ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS FOR JANUARY.

(For the Mirror.)

"Again, with unremitted speed, Time hath his annual circle run, Thus years shall pass, and years succeed, Till Time's vast pilgrimage is done." ANOTHER year has elapsed, gone never more to be recalled. A new one has commenced equal in variety and importance to that which has almost imperceptibly glided away. One of our best poets remarks, that a mind without reflection,

"Like a pile without inhabitants,

To ruin runs."

There is nothing to which a reflective mind is more inclined than to an interest

ing survey of past events. What a crowd of impressive images would fix our attention, awaken our astonishment, soften us to grief, or elevate us to joy, should this retrospection not only include the circle in which we may have individually moyed, but extend to the infinite variety of circumstances, that during the years of our own remembrance have transpired on the face of the globe. From considering the various changes which have taken place on the earth, (a mere atom in the immensity of creation), we are naturally led to look upward, and contemplate with feelings of awe and reverence the works of that Being in whom there is no change, and gaze with admiration on the wonders displayed in the formation of the planetary world.

Josephus observes, that longevity was bestowed upon Adam and his posterity for the express purpose of improving the sciences of geometry and astronomy; and ascribes to Seth and his posterity an extensive knowledge of the latter. The discovery of the pole star, the mariner's sure and certain guide, is attributed by the Chinese to the emperor Hong-ti, the grandson of Noah.

How often do we observe at this period of the year the sun rising majestically, his beams gloriously bursting forth, and seeming to bid defiance to the approach of groom; but ere he has attained the meridian, the gathering clouds have drawn an impenetrable veil between us and his brightness, discharging their contents with relentless tury. A few months since, and how large a portion of his cheering influence did we enjoy; now he just glides along at a trifling elevation above the horizon, casts on us a few weak and watery rays, and withdraws in such haste, that the visit appears as if it was unintended. On the 20th of the month he enters Aquarius, at 6 h. 9 min. afternoon.

Mercury arrives at his greatest elongation on the 4th in 200 of Sagittarius, when he may be observed a short time before the sun ascends; he attains his aphelion on the 28th, being then in 22° Capricornus.

Venus becomes stationary on the 13th in 24° Sagittarius, when she will afford a good opportunity for observation. She is in perihelio on the 15th, in the same geocentric longitude; her greatest brightness is on the 27th.

Jupiter also becomes stationary on the 29th in 14o Libra, southing at 4h. 12 min. morning. There are five visible eclipses of his first satellite this month; the immersions are as follow:

On the 8th, at 2 h. 12 min. 25 sec. morn. 15th, 4 h. 5 min. 49 sec. 22nd, 5 h. 59 min. 12 sec.

24th, 0 h. 27 min. 30 sec.

31st,2 h. 20 min. 54 sec. Saturn still pursues a retrograde course. He is on the 1st in 2o Cancer, and on the 31st in 30o Gemini. A line extended from the centre star in the Girdle of Orion through Betelgeuse, in his right shoulder, will point out Saturn; he also forms a large triangle with Aldebaran and Capella. A line drawn from Bellatrix, in Orion's left shoulder, through Saturn, will shew the first twin Castor; the star immediately below him is Pollux, the second twin.

Herschel is in conjunction with the Sun on the 14th, at 0h. 45 min. afternoon.

A Comet has lately been observed in the north-west, near the horizon, situated in the constellation Ophiucus. Their approach not being exactly known, even by the most learned astronomers, they are seldom heard of till they become visible. The term is derived from the Greek Coma, a hair, by reason of their figure, which is that of a star floating in vapour, engendered in the upper regions of the air, and which causes them to appear hairy. They are sometimes observed with a long tail, a beard, sometimes like a rose, a sword, &c., according to their position with regard to the Sun. Some persons imagine that Comets are the forerunners of great calamities or evils, as the death of some great personage, the sign of war, the destruction of armies, and various other direful events.

