, and are generally delivered in the course of an afternoon at a card-table.

"Bless me!" says Lady Tab; "what strange news is abroad this morning! As I live, Miss, the young Creole, is married to Mr. a man of no less than £3000 per annum! Sixty-seven at least; and in a fine galloping consumption! Heavens and earth! what luck some people have!"

"O Lord, I heard the whole this morning," replies a Gertrude of three score and ten: "the man has been doating for many years!-They should, notwithstanding, have told him all how and about General the nine months dropsy, and

but I say nothing!”

"Pray, Ma'am," exclaims Lady Tab (seemingly agitated, and with a sneer of exquisite manufacture), "do not be so very censorious. It may be true, the General visited Miss, at B; but what of that? he knew her father in the West Indies, and very kindly undertook to be her protector in England -If he did sleep at B- occasionally, it was only to escape bad weather. As to the dropsy business, let us put a charitable interpretation upon the whole of that story. Indeed, if it lasted nine months, and nine only, there must be some grounds for suspicion; but for my part, I do not credit a single word of it. Besides, the lady is now married; and although some awkward circumstances might have formerly taken place, they should at present be entirely forgotten.

Another female veteran of this amiable junto, who appeared extremely attentive to Lady Tab's vindication, very calmly asks:

«Can

"Can your Ladyship inform us what is become of the child?".

This question must necessarily throw the whole party into a convulsion of laughter; but Lady Tab, who could not decently appear without being in a passion, immediately replies "Good God, Ma'am, did not I tell you this moment, that not the least credit was due to the dropsy story?-why, therefore, inquire about a baby? Perhaps, Ma'am, you allude to the report of Miss placing a fine male infant under the care of a wet nurse at H; but we should not inquire too closely into things. What a world do we live in !"

A conversation, similar to that we have already stated, did certainly take place, not many moons since, at a well-known scandal shop in Sle Street. But the venerable ladies had lost their way, and were groping in the dark. They had heard of a marriage (which, by the bye, took place nearly three years ago), but they were not acquainted with the whole of the circumstances. Fancy, however, on these occasions, generally occupies the place of truth, and at every word a reputation dies!" Thus do we find the Gertrudes of the day assemble, for the infernal purpose of sacrificing innocence on the hideous altar of malevolence. "Poh! it smells rank: but mark how a plain tale shall put them down."

late Miss

was born, we have about the year

Mrs. been told, in the island of 1780, and was the daughter of a man who for several years lived on a sugar plantation, to which he was overseer. He found it convenient to depart the island without ceremony, and which, perhaps, saved him the trouble of settling accounts with his employer. He therefore embarked for England with his lovely daughter (the subject of this memoir), and arrived in safety at London. Twelve months had