IL 
the earth’s orbit ; instead of which it was 
actually the whole radius of the earth’s 
orbit, added to the comet’s distance from 
the sun, or about 163 millions of miles 
distant from us when nearest. ‘The dif- 
ference is nearly 42 to 1. * ‘ 
Bat its tread subtended an angle, in- 
¢luding the diffused coma, of above 4. 
And, apparent diameters being inversely 
at the distances, its head would have 
‘appeared eqaal to more than 16/, or 
abuve 4 the mean diameter of the moon, 
if the earth bad been on the side of her 
erbit nearest to the comet, 
Under the actual circumstances it was 
brighter than Jupiter, and perhaps equal 
to Arcturus. And, light being as the 
Squares of the distances, it might be ex- 
pected, had it been on the side nearest 
to us, that it would very far have ex+ 
‘ceeded the brizhtness of Sirius, or any 
other heavenly body, except the sun. 
its train too, would then probably have 
appeared more than 20° in length, and 
of proportionate breadth; so that i¢ 
would probably have ‘been as_conspi- 
tous and beautiful an appearance, as 
that of the comet of 1743 is related to 
have been, 
ON ALFTERI. 
* I have obtained the translation of 
the Memoirs of Atrirerr, written by 
himself, 1 should be greatly obliged to 
any of your correspondents, who would 
jntorm me whether the original Italian 
- be procurable here in England. ‘It is 
that which I wanted, and have in vain 
sought. aye 
An Italian nobleman in those days, a 
true, ardent, and constant, lover of free. 
dom; a youth surrounded with ail the 
tcinptations of rank, fortune, and dissi- 
‘pation, and personal advantages, edu- 
‘cating himself; a Piedmontese writing 
the pure and illustrious Tuscan language, 
in such perfection, notwithstanding all 
its difficulties; a man who travelled so 
much, and was agitated by svch strong 
‘passions, successfully commencing Greek 
iat the age of filty ; addiiig to Italy one of 
dlie last, and highest, and only wanting ef 
ther poetic palms, by his admirable and 
wWnrivalied Tragedies: master of dramatic 
Wietion, sentiment, character, incident, 
‘aid at the same time of Grecian sim- 
plicity and severity in the fwble and 
zonduct of his drama; nobly and awe~ 
Fully’ pathetic, free, animated, sublime; 
Fivalling on the same subjects, and in 
some important respects excelling s- 
66.7 Si 
es 
Plan of the improving the Piano- Forte. 
531 
chylus, Euripides, and Sophocles; the 
energetic inspirer of the most amiable 
and exalted passions and affections, as 
exemplified by Timoleon, and first and 
second Brutus; such, and more than such, 
is Alfieri! One must be dead to all ex- 
cellence of: imagination, intellect, and 
thought, to all power of numbers, sen- 
timent, and the purest and noblest 
energies of the drama, not to feel, after 
reading his immortal works, an énthusi« 
astic love and veneration for his name. 
eee 
Plan of extending the number of p1s- 
TING? souNDs. of the octave of thé 
RIANO-FORTE, wilhout PEDALS. 
My plan for improving the extent 
of the musical scale of the piano-farte, ° 
and other keyed instruments, and bring- 
ing it nearer to wind instruments, as the 
flure, &c. and to those which are played 
without ‘keys, though having strings or 
wires, by the bow ur immediate appli- 
cation of the finger to the string, us the 
violin, harp, &c. and to-diminish greatly 
the temperamrent, is very simple. 
It consists in this known principle: 
that the diameter of a-circle is to its Cir- 
cumference as 1 to 3 nearly, and, con 
sequently, the chord of the semicircle to 
the circumference as 2:3 or 1:13. : 
IT would therefore propose that the 
clavier, or finger-board, be made concave 
to the performer, and the keys disposed 
on a semicircle ; or rather an elliptic arch, ~ 
very nearly approaching to it. In «ois 
sequence of this, eighteen sounds, distinet- 
from each other, would be found on each 
ctave, instead of twelve, without increas, 
‘sing the distance between the extreme 
keys; and, if the space on each side for 
the stops And air-chest were made equal, 
and the back of the frame and of the 
ssounding-board rounded off, that semi- 
circle would consequently be in the cen= 
tre of an elegantly cresceut-formed instru= 
ment, The keys would strike off at equal 
distances us radiifrem the centre : those 
which are now most remote, would be as 
near (and nearer) as those in the centre 
to the hand of the performer, -on riglit 
and left; and the centre would stil! be 
at a sufficiently convenient distance, not 
requirnig to recede at the centre more 
than eighteen inches, or about two feet, 
where there are the additional keys. 
The appearance in playing would, T 
think, be even more easy and graceful 
than at present. My reason for-lavin 
the additional shortkeyssomewhatlanger, 
ang 
