[Illustration: Fig. 27.—The Great Comet of 1811.] Donati’s comet of 1858, has already received a good deal of notice at my hands, but the question remains, what are its claims, to be regarded as the comet of the century, compared with that of 1843? It is not a little strange that though there must have been many persons who saw both, yet it was only quite recently that I came across, for the first time, a description of both these comets from the same pen. It ought, however, to be mentioned by way of explanation, that the inhabitants of Europe only saw the comet of 1843, when its brilliancy and the extent of its tail had materially diminished, about a fortnight after it was at its best. The description of these two comets to which I have alluded, will be found in General J. A. Ewart’s “_Story of a Soldier’s Life_,” published in 1881. Writing first of all of the comet of 1843, General Ewart says:— “It was during our passage from the Cape of Good Hope to the Equator, and when not far from St. Helena, that we first came in sight of the great comet of 1843. In the first instance a small portion of the tail only was visible, at right angles to the horizon; but night after night as we sailed along, it gradually became larger and larger, till at last up came the head, or nucleus, as I ought properly to call it. It was a grand and wonderful sight, for the comet now extended the extraordinary distance of one-third of the heavens, the nucleus being, perhaps, about the size of the planet Venus.”—(Vol. i., p. 75.) [Illustration: Fig. 28.—The Great Comet of 1882, on October 19 (Artus).] As regards Donati’s comet of 1858, what the General says is:— “A very large comet made its appearance about this time, and continued for several weeks to be a magnificent object at night; it was, however, _nothing to the one I had seen in the year 1843_, when on the other side of the equator.”—(Vol. ii., p. 205.)