KNIGHT'S COMPANION LIBRARY.

THE STUDENT'S AND TRAVELLER'S

COMPANION EDITION OF

HALF-HOURS WITH
WITH THE BEST AUTHORS,

WITH BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL NOTICES,

BY CHARLES KNIGHT.

THIS Portable Edition will contain all the matter of the last
Octavo Edition of this STANDARD COLLECTION OF ELEGANT EXTRACTS,

WITH

AN ADDITIONAL VOLUME,

ENTITLED

HALF-HOURS WITH THE BEST LETTER-WRITERS.

The HALF-HOURS will be printed in a type especially adapted,
by its legibility, for travelling as well as home perusal. In Four
Volumes, cloth, at Five Shillings.

RECORDS OF PROGRESS;

AND

TABLES OF GENERAL INFORMATION.

DIGESTED AND SELECTED FROM "THE COMPANION TO THE ALMANAC."

In November, 1851, was published the TWENTY-FIFTH VOLUME OF THE COMPANION TO THE ALMANAC. It has been conducted from the commencement, in 1827, by its Projector and Proprietor, Mr. CHARLES KNIGHT, with the valuable aid of almost the same fellow-labourers during this long period. The utility of the whole Series, comprising, as it does, a mass of information for popular purposes which cannot be found in any other work, is best felt by those of its thousands of purchasers who have been fortunate in preserving a complete set. This series is of permanent value on two accounts:-1. The unparalleled course of Public Improvements, during the Quarter-Century of its publication, is here recorded, year by year, either in separate articles, or in statistical tables. 2. A great body of information, principally in a Tabular shape, on subjects of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and History, Chronology, Geography, &c., is here preserved. THE EDITOR OF THE COMPANION TO THE ALMANAC, familiarized with all the details of the physical and moral advance of the Nation during this era,-and sensible, also, that these documents distinctly point out what may still be accomplished by temperate and steady exertion,-proposes to avail himself of the materials which he has been instrumental in accumulating, by writing, or otherwise preparing, in a popular form,

RECORDS OF PROGRESS

DURING A QUARTER OF A CENTURY.

He also intends to make a SELECTION, in some cases Abridgments, of the TABLES, AND OTHER PAPERS, of general value, which have imparted to the "COMPANION" much of its high character for accuracy and usefulness.-This proposed publication will be of interest to all classes of readers; but it will have a peculiar recommendation to those continuous Annual purchasers of "THE COMPANION," who are not possessors of the complete Series, but who may desire to obtain in a compact shape, and a systematic form, a great body of permanent information which will furnish the best illustration of the particular knowledge belonging to each coming Year.

THE RECORDS OF PROGRESS will form ONE VOLUME, price
FIVE SHILLINGS, bound.

THE TABLES AND ARTICLES OF GENERAL INFORMATION will form a SECOND VOLUME, price also FIVE SHILLINGS, bound.

Price One Shilling, stitched in a wrapper; or, bound in cloth with the Companion to the Almanac, Four Shillings.

ALFRED SWEETING, PRINTER, BARTLETT'S BUILDINGS, LONDON,

EXPLANATORY NOTICES.

Explanation of the column headed "Thermometrical Register."

THE Thermometrical Register commences with Nov. 1850, and closes with Oct. 1851, inclusive. These registers have been carefully copied from those made at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and which are also deposited with the Royal Society. They show the highest and lowest ranges within each twenty-four hours, from twelve different readings. Each month is placed with its corresponding month, as affording the most ready and advantageous means of comparison, although by this arrangement the register of the last two months of 1850 follows the ten months of 1851, which are all we can give up to the day of publication.

Explanation of the columns headed "Length of day," "Day's increase or decrease," "Day breaks," and "Twilight ends."

THE column headed "Length of day" contains the number of hours and minutes between sunrise and sunset. The column headed "Day's increase" expresses the number of hours and minutes which the day has increased since the shortest day; and, where the column is headed "Day's decrease," it expresses the number of hours and minutes which the day has decreased since the longest day; for example, the length of the longest day in 1852 is put down in the column "Length of day" at 16h. 34m.; and on the 6th of July following we find that the length of the day, or the number of hours and minutes between sunrise and sunset, is set down at 16h. 23m.; hence the day has decreased 10m. since the longest day, and, accordingly, in the column "Day's decrease," we find opposite July the 6th Oh. 11m.

Equation of Time.

IN this Almanac the calculations are all made for mean time (given by the clock), instead of apparent time (given by the sun-dial), which latter had been used up to the year 1833. It must be obvious that, for all practical purposes, mean time is the most useful; and to obtain it from apparent time, the columns in the Almanac headed "Equation of Time" should be used. The column "Equation of Time" ought, for example, to be consulted when persons are desirous of setting their clock by a sun-dial. When clock after sun is written above the number of minutes and seconds opposite to the day, then the clock ought to be set so much slower than the sun-dial, and the contrary.

Moonlight.

THE Moon's age is set down in days and the nearest tenths of days from the time of change. Thus it is New Moon on the 20th of February at Oh. 54m. morning, and therefore at noon on the 21st she is 1 day 11h. 6m. old, which is set down as 1 day and fivetenths. The fraction of the day of course continues the same throughout the lunation.

