C 310 ] 
I faw the comet with the naked eye about nine 
o’clock at night, coming out of the clouds which 
overcaft the horizon, but which difperfed foon after. 
It appeared to the naked eye larger than the ftars 
of the firft magnitude, the nucleus furrounded with 
a great coma. Its light was but faint, like that of 
the planets feen through the thick vapours of the 
horizon. It would have appeared brighter but for the 
light of the moon, which probably prevented my 
taking an exaft eftimate of the fize of the comet. 
The nucleus appeared pretty diftindl in the middle 
of the great nebulofity which furrounded it, and 
fpread more to the Eafl: by one degree and a half. 
The fame night, May ift, I compared the nucleus 
of the comet with two new ftars that were juft by, 
which I found to be of the yth and 8th magnitude. 
I determined the pofition of one of thefe ftars by 
obferving it at the meridian with known ftars. Its 
pofition may be feen in the table, N° 17. All the 
obfervations lince the 14-th of April in the morning 
were taken from the place I mentioned, near the 
College of Lewis the Great. The clock I made ufe 
of for thefe obfervations had been fet to the true 
time only by a minute watch, which I had taken care 
to fet by the clock at the Obfervatory, fo that there 
may be an error of fome minutes in the true times 
of the obfervations. As I found by this day’s ob- 
fervation that I could obferve the comet the follow- 
ing days from the marine Obfervatory, I caufed the 
Newtonian telefcope to be removed thither, as like- 
wile the clock, which however was of no further ule 
for thefe obfervations, having from this time made 
ufe of that of the Obfervatory, that is fet by the 
’ ‘ motion 
