a huge sword in the instant posture of striking. At the point of the sword was a star. From the star proceeded dusky rays, like a hairy tail; on the side of them other rays, like javelins or lesser swords, as if imbrued in blood, between which appeared human faces of the color of blackish clouds, with rough hair and beards. All these moved with such terrible sparkling and brightness, that many spectators swooned with fear!" In perfect accordance with these descriptions, are the drawings of comets in the old treatises on astronomy ;a Celestial Atlas, published about the year 1680, has several, in which the fancy of the artist has endeavored to embody the wild and distorted descriptions of historians. We select a few of these monstrous apparitions with their quaint names and descriptions: "Some comets," says the writer, "resembling the form of a round dish or platter of this kind the chief is called Rosa, and is of a bright shining silver color, mixed with gold or amber; and some of this sort, that are not perfectly round, resembling the form of a shield:" SOLARIS SIVE ROSA.-(See fig. 1.) "Others resembling a horse's mane, not always of the same shape and figure. Of these Pliny saith, that they are very swift of motion, and turneth about themselves:" EQUINUS BARBATUS.-(See fig. 2.) "Others resembling burning lamps or torches, and are of several shapes; sometimes their flame or blaze carried upward like a sword; some like a dart or javelin, and some like a cimitar with a hilt. |