SECTION VI. 



THE EXPECTED RETURN OF THE GREAT COMET OF 1264. 



ONE of the most splendid comets mentioned in his- 

 tory is that which made its appearance in the middle of 

 the year 1264. It is recorded in terms of astonishment 

 by nearly all the historians of the age ; no one then 

 living had seen any to be compared with it. It was at 

 the height of its splendor in the month of August, and 

 during the early part of September. When the head was 

 just visible above the eastern horizon in the early morn- 

 ing sky, the tail stretched out past the mid-heaven toward 

 the west, or was fully 100 in length. Both Chinese and 

 European writers testify to its enormous magnitude. In 

 China, the tail was not only 100 long, but appeared 

 curved in the form of a saber. It continued visible until 

 the beginning of October, historians generally agreeing in 

 dating its last appearance on the 2d of October, or on the 

 night of the death of Pope Urban IY., of which event it 

 seems to have been considered the precursor. Kough 

 approximations to the elements of this comet were at- 

 tempted by Mr. Dunthorne in the middle of the last 

 century, and subsequently by M. Pingre, the well-known 

 French writer on the history of comets. 



In the year 1556 another splendid comet made its ap- 



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