In writing some weeks ago upon the subject of Portents in Ohina, we suggested that it would be interesting to compare the various political events and public calamities that have ocourred in by-gone ages with the physical phenomena which were believed to have been their harbinger, A Chinese would doubtless reply that it is unnecessary to go further back than the reign of the present Emperor, if all we require is to establish a connection between the two. The comet which appeared last year was, as we all know, accompanied by distresses in various portions of the country, besides synchronising pretty closely with the occurrence of ea of the gravest politionl anxiety. It is a disaster for any Son of Heaven when so menacing " portent appears during his reign; but when two appear, with an interval of only a fow months between them, the anxiety he feels is serious indeed. Its radiant train of light, which to unsuperstitious eyes is so grand and beautiful an object, is, to him, us a flaming sword, emblematical of the vengeanos of Heaven upon an unworthy nation its Imperial head, and eloquent is the warning thus addressed in the cara of the frightened
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.