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having my throat cut with the paste board.

When I remonftrate on any of these articles, the ftops my month by akifs, and fays... My dear angel---we must "have fome little regard to appear

"ances."

She is, as I told you, but fix years younger than myfelf; yet the dreffes, dances and drives about, as if she was but five and twenty.

This, however, and much more, 1 could bear; I deferve it---I am contented the fhall confume fix and thirty yards more than my old maid Hef ter in the fpinnings of her gown--- she may play a fhilling a fifh at quadrille ; the may do, aye, he may do what The pleafes, let me have but my ftudy to myfelf; let my night cap and my fippers be restored, and I will fubmit to wear the new coat and the wig every Sunday.

P. S. I long to take poor Jonas again, he used always to ride be'fore me; and, drunk or sober, he knew the shorteft way all over the country. What fignifies whether one's footman wears a wig or his own hair? 'Tis true he never black. ed either my boots or his own.

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services; and whereas your petition er hath always demeaned himself in an humble and fubmiffive manner to all thofe with whom he has been connected---and though he is, by virtue of the moft unquestionable authority, one of thofe five captains * appointed to command the numerous companies into which the Alphabeti cal Regiment is divided, yet has he never ufurped the rights of his bro ther officers, not intruded himself inte thofe divifions where he has not alway been invited. Your petitioner her begs leave to remark, that though he may have been frequently feen and heard in the undiftinguishabl corps of Cambro. Britishpronouns † yet has he always been rudely thru in against his own judgment and in clination, and therefore in fuch case prefumes he will be confidered fpeak the langauge of the times) as preffed man, and not as a voluntee Your oppreffed petitioner is no without the leaft provocation on! part, banished from favor, diveft of fplendor, and deprived of his ha of honor: nor is this all; his e mies endeavor, at every opportuni to abate his ardor, and to caft a da on his fervor his labors have be represented as useless, and his pret fions to candor conftrued into i pertinence; even his demean which he has always endeavoured regulate by the fricteft rules of F priety, have been branded with fumption and affectation. Your titioner would appear tedious, he to enumerate the many injurie has lately received from reform pedants and innovating coxcon not to mention the whole tribe fcribbling females, and illiterate

To the Right Worshipful Company of fashion: he therefore humbly h

of CRITICS.

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that your worships will take premiles into confideration, with ufual candour, and endeavour t inftate the perfecuted U in the la poffeffion of the favours and hon he formerly enjoyed. Your peti er will then exert himself wit

utmoft vigour and ardour to a

*The five vowels.

ge

† Alluding to the Welch o graphy and pronunciation of hi

general fatisfaction, and hopes that the fervour of his labour, added to the modefty of his demeanour, will enable him to counteract the honour ofthe whimfical, to fruftratethe rigour of the envious, and to moderate the Tancour of the malicious.

With a full affurance that your worthips will graciously condefcend to grant the request of the much injured U, your petitioner, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, &c. &c. &c

Thus in Auids, they contra& fenfibly with cold 'till the moment they be gin to freeze, from thence forward they dilate, and take up more space, than they poffeffed while in a state of fluidity. When liquor turns to ice in a clofe cafk, it is often known to burft the veffel. When ice is broke upon a pond, it (wims upon the furface, a certain proof of its being a larger bulk than fo much water.

But though this dilatation of fluids by froft feems, at firft fight, to be the refult of exceffive cold only, yet it

To the Editors of the Boston Maga- very probably proceeds from a dif

Gentlemen,

zine.

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The following natural History of Cold was written by one of the most ingenious naturalifts in Europe; and there are few of your Readers, but will find in it fomething both to inform and

entertain them.

A. N.

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COLD is a quality whofe nature,

like that of fire is best known by its effects. Whatever are the properties of fire those of cold feem to be directly oppofite; fire increases the bulk of all bodies, cold contracts them; fire tends to diffipate their fubftance, cold condenfes them and Arengthens their mutual cohesion. But though cold thus feems, by fome of its effects,to be nothing more than the privation of heat, as darkness is only the privation of light, yet cold is feemingly poffeffed of another pro perty, that has induced many to think it a diftin& fubftance from heat, and of a peculiar nature. It is univerfally knowa, that when cold, by being continued to contracts and condenfes fabftances to a certain degree, if then its power be increased, inftead of continuing, contract and leffen their bulk, it enlarges and expands them, fo that extreme cold, like heat, fwells the substance into which it enters.

