PRO BONO PUBLICO.

 THE COMET.
AN ASTRONOMICAL¹ ANECDOTE².
“I cannot fill up a blank better than with a short history of this self-same Starling.”—STERNE’S SENTIMENTAL³ JOURNEY.
AMONGST professors of astronomy,
Adepts⁴ in the celestial⁵ economy,
The name of H*******l’s very often cited,
And justly so, for he is hand and glove
With ev’ry bright intelligence above;
Indeed, it was his custom so to stop,
Watching the stars upon the house’s top,
That once upon a time he got be-knighted.
In his observatory⁷ thus coquetting
With Venus—or with Juno gone astray,
All sublunary matters quite forgetting
In his flirtations with the winking⁸ stars,
Acting⁹ the spy—it might be upon Mars—
A new André;
Or, like a Tom of Coventry, sly peeping,
At Dian sleeping;
Or ogling¹⁰ thro’ his glass
Some heavenly lass
Tripping with pails along the Milky¹¹ Way;
Or looking at that Wain of Charles the Martyrs:—
Thus he was sitting, watchman of the sky,
When lo! a something with a tail of flame
Made him exclaim,
“My stars!”—he always put that stress on my—
“My stars and garters!”
[Pg 268]
“A comet, sure as I’m alive!
A noble one as I should wish to view;
It can’t be Halley’s though, that is not due
Till eighteen thirty-five.
Magnificent!—how fine his fiery¹² trail!
Zounds! ’tis a pity, though he comes unsought—
Unask’d—unreckon’d,—in no human thought—
He ought—he ought—he ought
To have been caught
With scientific salt upon his tail!”
 
“POSSE COMETATIS.”
“I look’d no more for it, I do declare,
Than the Great Bear!
As sure as Tycho Brahe is dead,
It really enter’d in my head
No more than Berenice’s Hair!”
[Pg 269]
Thus musing¹³, Heaven’s Grand Inquisitor
Sat gazing on the uninvited visitor
Till John, the serving-man, came to the upper
Regions, with “Please your Honour, come to supper.”
“Supper! Good John, to-night I shall not sup
Except on that phenomenon—look up!”
“Not sup!” cried John, thinking with consternation¹⁴
That supping on a star must be starvation,
Or ev’n to batten
On Ignes Fatui would never fatten¹⁵,
His visage seem’d to say,—that very odd is,—
But still his master the same tune¹⁶ ran on,
“I can’t come down,—go to the parlour, John,
And say I’m supping with the heavenly bodies.”
“The heavenly bodies!” echoed John, “Ahem!”
His mind still full of famishing alarms,
“’Zooks, if your Honour sups with them,
In helping¹⁷, somebody must make long arms!”
He thought his master’s stomach was in danger,
But still in the same tone replied the Knight⁶,
“Go down, John, go, I have no appetite;
Say I’m engaged with a celestial stranger.”—
Quoth John, not much au fait in such affairs,
“Wouldn’t the stranger take a bit down stairs?”
“No,” said the master, smiling, and no wonder,
At such a blunder,
“The stranger is not quite the thing you think,
He wants no meat or drink,
And one may doubt quite reasonably whether
He has a mouth,
Seeing his head and tail are joined together.
Behold¹⁸ him,—there he is, John, in the South.”
[Pg 270]
John look’d up with his portentous¹⁹ eyes,
Each rolling like a marble in its socket²⁰.
At last the fiery tad-pole spies,
And, full of Vauxhall reminiscence, cries,
“A rare good rocket!”
“A what! A rocket, John! Far from it!
What you behold, John, is a comet;
One of those most eccentric things
That in all ages
Have puzzled sages²¹
And frighten’d kings;
With fear of change that flaming meteor, John,
Perplexes sovereigns, throughout its range”—
“Do he?” cried John;
“Well, let him flare²² on,
I haven’t got no sovereigns to change!”

1 astronomical   

adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的

参考例句：

• He was an expert on ancient Chinese astronomical literature.他是研究中国古代天文学文献的专家。
• Houses in the village are selling for astronomical prices.乡村的房价正在飙升。

2 anecdote   

n.轶事，趣闻，短故事

参考例句：

• He departed from the text to tell an anecdote.他偏离课文讲起了一则轶事。
• It had never been more than a family anecdote.那不过是个家庭趣谈罢了。

3 sentimental   

adj.多愁善感的，感伤的

参考例句：

• She's a sentimental woman who believes marriage comes by destiny.她是多愁善感的人，她相信姻缘命中注定。
• We were deeply touched by the sentimental movie.我们深深被那感伤的电影所感动。

4 adepts   

n.专家，能手( adept的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• And, of course, all the dark side adepts will choose that faction. 开发商没有提供有关强盗阵营的特色的内容，但我估计应该是猎枪(shotgun)吧。 来自互联网
• The adepts in Washington mean to give rather than to take. 华盛顿的老手意味着给予而不是索取。 来自互联网

5 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

6 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

7 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

8 winking   

n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮

参考例句：

• Anyone can do it; it's as easy as winking. 这谁都办得到，简直易如反掌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The stars were winking in the clear sky. 星星在明亮的天空中闪烁。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

10 ogling   

v.（向…）抛媚眼，送秋波( ogle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was not in the habit of ogling women. 他没有盯着女人看个没完的习惯。
• Uncle Geooge got a black eye for ogling a lady in the pub. 乔治叔叔在酒店里对一女士抛媚眼而被打黑了一只眼睛。

11 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

12 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

13 musing   

n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• "At Tellson's banking-house at nine," he said, with a musing face. “九点在台尔森银行大厦见面，”他想道。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• She put the jacket away, and stood by musing a minute. 她把那件上衣放到一边，站着沉思了一会儿。

14 consternation   

n.大为吃惊，惊骇

参考例句：

• He was filled with consternation to hear that his friend was so ill.他听说朋友病得那么厉害，感到非常震惊。
• Sam stared at him in consternation.萨姆惊恐不安地注视着他。

15 fatten   

v.使肥，变肥

参考例句：

• The new feed can fatten the chicken up quickly enough for market.新饲料能使鸡长得更快，以适应市场需求。
• We keep animals in pens to fatten them.我们把动物关在围栏里把它们养肥。

16 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

17 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

18 behold   

v.看，注视，看到

参考例句：

• The industry of these little ants is wonderful to behold.这些小蚂蚁辛勤劳动的样子看上去真令人惊叹。
• The sunrise at the seaside was quite a sight to behold.海滨日出真是个奇景。

19 portentous   

adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的

参考例句：

• The present aspect of society is portentous of great change.现在的社会预示着重大变革的发生。
• There was nothing portentous or solemn about him.He was bubbling with humour.他一点也不装腔作势或故作严肃，浑身散发着幽默。

20 socket   

n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口

参考例句：

• He put the electric plug into the socket.他把电插头插入插座。
• The battery charger plugs into any mains socket.这个电池充电器可以插入任何类型的电源插座。

21 sages   

n.圣人( sage的名词复数 )；智者；哲人；鼠尾草（可用作调料）

参考例句：

• Homage was paid to the great sages buried in the city. 向安葬在此城市的圣哲们表示敬意。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Confucius is considered the greatest of the ancient Chinese sages. 孔子被认为是古代中国最伟大的圣人。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

22 flare   

v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发

参考例句：

• The match gave a flare.火柴发出闪光。
• You need not flare up merely because I mentioned your work.你大可不必因为我提到你的工作就动怒。