Spain, as far as her word could go, affured our minifters, that the English logwood cutters should never in future be interrupted. The miniftry were too polite to question the veracity of a nation renowned for honour in ancient ftory. They therefore accepted this declaration as a fufficient fecurity for the ftipulated conditions. That this last requeft was highly reasonable, is most certain; becaufe by granting the French permiffion to fish within three leagues of the coaft of Newfoundland, perpetual contentions might arife, and ample licence was afforded for chicanery or fineffe. With refpect to our logwood-cutters," the fame obfervation will hold: they are left entirely to the mercy of Spanifh faith, our negotiators having on In Africa, Goree was reftored; and in the East Indies, whatever had coftly required the king of Spain to us the most expence of blood and pledge his royal word that they should treasure. Belleifle was exchanged for not be in any manner molested: Minorca, and the outworks of Dun- whereas Pitt infifted, as an exprefs kirk were to be demolished. The condition, that Spain fhould acknowfamily compact was paffed over as a ledge our exclusive right to this trifle of no manner of confequence. branch of commerce: that in the deSuch are the outlines of the late finitive treaty no notice should be tapeace, which was founded by the mi- ken of the family compact, was cernifterial trumpets, as fafe, honourable, tainly an oversight, which argued the advantageous and lafting. weakness or pufillanimity of adminiftration. They might have diffolved an agreement entered into by the contracting parties, for the fole purpose of this kingdom's destruction. The oppofite party, on the contrary, pronounced it the very reverse, and confidently afferted, that the feeds of future war were thickly fown m almost every article. The ministry urged the ftate of the nation, our treatures exhaufted, money not to be raised but by the means of exorbitant premiums, our country towns depo. pulated, and yet our navy and army deftitute of their proper complement of men. They argued, that in fuch a calamitous fituation, the terms were better than could be expected. The oppofers pronounced this a falfe representation of the cafe; and they alledged, that granting it true, France was still in a far worse plight, Spain unable to affift her; and therefore, that fooner than continue the war, they would have accepted any, even the most humiliating terms. "If, however, said the oppofition, we must have a peace, let us, in the name of goodness, have fuch a peace as will be lafting; let the articles be framed with fuch precifion, that all pretences to commence future hoftilities may be removed." The definitive treaty being figned, and peace announced, Bute feemed to have established his power on permanent grounds; but raising the neceffary lupplies afforded oppofition a recent opportunity to arraign his conduct: the whole of the grants amounted to thirteen millions and an half; and the provifions for these grants exceeded them by half a million and upwards. This was cenfured as great want of attention in proportioning the accounts; and it was juftly obferved, that a vote of credit in time of peace, was a manifest abfurdity. This particular, however, excepted, the minifter's fcheme was hitherto unexceptionable; but when he propofed a duty on cyder and perry to be paid by the maker, and collected by the officers of excife, the nation was roufed; and a spirit of oppofition transfufing itfelf through all ranks and degrees of men, shook at length the feats of adminiftration. Had Had Lord Bute exerted his ingenuity to devise a tax more odious than another to the people of England, he muft at last have pitched upon fomething, in every respect, fimilar to the duty laid on cyder and perry. The mode of collecting this duty, whereby the houses of peers, gentlemen, freeholders and farmers, were liable to be rummaged by an infamous banditti, culled from the dregs of the people. The impoft itself, which was fufficiently large to destroy even the object of taxation, and levied when the neceffity of an expenfive war could be no longer pleaded as an excufe. All thefe circumftances confpiring, contributed to render the tax univerfally odious, and the minifter execrable. A body of diffenting lords entered two spirited protefts, one at committing, another at the paffing of the bill. The representatives of Lon-don were instructed to oppose it, and petitions against the tax were prefented to every different branch of the legiflature. In short, Walpole's project for a general excife, raised not fuch a dangerous ferment throughout the nation. The minifterial party attempted to make an apology for the fcheme, by faying, that cyder being fo cheap, ought to be taxed, in order to reftrain its excessive use, and prevent the vice of drunkennels. As to the mode of collecting the duty, they urged, that it alfo was a cheap and expeditious method; and if a badge of flavery was a badge worn by the venders of malt, beer, fpirits, and other commodities, that the laws of excife operating with regard to these articles, there could be no reafon why they should not be extended to cyder and perry which was only faying, that because an iniquitous fcheme, planned by a molt corrupt minifter, had gained footing in the nation, therefore an extenfion of defpotifm was strictly justifiable; a plea that, with equal propriety, may be urged in fupport of every fpecies of ingenuity. In the midst of these difputes, when virulent contentions were carried to the most unjustifiable lengths, when the nation anxiously waited for the decifion of an event highly important to British liberty, Lord Bute fuddenly deferted his poft as first lord of the treafury, and-RESIGNED. This precipitate, unexpected step, threw his friends into the utmost confternation: even his