D

ferent caufe, and the power of freezing may be increafed while the in

tenfeners of the cold receives no con

fiderable addition; on the contrary,

a

fubftance which fhall melt ice, will increase the degree of its coldness. with pounded ice, or with fnow, the fait fhall thus melt either of them indinary, it shall encrease their cold to

To prove this, mix fal ammoniac

to water, and, what is most extraor

a furprizing degree, as we find by the effects of this water in finking the thermometer. This experiment

has induced many therefore, to confider the freezing of fluids, as not be

ing entirely the refult of cold, but of fome unknown property, either in the air or water, which thus mixes with the body, and, for a time, destroys its fluidity. What that body is that thus unites with fuch fubftance, we must not pretend to determine. Muffenbroek himself, who is ready enough at affigning causes, is obliged to leave this to the future elucidations of accidental experiment

They who know the phænomena of nature, though ignorant of the causes which produce them, are wiser than is generally imagined. The freezing of water is attended with feveral very curious circumftances, which though not to be reduced to fcience, yet may ferve to employ curiofity: The following are a part. When water is firft laid out to freeze, which for the better obfervation is put into very thin glaffes, there firft appears upon the furface an extremelythin coat of ice, Shortly after all the fides of the veffel dart out (mail filaments like the rudiments of a fpider's web, to be inferted

ferted in the under part of the covering pellicle of ice. All these filaments enlarging by degrees, and new ones being conftantly added, at length by their union form one folid mafs. From hence we may fee that fluids freeze always at the top firft, and not at the bottom, as fome have imagined.

Before the congelation, and while the fluid is congealing, a number of air bubbles continually rife to the furface, where they escape; and the more flowly the congelation is formed, the more flowly do these bubbles come up. The fwifter congelations however, confine a great quantity of thefe air bubbles before they have time to escape, and the ice thus quickly formed, always contains a much larger portion of air than that more flowly produced. For this reason, the fwift congelations produce ice, which, containing great quantities of air, wants that evenenefs of its contexture, which is remarkable in the ice which has lefs, and it thus Lecomes more opake. It resembles broken chryftal, while that brought on by flow congelation is perfectly fmooth and tranfparent like glass.

Huyghens, in order to try the force, with which ice would expand itself, when confined, filled a cannon, the fides of which were an inch thick, with water, and then closed the mouth and touch-hole, fo as that none could escape. The inftrument thus filled, was expofed to a strong freezing air. In lefs than twelve hours the ice within was frozen, and began to dilate itself with fuch force, that it actually burft the piece in two different places. Mathematicians have calculated the force of the ice upon this occafion ; such a force they fay would raife a weight of 27720 pounds. From hence therefore we need not be furprized at the effects of ice deftroying the fubftance of vegetables, trees, and even splitting rocks, when the froft is carried to excels.

Freezing is carried on much more expeditiously when the water is at reft, than when it is in motion. It is eafy to align the caufe of this; as the ice is carried from one furface to ano ther by filaments, the current fis fill deftroying them as foon as formed;

and it would be as difficult for a fpider's web to be formed, while the wind was breaking and blowing the threads that formed it, as it is for the froft to fend forth its filaments in the proper order for the general congelation of a river. In very great frofts however, rivers themfelves are fro zen. I have seen the Rhine frozen at one of its moft precipitate catara&s and the ice ftanding in glaffy columns like a foreft of large trees, the bran ches of which have been newly top ped away.

But though the current of th ftream opposes its freezing, yet a gen tle and hot wind frequently helps i forward. Farenheit affures us, that pond which stands quite calm, ofte acquires a degree of cold much b yond what is fufficient for freezin yet no congelation enfues. If light breath of air happens in fuch cafe to brush over the water's fu face, it ftiffens the whole in an i flant: The water, before congelatic and in its liquid ftate, finks the the mometer very low, which fhews i exceffive degree of coldness. moment that by the air or any oth agitation, it begins to congeal, t thermometer rifes to the ordina freezing point. The causes of thefe are infcrutable in the prefe Aate of philofophical experiment.

T

In general, the ice of northern gions is much harder than that of t more fouthern climates, and thou it contains no air, yet its contextur much ftronger by reafon of the gre er degree of cold by which it is co gealed. The ice of Spitsbergen a the Greenland feas, is fo hard, t it is very difficult to break it with hammer. In our own climates, may in general form a very just c jecture concerning the duration froft by the hardnefs of the ice. in the beginning of the froft the ic||| more hard and refifting than it u ally is, the froft will continue long proportion. A machine might w a little ingenuity be made that wo difcover this hardness with fuffici prec fion.---During the hard froft 1740, a palace of ice was built at terfburg, after the most elegant del, and the jufteft proportions Auguftan Architecture-It was

feet long and 20 feet high.

The materials were quarried from the furface of the river Neva, and the whole food gliftening against the fun with a brilliancy almoft equal to its own. To increase the wonder fix cannons of ice, two bombs and mortars, all of the fame materials, were planted before this extraordinary edifice. The cannon were three pounders, they were charged with gun powder, and fired off; the ball of one of them pierced an oak plank at fixty paces diftance and two inches thick, nor did the piece burft with the explofion. ⚫

(To be continued.)

⚫ M. de Mairon differt. fur la Glace, part 2. fe&t. 3d. chap. 3d.

An Efay on Tafte.

