vital part of our dominion, as a trading nation; who at first vainly boasted the terms of battle fhould be equal; and e'er the enemy had facrificed him a fingle victim, meanly deferted the combat, the island, and the nation's charge.

But Aufonius was not aware of B-'s defects; he knew not that he was obnoxious to the gallant and man ly part of the navy.

The pride of Aufonius, precludes him the accefs of familiar converfe, or wholefome information. From his fancied height, he looks do wn on men with all the infolence

new acquired power; and with parts proftrate as a mushroom, and iriged as an icicle, he confides, that title. poffetlions, and alliance, are pillars that will fupport his domę.

Though his afcent to power was as rapid as cafual; yet, had he fhewn hintelf equal to the truft repofed in him, he would have enjoyed the digaity, uncenfured, and undisturbed.

But, let facts declare, if he has not rendered flippery the precipice he now tands on, by his unmeaning conduct, and partial behaviour.

The formality of employing Ad-Į

time will foon arrive in which thofe gentlemen, by whole erring condu&t, our calamities are brough upon us, will rather than fee the ruin complete, have pity on the public weal, and fave the finking bark. Let us require this, the leaft of reparation, and the mildeft of requests, that they will now become atoning volunteers for themselves, and their country, in withdrawing from fcenes of bufinefs, to inactive folitude, that by their councils and influence, they may no longer interrupt the fuccefs of our arms, or farther difgrace the dignified name and annals of this once victorious land.

Let Minorca and America, oppreffive taxes, and a complaining people, the nation's debt, and declining credit, private intereft, and general fafety, the approaching fellions, and the expiring year, all remind and leffon them to obey the precept. Then may we hope to fee victory wait upon our arms, and peace in a little time reach out her olive branch, plenty difplay her horn, and glory, honour, and happiness,

adorn our Ile.

of the Navy.

But now is the practice fwerved from, in recent inftances, from only ties of perfonal attachment! how is the rectitude of this plan obferwed, when veterans, willing to be employed, devoted to the fervice, and untainted in their character, are denied their rank on imaginary pretences? how large the chafms in a certain lift, on fome late promotions? what ftrides of defpotifm are there feen ? how fhameful a prostitution of power? and how burthenfome fuch acts of wantonnefs to this exLaufted nation. But, let us not def pair though the measure of evil is nearly full, let us yet hope that the

SIR,

rits much more notice than has hitherto been taken of it. I enclofe you an account, or rather journal, of the whole action, in which are evident marks of great bravery and feamanthip, and which, I am well convinced, is penned with the utmost truth and exactness, by a warrant officer of the Colchester, whom I know to be a man of great veracity, and who after much entreaty, fent it me fince their late arrival at Spithead from the Mediterranean, and affures me, he intended to have published it himself long ago, but was abfolutely forbid the doing it by his captain; telling him, it might as well be omitted, feeing they had not been fo fortunate as to take the fhip they engag'd; and that it was now become common for the generality of mankind, to measure the merit of an

action in proportion only to the fuccefs that attended it. But I am not of that perfuafion, and do therefore part with a copy of it, that others may be convinced of the juft caufe to commend the conduct and behaviour of Capt. Obrian on the affair, who, as my friend alfo affures me, was rather pleased than otherways, at the appearance of the enemy's fuperior force, and gave this charge to the first lieutenant: "You, Sir, as next to me in command, must take charge of the thip if I fhould in the action be killed, or fo wounded as to be obliged to quit the deck; but it is my directions, that you never frike our king's colours while there is a poflibility of keeping the fhip a

bove water.

Capt. Obrian has often fignalized himfeif, particularly in 1743, when he was lieut. of the Shrewsbury at Carthagena, in the attack of Boccha Chica caftle, which was taken, tho' with great lofs. In the fame harbour, with boats mann'd and armed, he took the Galicia man of war of 64 guns, first boarding her himself. In the time of the laft rebellion he commanded the Sheernefs, of twenty guns,

and retook from the rebels, after a fmart engagement, the Hazard, (by, them called the Prince Charles) crouded with officers and foldiers, with money, arms, and ammunition, to reinforce and fupply the rebel army then in Scotland.

