the
arrival of a comet; and if the comet chanced not to be visible, so much
the worse--not for the theory, but--for the comet. 'A comet of this
kind,' says Pingre, 'was that of the year 814, presaging the death of
Charlemagne.' So Guillemin quotes Pingre; but he should rather have
said, such was the comet whose arrival was announced by Charlemagne's
death--and in no other way, for it was not seen by mortal man.

The reader who chances to be strong as to his dates may have observed
that some of the dates above mentioned for comets do not accord exactly
with the dates of the events associated with those comets. Thus Louis
the Debonair did not die in 837, but in 840. This, however, is a matter
of very little importance. If some men, after their comet has called for
them, are 'an unconscionable time in dying,' as Charles II. said of
himself, it surely must not be considered the fault of the comet. Louis
himself regarded the comet of 837 as his death-warrant; the astrologers
admitted as much: what more could be desired? The account of the matter
given in a chronicle of the time, by a writer who called himself 'The
Astronomer,' is curious enough: 'During the holy season of Easter, a
phenomenon, ever fatal and of gloomy foreboding, appeared in the
heavens. As soon as the emperor, who paid attention to such phenomena,
received the first announcement of it, he gave himself no rest until he
had called a certain learned man and myself before him. As soon as I
arrived, he anxiously asked me what I thought of such a sign. I asked
time of him, in order to consider the aspect of the stars, and to
discover the truth by their means, promising to acquaint him on the
morrow; but the emperor, persuaded that I wished to gain time, which was
true, in order not to be obliged to announce anything fatal to him, said
to me: "Go on the terrace of the palace, and return at once to tell me
what you have seen, for I did not see this star last evening, and you
did not point it out to me; but I know that it is a comet; tell me what
you think it announces to me." Then, scarcely allowing me time to say a
word, he added: "There is still another thing you keep back: it is that
a change of reign and the death of a prince are announced by this sign."
And as I advanced the testimony of the prophet, who said: "Fear not the
signs of the heavens as the nations fear them," the prince, with his
grand nature and the wisdom which never forsook him, said: "We must o