regard of which he obtained the sooner his third wife, my own mother. How many sums of gold, and erecting of pillars of honour, both to my grandfather and father, were offered both by Dantzick, and Elbing, remains yet in the memory of some very old people in Prussia.

"My mother had two sisters, both which were very honourably married: one to a Lord Mayor's son at London, Mr. Clark; and afterward to a very rich Knight, Sir Richard Smith, one of the King's Privy Council, she bringing a portion to him of 10,000l. sterling. This is my aunt the Lady Smith, who marrying afterwards to Sir Edward Savage, was made one of the Ladies of Honour to our King's mother. The other sister was married to a younger brother,, Mr. Peak; whose son hath now an estate of 300l., sterling of land of inheritance yearly, and who is still alive. Our cousin-german, or my aunts', the Lady Smith's, daughter, was married to Sir Anthony Irby, at Boston, a Knight of 4 or 500ol. sterling a year; who is still alive and a Parliament man.

1

"But before all this, I should have told you, that I have been upbraided for my too much negligence of my pedigree: whereas they told me that my family was of a very ancient extraction in the German Empire, there having been ten brethren of the name of Hartlib. Some of them have been Privy Counsellors to the Emperor, some to other inferior Princes; some Syndicks of Auspurg, and Norimberg. But they passed afterwards not so strictly for Udallanta in the empire, when some turned merchants; which, you know, is derogatory to the German nobility. I may speak it with a safe conscience, that I never, all the

days of my life, reflected seriously upon my pedigree; preferring my heavenly birth above all such vanities, and afterwards studying more, to this very day, to be useful to God's creatures, and serviceable to his church, than to be rich, or honourable.

"Let it not seem a paradox unto you, if I tell you, as long as I have lived in England, by wonderful providences, I have spent yearly out of my own betwixt 3 or 400l sterling a year: and when I was brought to public allowances, I have had from the Parliaments and Councils of State a pension of 300l. sterling a year, which as freely I have spent for their service, and the good of many.

"I could fill whole sheets, in what love and repu tation I have lived these thirty years in England; being familiarly acquainted with the best of Archbishops, Bishops, Earls, Viscounts, Barons, Knights, Esquires, Gentlemen, Ministers, Professors of both Universities, Merchants, and all sorts of learned, or in. any kind useful, men, &c. And in all the three kingdoms, under all the changes that have fallen out, recommended before and in Parliaments; books dedicated to me from several places and countries, &c, But I grow weary to pursue such vanities.

"To the Right Honourable the Commons of England, assembled in Parliament, the Humble Pelition of Samuel Hartlib, Senr.

"Sheweth,

"That your Petitioner, ever since he came into this kingdom, hath set himself apart to serve his generation in the best objects,

"First, by erecting a little academy for the edu

catión

cation of the Gentry of this nation, to advance Piety, Learning, Morality, and other exercises of Industry, not usual then in common schools.

"Secondly, by giving entertainment, and becoming a Solicitor for the godly Ministers and Scholars, who were driven in those days out of the Palatinate, and other Protestant churches then laid waste; by which means,

"In the third place, your Petitioner found an opportunity to maintain a religious, learned, and charitable correspondence with the chief of note in foreign parts; which, for the space of thirty years and upwards, he hath managed for the good of this nation, as well in Civil as Ecclesiastical concernments, (as is well known to most of the leading men of all parties) by procuring unto them,

"I. Fare Collections of Manuscripts in all the Parts of Learning, which your Petitioner freely hath imparted, transcribed, or printed, and sent to such as were most capable of making use of them.

"II. The best experiments of Industry practised in Husbandry and Manufactures, and in other inventions and accommodations tending to the good of this nation, which by printing he hath published, for the benefit of this age, and of posterity.

"III. A constant relief according to his ability or address, for poor distressed scholars, both of this nation, and of Foreigners, who wanted employment, to recommend them to such as could make use of their service.

"IV. A constant intelligence in matters of Piety, Virtue, and Learning, both at home and abroad, with

those

may be) determined. I durst not have expressed myself so boldly, but that I know your Honour hath been always a person of solid honour and faithfulness to me, and that I really believe, that when the times of Refreshing shall come, such deeds of compassion will certainly be honoured and rewarded with exceeding joy."

ART. XIV, Original Letter of the late Lord Ches

terfield.

(The Superscription lost, but probably addressed to Dr. Monsey.) Bath, Nov. 8, 1757:

SIR,

Upon my word I think myself as much obliged to you, for your voluntary and unwearied attention to my miserable deafness, as if your prescriptions had removed or relieved it. I am now convinced, by eight years experience, that nothing can; having tried every thing that ever was tried, and perhaps more. I have tried the urine of hares, so long and so often, that whether male, female, or hermaphrodite, I have probably had some of every gender: I have done more, I have used the galls of hares; but to as little pur

pose.

I have tried these waters in every possible way; I have bathed my head; pumped it; introduced the stream, and sometimes drops of the water, into my ears; but all in vain. In short I have left nothing untried, and have found nothing effectual. Your little

See Warton's Juv. Poems of Milton, Edit. 1785, pp. 118-596.

blisters,

blisters, which I still continue, have given me more relief than any thing else.

Your faculty will, I hope, pardon me, if, not having the vivacity of ladies, I have not their faith neither. I must own that they always reason right in general; but I am sorry to say at the same time, that they are commonly wrong in every particular. I stick to that middle point, which their alacrity makes them leap

over.

I am persuaded that you can do more than other people; but then give me leave to add that I fear that more is not a great deal. In the famous great fog, some years ago, the blind men were the best guides, having been long used to the streets; but still they only groped their way; they did not see it. You have, I am sure, too much of the skill, and too little of the craft, of your profession, to be offended with this image. I heartily wish that it was not so just a

one.

Why physical ills exist at all, I do not know; and I am very sure that no Doctor of Divinity has ever yet given me a satisfactory reason for it: but if there be a reason, that same reason, be it what it will, must necessarily make the art of medicine precarious, and imperfect: otherwise the end of the former would be defeated by the latter.

Of all the receipts for deafness, that which you mention, of the roar of cannon upon Blackheath, would be to me the most disagreeable; and whether French or English, I should be pretty indifferent. Armies of all kinds are exceedingly like one another; offensive armies may make defensive ones necessary; but they do not make them less dangerous. Those who

7.