It is but by public character that I am acquainted with the prefent Capt. Obrian. His father, in the fame honourable employ, I well knew, and ferved under his command in two of his majesty's fhips, and in feveral engagements with him, and cannot but mention him as an officer worthy imitation of every gentleman in the royal navy, and am pleased to find the fon fo lively a copy of him. Yours, c. Greenwich, Nov. 22. J. R.

Colchester at fea, June 20, 1756. HE Lyme, Capt. Vernon, and we, the Colchester, Capt. O' brian, were ordered by Adm. Bofcawen from the fleet, to cruize together on the coaft of Brittany, and fcarce a day paft but we either burnt or funk fome French veffel. On the 17th of May in the morning, took a French fnow laden with deals and rofin, and an officer fent on board to burn her. While he was doing it, the man at the maft-head called down, that he faw a fail in the offing; .upon which, Capt. Obrian hail'd Capt. Vernon, and defired him to make fail, and that he would follow, which we did with all the fail we could make, fo foon as the officer was returned from burning the veffel, and our boat hoifted in-A fecond fail was espied by the man at the maft-head and at half paft nine A. M. we discovered they were enemies, and they the fame of us, making all the fail they poffibly could fet to get from us, with top gallant ryalls, lower top-maft, and top-gallant fteering fails, keeping a good full. Seeing they could not weather us on the other tack, fometimes they bore away two or three points, then hall'd their wind, but finding we gained on them faft, and that it

was

near, that the wads from each fhip fell on the decks on fire, and one from her guns came into an upper deck port of ours, beat a cartridge of powder out of the man's hand that was going to put it into the gun which fet fire to fome others, and blew up all the people near that gun in a terrible manner. Other wads fet fire to our hammocks on the poop, but it was happily foon extinguifhed. Thus we continued to engage till half past 12 at night, when the Aquillon hauled on board her fore tack, fet all the fail fhe could, kept clofe upon a wind, and left us in fuch a fituation as was impoffible for us to follow her. The Lyme and Fidelle had left off engaging about an hour and half before us. Befides the fhattered condition of our fails, mafts, and rigging, we received feveral hot between wind and water, and were obliged to turn our people from the guns to pump thip, for we made 4 feet water an hour, and heeled fhip to ftop our leaks with plugs and tallow. All the remaining part of the night and next day we were employed in knotting, fplicing, and reeving new rigging, and bending other fails. Our officers and men behaved well and in high (pirits during the whole engagement, but our guns were very weakly manned, people being obliged to help each other to run them out when loaded, and were all very much fatigued, having been up 35 hours. We had no more than 4 men killed on the fpot, and 35 wounded, feveral of whom are fince dead of their wounds, and others not expect ed to recover. The Aquillon (by the account we have of a Danish fhip from France) had upwards of 60 kil led, and a great number wounded, and went into Rochfort with great difficulty, being much fhattered in her hull. The difproportion of the killed and wounded between us and the French may be easily accounted for, by confidering, that it is their

Our

continual practice to fire at our masts and rigging, in order to difable our fhips that way; and that they have generally almoft double our number of men. In this action we fired upwards of 40 broadfides, which is at leaft 4 tuns, 300 weight of powder, and all well expended, not a fingle gun fired but fo near as to do execution on the enemy wherever it took place, and every thing conducted with as little noife and confufion as poflible, during the whole engagement, which was full fix hours and a half.-After this it might be expected we should immediately have fteered for fome port, (as we find the Lyme did) but our captain judg ed it more the duty of an officer to do his utmoft to rejoin his admiral, which we did, and had the carpenters from every fhip in the fleet to fix our mafts, yards, &c. and repair our hull; and with a fresh fupply of ftores and ammunition, I do fup pofe we fhall make out the time first intended for our cruize.

