Comet would give Venus a brush in his turn, as was a Morning Star and in, and that his Perihelion was to be 70,000,000 of miles, making no doubt but the Comet would revolve about the Sun and be seen in October; which proved a mere idle dream, for the Comet never came near Venus at all, nor was so low by many millions of miles. The same author predicted that the weather would be thirty-five times as hot as the heat of the Sun at the Equinoctial; all which came just to nothing." POOR HUMPHREY therefore adviseth every Don of Astronomy that hath foretold a brush of this Earth, and the deluge thereof, or a great part thereof, by means of the Comet of 1832, to give proof of belief in his own predictions by removing to the Andes or other high mountains before that year. And even if these Dons do so, and are followed by others, it will only prove the old saying, that One fool makes many: for other able Astronomers have been at the pains to show that such an event as hath been prophecied cannot happen from the said Comet.-And, again, let it be noted by the reader, that in the whole history of the world and of Astronomy, there is not a single instance recorded of this Earth having been moved or altered by Comets, or that a Comet hath injured or affected even the smallest Star.

Of the materials whereof Comets are composed POOR HUMPHREY giveth no opinion, the bodies thereof being beyond his reach, which sufficeth to him as a reason for saying no more on the subject than this: that LANCELOT COELSON, who writeth himself Student in Astrology and Physick in his Almanack for 1678, declareth" The matter of Comets is an exhalation hot and dry, fat and clammy, compact together like a lump of pitch, drawn by virtue of the heavenly bodies into the highest part of the air, and set on fire, in convenient time, by the excessive heat where it resteth, sometimes continuing to burn long, sometimes short, according to the quantity of matter; some last but a week, some twenty, thirty, forty, fifty days, but scarce any shine less than seven days or more than six months, which cometh to pass by reason either of the paucity or plenty of the matter whereof it consisteth; and they are usually forerunners of some divine Judgment which God giveth us warning of before it cometh upon us, that we might every one examine himself and repent of the evils he hath committed, and turn unto the Lord, and if possible hinder the stroke of the Comet before it comes upon us.' " Thus saith Lancelot Coelson who was a writer of great self-renown, for at the end of his Almanack he saith "Courteous Reader, You may be furnished by the author hereof, at his house in the Still Yard upon Great Tower Hill, London, with that GREAT ANTIDOTE of the Ancient Philosophers Van Helmont, Paracelsus, and Crollius, called by them ELIXIR PROPRIETATIS, the Greatest Cordial and Only Medicine in the World for Long and Sound Life, Restoring Nature even at the Point of Death, and effectually taking away the seeds of all Diseases.-Delivered in Glasses ready weighed at 4s. the ounce, and the half ounce 2s. with directions in print of its use and virtues.-Sold

also (at divers places in London, and) by Mr. Alexander Rich, Barber Chyrurgion, at the Three Perriwigs in St. Marie's Parish in Colchester in Essex." Other writers, both before and since the time of the said Prolonger of Life, hold different opinions from him concerning the matter of Comets and their burning out.

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A fear of Comets, or Blazing Stars, as Messengers of Evil, hath ever, as yet, more or less prevailed. Concerning the Great Comet of 1680, there were manifold and different Accounts and Predictions published in various shapes. One of that year, printed in a folio size, is entitled THE WONDERFUL BLAZING STAR, with the DReadful APPARITION of Two Armies in the Air, the one out of the North, the other out of the South; and thereto is prefixed an engraved representation of such Wonderful Sights as never were seen. second, also in folio, is called A MEMORIAL of the late WONDROUS SIGNS AND PRODIGIES seen in the Heavens, on the Earth, and in the Waters in the Year 1680; and the author reckoneth among his Signs and Prodigies on the Earth, "the Death of the Three Tower Lions, called Old Charles, the Queen, and the Duke; these all dying in a few days one after another." Another of the same size, also relating to the Comet of 1680, is called THE MYSTERY of AMBRAS MERLIN'S STANDARD BEARER WOLF, and last BOAR of Cornwall, with sundry other Mysterious Prophecies. On perusal of this remarkable tract, it appeareth that the Standard Bearer Wolf is a denomination supposed by the author thereof to have been given to the Great Turk by the Enchanter MERLIN, in " a Prophecy on the fate of England's Monarchy, for which he hath been so renowned in all ages since :" which are the words of the writer, who afterwards quoteth MERLIN's said Prophecy as followeth :

