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NOTES AND EVENTS OF THE MONTH. 



THE COMET. Little is accurately known of comets, save that they are 

 very eccentric bodies; and, truly, MR. HALLEV'S (so called) has been a 

 practical confirmation of the fact and nothing more! Half Europe 

 has been kept in a state of hot water, for the last twelve months, about 

 the coming comet, yet people might have saved themselves their trouble 

 and trepidation ; for surely no disappointment could ever be greater, more 

 general, or more ridiculous than that which hath been just experienced. 

 From the seventh of last August to the seventh of next February the 

 great comet was to have been visible : that was something. On the 

 fifth of October it was to have been seen, beneath the paws of the great 

 bear, blazing away with a super-celestial splendour, perfectly terrific : 

 that was grand. On the fifteenth, it would arrive at the point of its 

 shortest distance from this planet of ours, when, being only ninety mil- 

 lions of miles or so removed, nothing short of a gentle flick of its tail, or 

 haply a slight scorching, was to be expected : that was sublimely terri- 

 ble. It was then gradually to lessen the exuberance of its brightness, 

 getting 



" Small by degrees, and beautifully less," 



up to the first Sunday evening after next Candlemas : that, if we all sur- 

 vived, was cheering. And at this period it was, with a graceful quiver 

 of its tail, to bid the world good bye, till somewhere about Midsummer 

 of 1911 : that was a blessing so " hurrah for the comet!" Such 

 were the predictions of M. DAMOISEAU and other astronomical ready- 

 reckoners. What have been the facts ? August came, but no comet ; 

 September followed, and where was the comet ? October succeeded has 

 any body seen the comet ? Anxious inquirers were told to turn their 

 eyes eastward to Kensington, and look to SOUTH ; South pointed to 

 North ; and, after much hunting, an obscure star-like something was at 

 length discovered in the ' far west ' but if that was the great comet, it 

 had, evidently, not yet (to use the words of a journeyman carpenter, 

 which we one evening overheard) " turned its gas on." It was to have 

 pursued its course between the feet of Ursa Major it took a nearer path, 

 and that right a-head ! it was to have had a tail : it had none (except 

 the tale that had been told of it) for a long time ; and when, indeed, it 

 did sprout out, the tail was on the top, a double one to boot, and both 

 marvellously indistinct ! instead of the expected singeing, we have had 

 nothing but cold, clammy, cloudy, rainy weather, ever since its appear- 

 ance, (to make a figure of speech) and every living comet-hunter has 

 been ludicrously disappointed. In short, a more lamentable prognosti- 

 cation, of an indifferent reality, it were hard to conceive. 



So much for penny almanacs ; cheap and cheating. O ! Francis 

 Moore, Francis Moore, how wast thou maligned ! hadst thou been with 

 us, this sorry deception had scarcely been ! 



