ADDITIONAL -NOTICES OF THE AURORA BOREALIS. 481 



in this kingdom likewise : however, in this kingdom, subsequent to 

 the date of 1574, are no instances on record, till September or Oc- 

 tober, 1706, when an appearance occurred in England, which was 

 transiently noticed by Mr. Denham, in a communication to the Royal 

 Society of London, inserted in the Philosophical Transactions for 1709, 

 No. 320. 



The same communication contains the account of the " Northern 

 streaming," which was observed by Mr. Neve in Ireland, Novem- 

 ber 10th, 1707; and of which an account was introduced in my former 

 letter, p. 306. This appears to have been the first particular descrip- 

 tion inserted in the Transactions of the Royal Society. 



Soon after this appearance another took place, but of short duration, 

 having been seen near London, a little before midnight, between the 

 9th and 10th of August, 1708, by the Right Reverend Philip, Lord 

 Bishop of Hereford, and by his Lordship communicated to the Royal 

 Society. This communication is noticed by Dr. Halley, in his " Ac- 

 count of the late surprising appearance of the lights seen in the air," 

 inserted in the Philosophical Transactions for 1716, No. 347- The 

 appearance, which is described very minutely and copiously by that 

 eminent professor, I presume to be the one intended by Collins's 

 " Young Aurora," 



" In the first year of the first George's reign," 



stated by Collins's editor to have '' happened about the year 1715 :" in 

 fact the phenomena occurred on Tuesday, March 6, (old style) 1716. 

 Dr. Halley, speaking of his great desire to witness this particular 

 sort of meteor, says, " This was the only one I had not as yet seen, 

 and of which I began to despair, since it is certain it has not hap- 

 pened to any remarkable degree in this part of England since I was 

 born ; nor is the like recorded in the English annals since the year of 

 our Lord 1574; that is above 140 years since, in the reign of Queen 

 Elizabeth. Then, as we are told by the historians of those times, 

 Camden and Stow, eye-witnesses of sufficient credit, for two nights 

 successively, namely, on the 14th and 15th of November that year, 

 much the same wonderful phenomenon was seen, with almost all the 

 same circumstances as now." The foregoing position of Dr. Halley, 

 that the appearance of this meteor is " not recorded in the English 

 annals since the year of our Lord 1574," may possibly have given 

 occasion to the opinion, that it has not been recorded in the English 

 annals at all. It is evident, also, that although, as the Professor says, 

 VOL. i. NO. xi. (NOVEMBER, 1833.) o o 