enemies were furprised, and the world in general criticised upon his conduct as the effect of an effeminate timidity. His adherents endeavoured, however, to exculpate him, by alledging, that he only entered upon the political stage to fecure to this nation an advantageous peace; that even the favourites of the people had deferted their cause, and left their arduous task to be performed by Lord Bute. Having accomplished his defigns; having difcharged the debt due to his country and his king, he had a right therefore to confult his own ease, and thus prove, that a fenfe of public duty, not defire of gratifying private ambition, was the true motive which firft induced his Lordship to affume the political character, and take the lead in administration. Thus far his Lordship's friends. His dependants, on the other hand, cenfured his ill-judged retreat, and urged, that he quitted the field at the very moment when victory was certain. The fupport of prince and parliament would, with an ordinary degree of perfeverance on his fide, have enabled his Lordfhip to have triumphed over all oppofition; and the clamours of the people without doors muft, they faid, have gradually died away, and left his Lordship in permanent poffeffion of his feat at the treafury board; whilft men of penetration, intimately acquainted with human nature and the character of this nobleman, affigned, however, very very different reasons for his refigna tion. They fuppofe him to have retired with chagrin, and imagine his conduct the effect of disgust. "Confci Account of a burning Well at Brofely in Shropshire, from Mr. Martin, late Woodwardian Profeffor at Cambridge, to the Royal Society. well in 17. It ous, fay they, of the rectitude of his THIS well was difcovered in 1711, intentions, and convinced that he had always meant the nation well, an oppofition to his measures he conftrued into the highest ingratitude." He also, according to thefe gentlemen, miftook the noify clamours of an interested cabal for the voice of the people at large: they allow, however, that his Lordship's pride rendered him inacceffible; and that by habit he had contracted a fhynefs of difpofition, altogether incompatible with an able statesman. The theory of government, according to thefe apologifts, he ftudied with fuccefs; but an habit of refentment is fupposed to have circumfcribed his knowledge of the practice within very fcanty limits. He was endowed, if we believe his panegyrifts, with good fenfe, and yet perpetually liable to be impofed upon by the defigning, because he miftook an attention paid to his situation as minifter for an actual attachment to his perfon. In other words, his vanity got the better of his understanding, and he thus became an eafy dupe to flattery and adulation. On the whole, from a tranfient view of this nobleman's adminiftration; from the apologies offered for his conduct by his friends, and the ketches given of his character by even his most impartial adherents; from these collected circumftances, it appears extremely evident that his Lordship was never, by Nature, defigned for public life. We may therefore fafely venture to pronounce that Lord Bute may be a very good man, but was in truth a very bad minifter. but has been many years loft. It was fometime ago recovered, but in a lower fituation, and 30 yards nearer the Severn. For 4 or 5 feet deep, it is 6 or 7 feet wide. Within that is another lefs hole, of like depth, dug in the clay in the bottom whereof is placed an earthen veffel, about 5 or 6 inches diameter at the mouth, having the bottom taken off, and the fides well fixed in the clay rammed well about it. Within the pot is a brown water, thick as puddle, continually forced up with a violent motion, beyond that of boiling water, and a rumbling hollow noife, rifing and falling by fits 5 or 6 inches, but no vapour appeared, perhaps because the fun fhone bright. Upon putting down a candle at the end of a stick, at a quarter of a yard distance it took fire, darting and flashing in a violent manner, for about half a yard high, like fpirits in a lamp, but with greater agitation. I was told that atea-kettle had been made to boil in 9 minutes, and that it had been left burning for 48 hours together, without any fenfible diminution. It was extinguifhed by putting a wet mop upon it, which must be kept there a finall time, otherwife it would not go out. Upon the removal of the mop, there succeeded a fulphureous fmoke, lafting about a minute; and yet the water was very cold to the touch. The well lies 30 yards from the Severn, which in that place, and fome miles above and below runs in a vale full 100 yards perpendicular below the level of the country on either fide, which inclines down to the country at an angle of 20 or 30 degrees from the horizon, but fomewhat more or lefs in different places, as the place is more or less rocky. To the Authors of the British Maga-rors, and fometimes a jumble of in zine. GENTLEMEN, If the following fhort effay falls in A WELL-WISHER Obfervations on fome parts of the coherent nonfenfe, conveyed through the musty vehicle of an antiquated language. So far from understanding any thing relative to the laws of motion; fo far from being acquainted with the true mundane fyftem, the luminaries of antiquity were incapable of arriving at any determinate knowledge concerning the celestial bodies. The Zabaifts, if we believe Maimonides, although renowned for their I HAVE been frequently led to re-acuteness and penetrating fagacity, flect upon the different fyftems of natural philofophy which have prevailed in the various ages of the .world. From the fragments preferved in the libraries of the curious, we may collect hints fufficient to convince us, that mankind, even in those times we call rude and barbarous, were furprizingly addicted to a contemplation of the heavenly bodies. The