We read of blazing stars, or comets, so far back as the year 750, and in almost every century since. The comet of the longest continuance was in the time of Nero, which was visible for six months. Most of your readers, I have no doubt, remember the very brilliant one which made its appearance in 1811, and was visible from the middle of August till the

-the thought was insupportable. Before he reached the Bell he had formed, and communicated to Hester, the spirited resolution of giving a splendid party in the Christmas week-a sort of wedding-feast or house-warming; consisting of smoking and cards for the old, dancing and singing for the young, and eating and drinking for all ages; and, in spite of Hester's decided disapprobation, invitations were given and preparations entered on forthwith.

Sooth to say, such are the sad contradictions of poor human nature, that Mrs. Frost's displeasure, albeit a bride in the honey-moon, not only entirely failed in persuading Master Frost to change his plan, but even seemed to render him more confirmed and resolute in his purpose. Hester was a thrifty housewife; and although Jacob was apparently, after his fashion, a very gallant and affectionate husband, and although her interest had now become his-and of his own interest none had ever suspected him to be careless-yet he did certainly take a certain sly pleasure in making an attack at once on her hoards and her habits, and forcing her into a gaiety and an outlay which made the poor bride start back aghast.

The full extent of Hester's misfortune in this ball, did not, however, come upon her at once. She had been accustomed to the speculating hospitality of the Christmas parties at the Swan, whose host was wont at tide times to give a supper to his customers, that is to say, to furnish the eatables thereof the leg of mutton and turnips, the fat goose and applesauce, and the huge plum-puddings-of which light viands that meal usually consisted, on an understanding that the aforesaid customers were to pay for the drinkables therewith consumed; and, from the length of the sittings, as well as the reports current on such occasions, Hester was pretty well assured that the expenditure had been most judicious, and that the leg of mutton and trimmings had been paid for over and over. She herself being, as she expressed it, "a lone woman, and apt to be put upon," had never gone farther in these matters than a cup of hyson and muffins, and a cup of hot elder-wine, to some of her cronies in the neighbourhood; but, having considerable confidence both in the extent of Jacob's connexions and their tippling propensities, as well as in that faculty of getting tipsy and making tipsy in Jacob himself, which she regarded" with one auspicious and one dropping eye," as good and bad for her trade, she had at first no very great objection to try for once the experi

ment of a Christmas party; nor was she so much startled at the idea of a dance -dancing, as she observed, being a mighty provoker of thirst; neither did she very greatly object to her husband's engaging old Timothy, the fiddler, to officiate for the evening, on condition of giving him as much ale as he chose to drink. although she perfectly well knew what that promise implied, Timothy's example being valuable on such an occasion. But when the dreadful truth stared her in the face, that this entertainment was to be a bona-fide treat-that not only the leg of mutton, the fat goose, and the plumpuddings, but the ale, wine, spirits and tobacco were to come out of her coffers, than party, dancing, and fiddler became nuisances past endurance, the latter above all.

Old Timothy was a person of some note in our parish, known to every man, woman, and child in the place, of which, indeed, he was a native. He had been a soldier in his youth, and having had the good luck to receive a sabre wound on his skull, had been discharged from the service as infirm of mind, and passed to his parish accordingly; where he led a wandering pleasant sort of life, sometimes in one public-house, sometimes in another tolerated, as Hester said, for his bad example, until he had run up a score that became intolerable, at which times he was turned out, with the workhouse to go to, for a pis aller, and a comfortable prospect that his good humour, his good fellowship, and his fiddle, would in process of time be missed and wanted, and that he might return to his old haunts and run up a fresh score. When half tipsy, which happened nearly every day in the week, and at all hours, he would ramble up and down the village, playing snatches of tunes at every corner, and collecting about him a never-failing audience of eight and ten year old urchins of either sex, amongst which small mob old Timothy, with his jokes, his songs, and his antics, was incredibly popular. Against Justice and Constable, treadmill and stocks, the sabre cut was a protection, although, I must candidly confess, that I do not think the crack in the crown ever made itself visible in his demeanour until a sufficient quantity of ale had gone down his throat, to account for any aberration of conduct, supposing the broadsword in question never to have approached his skull. That weapon served, however, as a most useful shield to our modern Timotheus, who, when detected in any outrageous fit of drunkenness, would immediately summon sufficient recollection to sigh and look pitiful, and put his poor, shaking, withered hand to the seam

which the wound had left, with an air of appeal, which even I, with all my scepticism, felt to be irresistible.

