Note 13 — Chapter I
Reading edition
The title-page runs: ‘An Essay towards the history of the principal Comets that have appeared since 1742; with remarks and reflections upon the present Comet; to which is prefixed a Letter,’ etc. London, 1769. It is a curious instance of Madame d’Arblay’s inaccuracy in the matter of dates, that she writes in detail of this little tract, the title of which she misquotes, as having been produced when ‘the comet of the immortal Halley’ was being awaited. (‘Memoirs of Dr. Burney,’ vol. i., pp. 214-217.) But it was in 1759, not 1769, that Halley’s Comet returned. For notices of the comet of 1769, see the Gentleman’s Magazine of that year.