Egyptians and Chaldeans had each, I prefume, their favourite dogmata, followed fome fage who pretended to be in the fecret, and readily embraced his account of things for a clear folution of the phænomena of nature. yet held it as an inconteftible truth, that the planets and other heavenly orbs were bodies; through the different parts of which, God, as a fubtile fpirit, was diffeminated. I fhall not fatigue my readers patience, by enumerating all thofe worthies famous for errors: it is quite fufficient to obferve, that the divine Aristotle will allow of no Spirits but fuch as, to avoid idlenefs, are employed in moving the celestial orbs. Notwithstanding, however, these notions appear, to us refined moderns, too grofs to pass upon men of sense for facred truths, yet there is no manner of doubt but that fimilar abfurdities were ratified by public authority, and were honoured with a degree of universal affent. We know there was a time, when to talk of the fixture of the fun would have been deemed little fhort of blafphemy; and a man would have hazarded fomething more than a good name if he even alluded to the antipodes. The ancient Greeks were a fet of excellent conjecturers; they had an admirable knack at gueffing; and even those who travelled, with a view of improving their minds, fet up for philofophers, upon the fmall stock of knowledge they gleaned from other nations. They drew, it is true, upon the credulity of their countrymen, who were ever ready to give them large credit for wisdom, and the gravity of a beard, or an aufterity of countenance, made in fome measure amends for other deficiencies, and ferved to convert these venerable antiques into fo many dig-ral philofophy. I speak of the theory, nified fages, from whom the vulgar received instructions with an implicit reverence. If we examine their prevailing tenets of philofophy, we fhall difcover nothing but a motly mixture of erBRIT. MAG. Jan. 1772. On all these accounts, I am temp ted to fufpect, that, notwithstanding the plaufible fchemes laid down by certain dogmatists, we are yet arrived at very little, if any, improvements in the theoretic parts of natu becaufe, as far as the practical parts depend upon mechanical powers or mathematical principles, fo fer they are fubject to the strictest demonftration; but we may reafon juftly, and draw logical confequences B from from affumed, and even false data. I will explain myself. Upon a fuppofition that the planets, or fixed ftars, are placed at fuch and such distances from the earth, or from each other, we may deduce certain axioms, from which inferences may very fairly be drawn in fupport of the fyftem we adopt : but altho' I may allow the reasoning from the axioms just and conclufive, yet I may be permitted to call the fuppofition itself in question; and I think there is great reason for so doing, with regard to the example I have quoted. All fects of philofophers have differed in their accounts of the diftances, as well as bulk, of the planets or the fixed ftars; and it feems to me extremely natural that this should be the cafe. Our glaffes, after all our ingenious improvements, must be defective; and if to this is added the weak texture of the human eye, and the continual vibration of the air; if these impediments are confidered with impartiality, it should rather, I think, appear a matter of furprize that we are able to give tolerable gueffes, than that our endeavours are not crowned with inathematical certainty. What is above said of the eye, may with equal truth be predicated of the human intellect. It doth not seem endowed with ftrength fufficient to acquire an accurate knowledge of thofe immenfe, and ponderous orbs I teft of ages; and the Cartefian vortices, once fo celebrated throughout Europe, would not give place, without firft difputing the palm of fuperiority, with the vis inertiæ, gravity and attraction of Sir Ifaac and his difciples. There was a time when it would have been dangerous to have delivered one's fentiments fo freely; but the heat of prejudice is abated; the charms and novelty of the Newtonian. fyftem ceases to captivate; the enthufiafm occafioned by admiration feems to have evaporated and spent itself in extravagant encomiums. Taking therefore advantage of the philofophic temperature of the times, I fhall occafionally examine those pofitions advanced by Newton, which appear, to me at least, the most exceptionable; and in the course of this difcuffion, my readers will probably be enabled to determine, whether that fame thing called attraction, really deserves the oblique cenfure caft upon it fome years fince by Swift, who ventured to prophecy that it, like all other philofophic abfurdities, would in time give place to a fyftem of truths more conformable to nature, common fenfe and experience. J. Dutch OEconomy, and the Mode of Book-keeping in Holland, exemplified in a fingular Anecdote. VERY nation hath its different which hang fufpended in æther. E characteristics: the French are fhall be told, indeed, of a Des Cartes, a Kepler, and, above all, of our immortal Newton; but having long af fumed the privilege of thinking for myfelf, I will be bold to fay, that the fyftems broached or adopted by thofe celebrated geniufes, carry, in fome particulars, evident marks of the frailty of their respective authors. Were this not the cafe, their notions would obtain a greater degree of permanency. Were their doctrines founded on truth, they would ftand the famous for a certain gaitè de cour, which renders them always lively, always pleafing, and extremely loquacious. Our countrymen, on the contrary, are very sparing of words, fententious, and filent to a proverb. The Dutch are heavy, dull and phlegmatic, to an excess. Such different difpofitions, as is natural, muft produce very different cuftoms and manners amongst the people. In Holland, the meanest trader |