1. Abraham sitting upon Pharaoh’s throne, by the politeness of the king; with a crown upon his head, representing the priesthood; as emblematical of the grand presidency in heaven; with the scepter of justice, and judgment in his hand.

2. King Pharaoh; whose name is given in the characters above his head.

3. Signifies Abraham, in Egypt; referring to Abraham, as given in the 9th No. of the Times & Seasons.

4. Prince of Pharaoh, King of Egypt; as written above the hand.

5. Shulem; one of the kings principle waiters; as represented by the characters above his hand.

6. Olimlah; a slave belonging to the prince.

Abraham is reasoning upon the principles of astronomy, in the kings Court.

On Monday morning last, about three o’clock, we were awakened by a sudden and extemely brilliant light, which shone through the window of our sleeping apartment. On opening our eyes, we had a momentary glimpse of a vividly luminous body or trail which almost instantly passed out of sight, and was gone. We were convinced it was a large meteor, and expected an explosion. We waited from three to five minutes, when a report burst through the welkin like a piece of heavy ordnance standing within a short distance. There was nothing in it like thunder but a perfect resemblance to the sound we have named. It shook the house very sensibly, as it did others,—in one instance jarring a tooth brush from the window to the floor. Its direction was northerly, and the explosion took place, probably, over the lake.

We found, in the morning, that our citizens generally were awakened by the report, though not many saw the splendid object that occasioned it. Mr. Tracy, the stage agent, and the stage driver, were at the time at the barn, just leaving it with a fresh team, when they saw the light, and at the same time heard a cracking or crushing noise, like that of a falling tree. The source of light appeared like an oblong body of fire rushing with tremenduous velocity through the air, and eight or ten inches in diameter. It seemed to approach the place where they stood in a curvilinear path and led one of them to exclaim, “it will strike the barn!” It however passed over, and disappeared as it seemed to them, about half a mile from the point of observation. In its course, it gave off frequent sparks, or streaks, from the sides, and this was probably the occasion of the snapping or gathering noise which was heard. Its disappearance was quite singular as described. The long fiery tail seemed to separate from the nucleus, or head, and the latter rushed on, emitting a dark blue flame; but there was no division of its body into fragments, or any thing else to indicate a fracture, unless indeed the very separation of the fiery and blue portions were the result of the explosion.

The light emitted was nearly as bright as day light at meridian. The shingles on distant houses were distinctly visible. Mr. Sexton, our postmaster, was at the time of its passage, assorting the mail, having two candles to furnish him light, but the light of the meteor was so great as to make them appear like burning candles in full daylight.

From all we can gather, at least three minutes must have elapsed between the disappearance of the meteor and the hearing of the report. Consequently, as sound travels at the rate of a little over thirteen miles a minute, the body of the meteor must have been nearly forty miles from us, either in elevation or horizontal distance, at the time of its explosion. Probably it was much higher than it appeared to be to gentlemen who witnessed it. The whole duration of its appearance was not more than half a minute, if it was so long.

Its elevation was 56 1/4 miles from the earth, and its diameter 1070 yards! It is worthy of remark, that most of those which have been sufficiently noticed to form any satisfactory estimate concerning them, have been found to be between fifty and sixty miles from the earth’s surface.

Explosive meteors have usually, if not always been attended with the dropping of stones to the earth. The stones thus broken and fallen are generally not large, weighing from a few ounces to a dozen pounds. There have been instances, however, where huge masses have fallen. In 1795 one fell in Yorkshire, which measured 30 inches in length, and 28 1/2 in breadth, and weighed 59 pounds. It fell with such force that it sunk into the ground to the depth of twenty one inches. The most remarkable stone for size, whose fall has ever been witnessed, was one which fell in some 25 years ago. This fell in the day time we believe. It was so bright as to be luminous, but if we mistake not, it was not attended with an explosion. It rushed down into the earth with tremendous force, and gave such a jar and rumbling as led many to suppose that an earthquake had happened. It was seen to fall and people soon repaired to the field and found its burrow. It was shortly uncovered, though [p. 784]