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"The STANDARD BEARER WOLF shall raise Troops, and inviron CORNWALL with his Tail; but a Soldier in a Cart shall withstand him, who shall change the People into a Boar, and the Boar shall waste the Provinces, but he shall be drowned in the Deep of SEVERN."

"The Troops may design an Expedition against England; which said Expedition may be undertaken by some Christian Prince or Turkish Bashaw who, on the Ship himself comes in, shall carry a flag figured with a White Wolf, and is therefore by MERLIN called the Standard Bearer Wolf, and designing to land on the Severn side of Cornwall or Devonshire will bring his Ships and Troops that follow him (who are therefore called his Tail), which will be his invironing Cornwall with his said Tail: but a Soldier in a Cart, that is, an English Admiral or General in a Ship (who shall change the People into a Boar, that is, shall command the People on the Sea Coast to move themselves and all Provisions into the Inland Country, and leave those Countries void and waste, as if Boars, or other Swine, had

made waste of all before) shall withstand the said Standard Bearer Wolf, that is, fight, defeat and sink him in the Deep of the Severn Sea, and so verify Merlin's said Prophecy."

MERLIN'S Prophecy, according to the interpretation thereof, hath not been accomplished, but the treatise that contains it, hath on the same page the following prophetic deprecation :

"And whereas We in England have of late been, and now are again, engaged in (as is by many said) a CAUSELESS PERSECUTION of our Neighbours and Fellow-Subjects at home, God grant we may not be as deeply engaged to sustain the like PUNISHMENT with other Nations abroad for like Offences."

The preceding remarkable passage was published just after the Great Comet of 1680; and PoOR HUMPHREY can show the printed original of the Standard Bearer Wolf, that he hath taken it from.

CONCERNING COMETS as OMENs, there is a multitude of writings. SALEM PEARSE, who styleth himself Student in Physick and the Coelestial Science, maketh it his business in his Caelestial Diary for 1771, to show" that BLAZING STARS are for the most part presignificant signs and tokens of mischief and evil." But he afterwards thinks proper to consider "whether Blazing Stars do not as well betoken good as evil," and thus he saith: "so far forth as BLAZING STARS are supernatural, there seemeth no doubt that Almighty God is wont, by the appearing of Stars, to give Signs to his beloved servants as well of joyful news as of heavy tidings:" and again," so far forth as BLAZING STARS are natural, it is not to be doubted but that the appearing of some of them may portend some good; which is no hard matter to prove," saith Salem, "as well by reason as by example." And Salem Pearse thus proveth it: " Forasmuch," saith he, "as BLAZING STARS are made of five Planets, namely Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, and Mercury; and as these Blazing Stars which are made of Venus and Jupiter are principally the best and luckiest, it cannot be otherwise but that Blazing Stars, those especially which have their influence from Venus and Jupiter, should sometimes betoken good, and not always evil." Salem, however, teacheth not how to distinguish Blazing Stars made of good Planets, from those made of bad Planets; but what he saith is a fair example of Astrological Instruction on this subject.

