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8th, at ten, P.M., he will have reached his greatest apparent distance from the Sun, 26° west; but, not being so far northward, he rises, as has been said, only half an hour earlier. After this, his greatest western elongation, he will approach the Sun, pass two and a half degrees southward of Mars on the morning of the 17th, two and one third degrees southward of Uranus on the morning of the 22d, and on the evening of the 30th will be within half a degree of Saturn.

VENUS, in her present position, possesses little to interest even an astronomer. Being nearly at her greatest distance from the Earth, her apparent disc is very little larger than that of Mercury. On the morning of the 2d, she will be somewhat more than half a degree distant from Uranus at rising. On the 12th, at nine, P.M., just approaching the Sun's disc, she will meet Saturn, then receding from it; the day following, at eleven, P.M., she will overtake the Sun, and pass southward of his disc. At eight o'clock, on the evening of the 27th, her centre will be in the plane of the Earth's orbit, and, as her motion is northward, she will then be in what is called the ascending node. As was remarked on a former occasion, with regard to Mercury, her greatest distance from the Earth will not be at the moment of conjunction, but a little before noon of the 15th, at which time the interval will be one hundred and sixty-five millions of miles. The fact that her least distance is only twentyfive millions, explains the very great change in her apparent diameter. It varies from 9.5 to 61.2.

MARS is still too near the Sun for examination. He rises on the 1st, at 4h. 0m., only 32 minutes before the Sun; on the 11th, at 3h. 34m.; on the 21st, at 3h. 9m; and on the 31st, at 2h. 44m., 1 hour 5 minutes before the Sun. His disc is about six times less than that of Venus; he is nearly twice her distance from the Sun; consequently he reflects to us about twenty-four times less light. On the morning of the 6th, he will rise close to the Moon, and on the 27th, still closer to Uranus; at four o'clock, he will be within 6' of the latter.

JUPITER now rises at a more seasonable hour for observation. On the evening of the 1st, at 10h. 56m.; on the 11th, at 10h. 13m.; on the 21st, at 9h. 29m.; and on the 31st, at 8h. 45m. When above the horizon, he is now without a rival among the stars. The eye is at once arrested by this splendid object low in the south, at equal distances from the two branches of the Milky Way, with the bright reddish star in Scorpio, Antares, 18 farther westward. Jupiter is in Sagittarius. On the morning of the 24th, he will be near the Moon.

SATURN will be in superior conjunction with the Sun, that is, the Sun will be almost right between us and the planet, at two o'clock on the morning of the 12th. In this position his distance from us is rather more than ten times the mean distance of the Earth and Sun. Assuming the latter to be ninety-five millions of miles, the former is nine hundred and sixty-two millions.

URANUS rises on the 1st, at 4h. 32m., precisely with the Sun; on the 11th, at 3h. 54m.; on the 21st, at 3h. 16m.; and on the 31st, at 2h. 38m. His proximity to Mars on the morning of the 27th,

may be serviceable in directing those who wish to get an early telescopic view of him.

The Moon's line of march among the planets, in the early part of the month, is worthy of notice. On the 5th, at six, P.M., she will be in conjunction with Mercury; on the 6th, at three, A.M., with Mars; on the 7th, at nine, A.M., with Uranus; same day, at eleven, P.M., with Venus; and on the 8th, at eleven, A.M., with Saturn; in every instance the Moon being southward of the planet. On the evening of the 22d, she will pass over the second-magnitude star, B Scorpii. At Greenwich the star will disappear at half-past eight, and reappear at half-past nine.

A comet, described by Dr. Hartwig as tolerably bright, (ziemlich hell,) was discovered by him at Leipsic, on the 10th of March, near ẞ Orionis, and was then rapidly receding from the Sun. But the first person in Europe who saw it was Professor Secchi, at Rome, on the 6th. It was observed here (Markree) on the 28th and 29th. In the twenty-five feet achromatic it appears as a round nebulous object, without a distinct nucleus. It struck me, on both nights, that there were several spots brighter than the surrounding portions; but it was not well enough defined to enable me to speak positively on that point. It must have been a fine object in the southern hemisphere. According to the calculations of Mons. d'Arrett, the light was fourteen times greater on the 24th of February, the day of the perihelion passage, than it was on the 27th or 28th of March. There can be little doubt, therefore, that in southern latitudes it was visible to the naked eye. There is some resemblance between its orbit and that of the comet of 1664. It may be interesting to remark that, on the 1st of May, the comet will be in Taurus, about two and a half degrees north-east of Aldebaran.

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RISING AND SETTING OF THE SUN'S UPPER LIMB, ALLOWING

FOR REFRACTION AND PARALLAX.

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H. T. & J. Roche, Printers, 25, Hoxton-square, London.

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THE

YOUTH'S INSTRUCTER

AND

GUARDIAN.

JUNE, 1853.

THE OLD PARLIAMENT OF PARIS.
(With an Engraving.)

FRENCH history, and especially the history of the Reformation in France, makes frequent mention of the Parliament of Paris. Yet that Court was so different from the Legislature assembled in the samne city now-a-days, that, unless the difference be pointed out, our notion of a Parliament misleads. The object of the present article is to bring out into view this vestige of the past.

"Parliament," be it noted, (Parlement,) was the name given by the French to a court of justice, because the members of such a court speak there (on y parle) to debate the rights of parties litigant, and to come to a decision. Under the first and second race of French Kings, justice was ordinarily administered in their presence in a very simple way; but when King Pepin was going to Italy, and therefore considered that the administration of justice would be interrupted, unless a delegation of regal authority was made to trusty men, to act during his absence, he appointed a Parliament, about the year 755 or 756, to consist of the principal persons of his train. This first Parliament was held about twice in the year. It was afterwards ambulatory, holden just where the Sovereign might happen to be, either on business or pleasure. Philip the Fair, however, weary of listening to the importunity of pleaders and quarrellers, and willing to spare his people the great expense and inconvenience of perambulating France in VOL. XVII. Second Series.

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