they may be written, taking care only, that they should be authentick, and important. I shall hope, that the lady I have above alluded to will send her card; and I trust, that her ladyship's connections, in the line marked out in the map annexed to the memoir, will be excited by her not to let this phoenomenon pass unnoticed, and also be prepared to attend to those circumstances, which are so judiciously pointed out by Mr. Baily as the most worthy of notice. It is not from great observatories only, that we are to expect information. A combination of observations from persons in different parts, following the plain and simple directions of Mr. Baily, may serve the cause of astronomy in a higher degree than those, which can be expected from a few observatories only and I am persuaded, that the author of the memoir will not be offended at my borrowing largely from it, and thus cooperating with him in his laudable endeavour to make this phoenomenon more particularly noticed than any of the same kind, that has hitherto come under the observation of mortals. : There has not been so great an eclipse observed in this part of Europe since the year 1764, nor will there be another equal to it before to my readers the arrival of a comet, I have some pleasure in calling their attention to a phænomenon, which is more interesting to astronomy, and of rarer occurrence, than that of some one or other of the innumerable wandering bodies, whose appearance, not being reduced to certain rules, is in general the subject of greater admiration. We have this year four eclipses, and one of them, an annular eclipse of the Sun, will happen on the 7th of September. We shall not in this island have the advantage of seeing it in this particular and beautiful form; but it will be so seen in a long line of country, from the German Ocean to the Adriatick, and through the south of Italy. We are greatly indebted to a - gentleman of Gray's Inn, Mr. Francis Baily, for calling the attention of the publick to this subject; and he has not only printed a very interesting memoir upon it, not intended for sale, but has declared his readiness to furnish such persons, as may send their cards for that purpose, with any number of copies they may require. He has annexed a request, which I trust will be generally complied with, that they, who thus receive his memoir, will be kind enough in return to favour him with the observations, they or their friends may make, in whatever language they may be written, taking care only, that they should be authentick, and important. I shall hope, that the lady I have above alluded to will send her card; and I trust, that her ladyship's connections, in the line marked out in the map annexed to the memoir, will be excited by her not to let this phoenomenon pass unnoticed, and also be prepared to attend to those circumstances, which are so judiciously pointed out by Mr. Baily as the most worthy of notice. It is not from great observatories only, that we are to expect information. A combination of observations from persons in different parts, following the plain and simple directions of Mr. Baily, may serve the cause of astronomy in a higher degree than those, which can be expected from a few observatories only and I am persuaded, that the author of the memoir will not be offended at my borrowing largely from it, and thus cooperating with him in his laudable endeavour to make this phoenomenon more particularly noticed than any of the same kind, that has hitherto come under the observation of mortals. There has not been so great an eclipse observed in this part of Europe since the year 1764, nor will there be another equal to it before the year 1847. Now, if we take the interval between these two years, amounting to upwards of eighty years, and consider how many comets have been seen since the year 1764, and how many more will probably be seen before the year 1847, we cannot but look on the eclipse in the present year as an object of as great curiosity as that of the appearance of a comet. It falls to the lot of very few persons, comparatively speaking, to be favoured with the sight of either an annular or a total eclipse of the Sun. Myriads upon myriads are agitated with vain terrours on the appearance of comets; but the last comet had nothing to do with the melancholy event on the 16th of August in this country; nor will this annular eclipse of the Sun accelerate or retard the measures in agitation to raise or depress the people; to enlarge or contract the limits of free enquiry; to make the press Blaspheming the instrument of increasing knowledge, or a tool subservient to the views of tyranny and sedition priestcraft. The appearances in the heavens for this month call us now to different speculations. The Moon passes the ecliptick in her ascending node, on the 1st, between ten and eleven at was first proclaimed to the poor and by the poor; that nothing relative to it is to be kept secret from them, that every Christian is to be ready and willing to give an answer, with meekness, for the faith that is in him; and that the belief of the divine mission of our Saviour will be mainly upheld in the world, by the conduct of Christians to each other, and to those of a different persuasion. It was the opinion of philosophers of a former age, that the Earth was the centre of our system, and immoveable, and that the heavens, a solid firmament, revolved around it. This was the philosophy of Egypt, at a time, when it was distinguished for literature, patronised in a very eminent degree by the Ptolemies. In the reign of one of them, a translation into Greek of the Hebrew Pentateuch was executed; and no one, who knows the difficulty of transfusing into one language the sentiments conveyed by another, will be surprised, if in some places the meaning of the original has been mistaken. An instance of this kind occurs in the first chapter of Genesis, where a word was translated by the Greeks into one, which conveys an idea of soli |