An Account of the articles in the lat Vol. of the Philofophical Tranfac tions, continued fom p. 311.

of leveral earthquakes lately felt at Conftantinople, by his excellency James Porter, Efq; in a letter to the Rev. Mr. Wetstein, F. R. S.

RTICLE XXIV. An account

Some confiderable earthquakes I have felt in different seasons; one very fenfible on the 15th [26th] of May 1752, at 5 in the evening.

We had an account of a violent earthquake at Adrianople that year, on the 18th [29th of July at about 8 p. m. that it was attended with uncommon fiffures and openings of the earth, and eruptions of waters carrying a fulphureous stench. Confiderable damage was done to many mofches and houses, Leffer fhocks were felt the whole month of Auguft. On the fame day and hour we had it at Conftantinople;

it lafted fome feconds. The wind was at fouth that morning, and the fpirits in the thermometer at 40, and the mercury in a fmall thermometer of Bird's, (the fcale the fame as Fahrenheit's) ftood at 79. In the afternoon the wind came abour to the E. S. E, a trong gale, which continued during the earthquake. Its firft motion appeared to be perpendicular, with a heaving of the houfe, and us, as it were, off of our chairs. It was fucceeded by three or four regular momentaneous horizontal vibrations, fo that the wall of the houfe receded and returned, like the reciprocal motions of a fhip, and it was with difficulty we ftood firm. Thefe vibrations, we judged, had their direction from N. W to S. E. and their origin from Adrianople. The mercury at that time flood at 81. A dead calm fucceeded, and at 11 at night the mercury was at 80. A fmall fhake was felt at Smyrna at the fame

hour.

The most violent I ever felt was September 2, 1754, at 1o at night. It came, as that of the 29th of July, without any preparatory figns, and with this difference only, that it was a dead calm. The first fhock feemed entirely perpendicular, and the house, with a violent crack, heaved, as it were, off of its foundation; fo that the floor of a large chamber feemed to rife from the exterior wall of the house to the interior of that room, and made a perfect inclined plane. The win dows appeared to me higher, and the chair in which I fat, near the interior wall, to fink lower; and when I rofe up, I perceived the inclination very fenfibly. It was fucceeded by feveral horizontal vibrations. All the pendulums ftopped; mine precifely at 1o, fome a few minutes after or before, according to their greater or lefs regularity. The wells, of which I have three, became the one dry, the others al

moft fo. The damage was confiderable, but mostly among the old ftone or brick buildings, as mofches, the feven towers, public khans, and old walls. About 60 perfons were killed. The duration did not exa ceed, at most, 30 feconds. We perceived its line of direction from the eaft, and it has been fince traced from Sivas, a city in Afia Minor. It was just felt at Smyrna. Sivas I compute at about 750 miles in a tight line. I cannot yet be informed of the precife time of day they felt it there.

XXV. Letters of Henry Ecles, Efq; concerning the cause of the afcent of vapour and exhalation, and that of winds; and of the general phænomena of the weather and barometer; to the Rev. Tho. Birch, D. D. Secret. R S.

These letters, which take up four whole fheets in the Tranfactions, can by no means be fo reduced as to be brought within our compafs; wherefore, as they are very ingenious, we refer our readers to the perufal of them at large

XXVI. Remarks on a petrified echinus of a fingular kind, found on Bunnans-Land in the parish of Bovingdon in Hertfordshire. By James Parfons, M. D. F. R. S.

XXVII. Two letters concerning toxicodendron; one from the Abbe Mazeas, F. R. S. to the Rev. Stephen Hales, D. D. F. R. S. the other from Mr. Philip Miller, F. R. S. to the Rev. Thomas Birch, D. D. fecret. R. S.

XXVIII. A letter to the Right Hon. the E. of Macclesfield, prefifident of the Royal Society, concerning the method of conftruct ng a table for the probabilities of life at London, by the Rev. William Braikenridge, D. D. F. R. S.

This is a long paper, full of mathematical argumeut, and therefore not properly to be abridged. The very table decuced from them, would

take