LIST OF THE CORRESPONDENCE OF ERAS WITH THE YEAR 1852. [In those Eras which begin with the Christian year, the year alone is stated; in those which begin at a different season, the month in which the 1st of January, 1852, occurs is also given.]

Correspondence
with 1852.

Abbreviations.

AUXILIARY TABLE FOR FINDING THE TIME OF SUN-` RISING AND SETTING.

The time of Sunrise and Sunset in the British Almanac' is adapted to the parallel of latitude in which London is situated-viz. 51° 30'. THE following table has been constructed to show the variations of time through the United Kingdom-namely, between the latitude of 580 and 50° 10' N. The times of sun-rising and sun-setting are computed for the instant that the sun's centre is even with the horizon of the sea. The number of minutes found in this table under the month-day, and in the required latitude, are to be applied to the time of sun-rising and setting found on that day in the Almanac; the result will be the time of his rising and setting at the place required.-Ex. At what time will the sun rise and set on May 21 at Edinburgh? The time of sunrise and sunset on that day in the Almanac is 4h. 2m, A.M., and 7h. 52m. P. M. In the tables in parallel of 56°, in which Edinburgh is found, and under May 21, are 23 minutes; which, subtracted from 4h. 2m., leaves 3h. 39m. for time of sunrise; and, added to 7h. 52m., gives 8h. 15m. for time of sun-setting.

The places which follow the different parallels are situate within 15 miles of latitude, either north or south of it.

58° 0'-Dornoch, Tain, Dunrobin, Portenleik, Dunclaim.

570 30-Peterhead, Fraserburg, Banff, Elgin, Cromarty, Inverness, Applecross.

570 0-Aberdeen, Bervie, Braemar, Laggan, Cornock.

560 30'-Forfar, Dundee, Perth, Comrie, Ardchattan.

56° 0'-Berwick, Haddington, Edinburgh, Linlithgow, Kinross, Stirling, Dumbarton,

Glasgow.

55° 30' Embleton, Jedburgh, Selkirk, Sanquhar, Lanark, Irvine, Ayr.

55° 0'-Newcastle, Morpeth, Carlisle, Annan, Dumfries, New Galloway, Wigtown. 54° 30' Scarborough, Whitby, Hartlepool, Stockton, Richmond, Appleby, Cocker mouth, Whitehaven, North part of Isle of Man.

54° 0'-New Malton, York, Aldborough, Clitheroe, Lancaster, Preston.

53° 30'-Grimsby, Kingston-upon-Hull, Pontefract, Manchester, Wigan, Liverpool, Beaumaris, Holyhead.

53° 0'-Lynn Regis, Boston, Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Stafford, Flint, Chester, Denbigh, Caernarvon, Harlech.

520 30'-Yarmouth, Norwich, Thetford, Ely, Peterborough, Leicester, Coventry, Lich field, Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Montgomery, Aberystwith.

520 0'-Ipswich, Colchester, Cambridge, Hertford, Bedford, Buckingham, Oxford, Gloucester, Worcester, Hereford, Monmouth, Brecon, Caermarthen, Car digan, St. David's.

51° 30′-LONDON, Ramsgate, Canterbury, Rochester, Chelmsford, Windsor, Wallingford, Marlborough, Malmesbury, Bath, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff, Llandaff, Pembroke. 51° 0'-Dover, Winchelsea, Brighton, Guildford, Chichester, Winchester, Portsmouth, Southampton, Salisbury, Shaftesbury, Wells, Ilchester, Taunton, Bridge water, Minehead, Barnstaple.

50° 30'-Newport (I. W.), Poole, Weymouth, Exeter, Ashburton, Totnes, Plymouth, Tavistock, Launceston, Bodmin, Camelford, Padstow.

500 10'-Truro, Falmouth, Helstone, Penzance.

IRELAND.

550 0-Carrickfergus, Antrim, Coleraine, Londonderry, Lifford, St. Johnstown. 54° 30'-Belfast, Killyleagh, Downpatrick, Armagh, Charlemont, Dungannon, Augher, Donegal, Ballyshannon, Enniskillen, Sligo.

54° 0'-Carlingford, Newry, Dundalk, Drogheda, Kells, Cavan, Belturbet, Carrick. Boyle, Castlebar, Killala.

53° 30′-Dublin, Swords, Naas, Athboy, Mullingar, Philipstown, Kilbeggan, Athlone, Roscommon, Lanesboro', Tulsk, Tuam, Ballinrobe.

53° 0'-Wicklow, Blessington, Baltinglass, Carlow, Athy, Kildare, Portarlington, Maryborough, Ballynakill, Banagher, Galway, Ennis.

52° 30′-Newborough, Enniscorthy, Wexford, Kilkenny, Cullen, Clonmell, Cashel, Killmallock, Limerick, Askeyton.

52° 0' Waterford, Dungarvon, Youghal, Tallagh, Lismore, Rathcormack, Cork, Marlow, Killarney, Tralee, Ardfast, Dingle,

51° 30'-Kinsale, Bandor, Clonekelty, Baltimore.

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