AGAIN-CONCERNING THE GOOD AND EVIL INFLUENCES OF COMETS, there is a Rare Treatise in the Quarto size, bearing the title of A JUDGMENT of the COMET of 1680, By A PERSON OF QUALITY: which author telleth, that in the opinions of many, they portend Pestilences, Malignant Distempers, the Generation of Monstrous Beings, Multitudes of Strange Insects and Ravenous Beasts, Earthquakes, and Extraordinary Volcanic Eruptions, the De

vastation and Burning of Cities, Seditions, Treasons, Wars, and Great Slaughter, Alterations in Religion, the Raining of Blood, Fire falling down from Heaven, and other strange Prodigies, with the Subversion of Empires, and change of Government, Laws, and Liberties: And on the other hand, he nameth the writers that affirm they portend the Rise of New Empires, and he citeth that GEMMA FRISIUS, a learned Mathematician, made up with great exactness as many Good Effects that have followed upon Comets as Evil ones; and he appendeth that Comets are said to have portended or produced as followeth :

POOR HUMPHREY observeth of COMETS that they have not only amazingly long tails, but that their tails are out of proportion to the size of their bodies. In the year 1811, there were two Comets. The second Comet had a body of 570 miles in diameter, and a tail 500,000 miles long but one which appeared four years before, with a body 32 miles less in diameter, had a tail 4,500,000 miles longer.

The first Comet of 1811, which on account of its brilliancy was called the Great Comet, had a body of only 428 miles : it was therefore less in diameter than the least of these Comets by 110 miles; and yet it had a tail of the astonishing length of 132,000,000 of miles. So that if a person with a pigtail in the English metropolis, went to the metropolis of Scotland, and his pigtail on his setting out were to grow on the journey, in the same proportionate length to his height, as the tail of the Great Comet is to its diameter, when the traveller got to his Inn at Edinburgh, the end of his Pigtail would be in his own house at London.

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And thus, with this homely end, doth POOR HUMPHREY conclude, concerning Comets or Blazing Stars: nevertheless he referreth to the notable HIEROGLYPHIC which he hath devised, and prefixed, before the title-page; whereof more is said for the use of the judicious reader at page 42.

A JUDGMENT of the FOUR QUARTERS of the Year 1829, according to the Ingress and Egress of the FOUR SEASONS, and the changes of MUNDANE AFFAIRS, and the INFLUENCES whereby they are governed, and the ASPECTS thereof.

I. Of the BRUMAL or WINTER Quarter.

N ASTROLOGICAL or Astronomical language when the Sun en

I teeth Vs Capricorn, then commenceth the Winter Quae funt the Solar Year, whereof, as that took place on the Shortest Day, you will have had experience from thence until the publication hereof; therefore I say nothing of past Events, but bid you daily observe the Signs in the Political Horizon.

The cumbering of the Political Stars in February portendeth Grave Consultations in the Cabinet, and long Debates in the Senate on the Catholic Question, and the State of Ireland.

II. Of the VERNAL or SPRING Quarter.

STRAL PROFICIENTS know that this Quarter beginneth before

lovers of the Country have sure tokens of the approach and advancement of the Season by the swelling and foliating of the buds, the full burst of vegetation, and the singing and building of the birds. If every thing were as forward in State Affairs, all would be sooner well than their Aspects show they will be. Before Midsummer, much will certainly be said of East India Affairs, and there will be a deal of inkshed in behalf of the Honourable Company. At least a hundred thousand pounds' worth of reasons are to be looked for from new quills, and from old pens re-nibbed, on the national advantages of renewing the Company's Charter, and against Free Trade to China, and Free Trade generally.

III. Of the ESTIVAL or SUMMER Quarter.

HIS QUARTER commenceth with the entrance of the Sun into

on, ripen the fruitage of the earth. The Storms of the Political Atmo sphere will now begin to die off with fitful gusts and squalls, and Cumber Lands and their Clods will find that they might as well have carried hats full of dirt to market, as their hats full of ignorance. Patrons and Grand Masters of Orange Clubs will be forsaken by honest persons that have been misled by evil examples and misrepresentations.

IV. Of the FRUCTURAL or AUTUMNAL Quarter.

N entrance of into commenceth this

O`Quarter, wherein is completed the business of the Ingathering,

for Winter store and consumption until the following Harvest.

Though seeming vicissitudes and untoward occurrences may happen, and certain Changes and gloomy Aspects may cause despondency, yet the great principles of Truth and Justice will startle dull consciences, and enlarge the understandings of men. The affairs of Ireland will inevitably be settled to its lasting advantage.