In short, old Timothy was a privileged person; and terrible sot though he were, he almost deserved to be so, for his good humour, his contentedness, his constant festivity of temper, and his good will towards every living thing-a good will which met with its usual reward in being heartily and universally returned. Every body liked old Timothy, with the soli tary exception of the hostess of the Bell, who, having once had him as an inmate during three weeks, had been so scandalized by his disorderly habits, that, after having with some difficulty turned him out of her house, she had never admitted him into it again, having actually resorted to the expedient of buying off her intended customer, even when he presented himself pence in hand, by the gift of a pint of home-brewed at the door, rather than suffer him to effect a lodgment in her tap-room-a mode of dismissal so much to Timothy's taste, that his incursions had become more and more frequent, insomuch that "to get rid of the fiddler and other scape-graces, who were apt to put upon a lone woman," formed a main article in the catalogue of reasons assigned by Hester to herself and the world, for her marriage with Jacob Frost. Accordingly, the moment she heard that Timothy's irregularities and ill example were likely to prove altogether unprofitable, she revived her old objection to the poor fiddler's morals, rescinded her consent to his admission, and insisted so vehemently on his being unordered, that her astonished husband, fairly out-talked and out-scolded, was fain to purchase a quiet evening by a promise of obedience. Having carried this point, she forth with, according to the example of all prudent wives, began an attack on another, and, having coinpassed the unordering of Timothy, began to bargain for uninviting her next neighbour, the widow Glen.

Mrs. Martha Glen kept a baker's and chandler's shop in a wide lane, known by the name of the Broadway, and adorned with a noble avenue of oaks, terminating in the green whereon stood the Bell, a lane which, by dint of two or three cottages peeping out from amongst the trees, and two or three farm-houses, the smoke from whose chimneys sailed curlingly amongst them, might, in comparison with that lonely nook, pass for inhabited. Martha was a buxom widow, of about the same standing with Mistress Frost. She had had her share of this world's changes, being the happy relict of three several spouses, and was now a comely rosy dame

with a laughing eye and a merry tongue. Why Hester should hate Martha Glen was one of the puzzles of the parish. Hate her she did, with that venomous and deadly hatred that never comes to words; and Martha repaid the obligation in kind, as much as a habitually genial and relenting temper would allow, although certainly the balance of aversion was much in favour of Mrs. Frost. Ar exceedingly smooth, genteel, and civil hatred it was on both sides; such a one as would have done honour to a more polished society. They dealt with each other, curtsied to each other, sate in the same pew at church, and employed the same charwoman-which last accordance, by the way, may partly account for the long duration of discord between the parties. Betty Clarke, the help in question, being a sharp, shrewish, vixenish woman, with a positive taste for quarrels, who regularly reported every cool inuendo uttered by the slow and soft-spoken Mrs. Frost, and every hot retort elicited from the rash and hasty Martha, and contrived to infuse her own spirit into each. With such an auxiliary on either side, there could be no great wonder at the continuance of this animosity; how it began was still undecided. There were, indeed, rumours of an early rivalry between the fair dames for the heart of a certain lame shepherd, the first husband of Martha; other reports assigned as a reason the unlucky tricks of Tom Martin, the only son of Mrs. Glen by her penultimate spouse, and the greatest pickle within twenty miles; a third party had, since the marriage, discovered the jealousy of Jacob to be the proximate cause, Martha Glen having been long his constant customer, dealing with him in all sorts of fishery and fruitery for herself and her shop, from red-herrings to golden-pippins ; whilst a fourth party, still more scandalous, placed the jealousy, to which they also attributed the aversion, to the score of a young and strapping Scotch pedlar, Simon Frazer by name, who travelled the country with muslins and cottons, and for whom certain malicious gossips asserted both ladies to entertain a lacking penchant, and whose insensibility towards the maiden was said to have been the real origin of her match with Jacob Frost, whose proffer she had accepted out of spite. For my own part, I disbelieve all and each of these stories, and hold it very hard that an innocent woman cannot entertain a little harmless aversion towards her next neighbour without being called to account for so natural a feeling. It seems that Jacob thought so too, for on Hester's conditioning that Mrs. Glen