t France in behalf of their country.

The site of Richmond Palace is now occupied by noble mansions; but AN OLD
ARCHWAY, seen from _the Green_, still remains as a melancholy memorial of
its regal splendour.

[1] Mrs. A.T. Thomson, in her _Memoirs of the Court of Henry the Eighth_,
says, "On the night of the Epiphany (1510), a pageant was introduced
into the hall at Richmond, representing a hill studded with gold and
precious stones, and having on its summit a tree of gold, from which
hung roses and pomegranates. From the declivity of the hill descended
a lady richly attired, who, with the gentlemen, or, as they were then
called, children of honour, danced a morris before the king. On
another occasion, in the presence of the court, an artificial forest
was drawn in by a lion and an antelope, the hides of which were
richly embroidered with golden ornaments; the animals were harnessed
with chains of gold, and on each sat a fair damsel in gay apparel. In
the midst of the forest, which was thus introduced, appeared a gilded
tower, at the end of which stood a youth, holding in his hands a
garland of roses, as the prize of valour in a tournament which
succeeded the pageant!"

* * * * *

EPITOME OF COMETS.

(_For the Mirror_.)

"Hast thou ne'er seen the Comet's flaming flight?"

YOUNG.

Comets, according to Sir Isaac Newton, are compact, solid, fixed, and
durable bodies: in one word, a kind of planets, which move in very
oblique orbits, every way, with the greatest freedom, persevering in
their motions even against the course and direction of the planets; and
their tail is a very thin, slender vapour, emitted by the head, or
nucleus of the comet, ignited or heated by the sun.

There are _bearded_, _tailed_, and _hairy_ comets; thus, when the comet is
eastward of the sun, and moves from it, it is said to be _bearded_,
because the light precedes it in the manner of a beard. When the comet is
westward of the sun, and sets after it, it is said to be _tailed_,
because the train follows it in the manner of a tail. Lastly, when the
comet and the sun are diametrically opposite (the earth being between
them) the train is hid behind the body of the comet, excepting a little
that appears around it in the form of a border of hair, or _coma_, it is
called _hairy_, and whence the name of comet is derived.

For the conservation of the wa