From a new Work. ASTE is the faculty which is

They fometimes ftrike in the fame manner the philofopher and the peaHence fant, the boy and the man.

the faculty by which we relifh fuch beauties, feems more akin to a feeling of fenfe, than to a procefs of the underftanding; and accordingly from an external fenfe it has borrowed its name; that fenfe by which we receive and diftinguish the pleasures of food, having, in feveral languages, given rife to the word tafte in the metaphorical meaning under which we now confider it. However, as in all fubjects which regard the operations of the mind, the inaccurate ufe of words is to be carefully avoided, it must not be inferred from what thas been faid, that reafon is entirely excluded from the exertions of tafte. Though tafte, beyond doubt, be ultimately founded on a certain natural and extinctive fenfibility to beauty, yet reafon affifts tafte in many of its operations, and ferves to enlarge its power. Tafte, in the fenfe now explained, is common degree

Talways appealed to in difquifi alfaculty Nothing that belongs to

tions, concerning the merit of dif courfe and writing. There are few fubjects on which men talk more loofely and indiftin&ly than on taste; few which it is more difficult to explain with precifion, and none that is more dry or abftra&t.

Tafte may be defined, "The power of receiving pleasure from the beauties of nature and of art." The firft queftion that occurs concerning it is, whether it is to be confidered as an internal fenfe, or as an exertion of reafon? Reafon is a very general term; but if we understand by it, that power of the mind which in fpeculative matters difcovers truth, and in practical matters judges of the Etnefs of means to an end, I apprehend the queftion may easily be anIwered. For nothing can be more clear, than that tafte is not refolveable into any fuch operation of reafon. It is not merely through a difcovery of the understanding or a deduction of argument, that the mind receives pleafure from a beautiful profpect or a fine poem. Such objects often strike es intuitively, and make a ftrong impreffion when we are unable to affign the reafons of our being pleafed.

human nature is more universal than the relifh of beauty of one kind or other; of what is orderly, proportioned, grand, harmonious, new or fprightly. In children the rudiments of tafte difcover themselves very early in a thousand inftances; in their fondness for regular bodies, their admiration of pictures and ftatues, and imitations of all kinds, and their ftrong attachment to whatever is new or marvellous. The most ignorant peasants are delighted with ballads and tales, and are ftruck with the beautiful appearances of nature in the earth and heavens. We must therefore conclude the principles of tafte to be deeply founded in the human mind. It is no lefs effential to man to have fome difcernment of beauty, than to poffefs the attributes of reafon and of fpeech. But altho' none be devoid of this faculty, yet the degrees in which it is poffeffed are widely different. In fome men only the feeble glimmerings of tafte appear. the beauties which they relish are of the coarfeft kind; and of these they have but a weak and confufed im. preffion; while in others, tafte rifes to an acute difcernment, and a lively

enjoyment

enjoyment of the moft refined beauties. In general, we may observe, that in the powers and pleafures of tafte, there is a more remarkable inequality among men than is ufually found in point of common fenfe, reafon and judgment. The conftitution of our nature in this, as in all other refpects, discovers admirable wildom. In the diftribution of those talents which are neceffary for man's wellbeing, Nature bath made lefs diftinction among her children. But in the diftribution of thofe which belong only to the ornamental part of lite, fhe hath beflowed her favours with more frugality. She hath both sown the feeds more fparingly; and rea. dered a higher culture requifite for bringing them to perfection. This inequality of taste among men is owing, without doubt, in part, to the different frame of their natures; to nicer organs, and finer internal powers, with which fome are endowed beyond others. But if it be owing in part to nature, it is owing to education and culture ftill more.

Tafte sa moft improveable faculty,if there be any fuch in human nature,& it receives its improvement from these two fources, first, the frequent exercife of tafte, and next, the application of good fenfe and reafon to the objects of tafte. In its perfect ftate, it is undoubtedly the refult both of nature and of art. It fuppofes our natural fenfe of beauty to be refined by frequent attention to the most beautiful objects, and at the fame time to be guided and improved by the light of the understanding. I must be allow ed to add, that as a found head, fo likewife a good heart, is a very ma terial requifite to just taste. The mo ral beauties are not only in themfelves fuperiour to all others, but they exert an influence, either more near or more remote, on a great va riety of other objects of tafte. Wherever the affections, characters, or actions of men are concerned (and thefe certainly afford the nobleft fubjects to genius) there than be neither any juft or affecting defcription of them, nor any thorough feeling of the beauty of that defcription, withcut our poffeffing the virtuous affections. He whofe ears are indelicate

and hard, he who has no admiration of what is truly noble or praise wor thy, nor the proper fympathetic fenfe of what is foft and tender, muft have a very imperfect rel.fh of the higher beauties of eloquence and poetry.

The characteis of tafte when bro't to its moft perfect flate are all redu cible to two, Delicacy and Corre& nefs.

Deilcacy of Tafte refpects princi pally the perfection of that natura fenfibility on which tafte is founded It implies thofe finer organs or pow ers which enable us to discove beauties that lie hid from a vulga eye. One may have ftrong fenfibili ty, and yet be deficient in delicate tafte. He may be deeply impreffec by fuch beauties as he perceives but he perceives only what is in fom degree coarfe, what is bold and pal pable; while chafter and fimple or naments efcape his notice. In thi ftate tafte generally exifts among rude and unrefined nations.

A

But a perfon of delicate tafte both feeis ftrongly, and feels accurately He fees diftin&tions and difference where others fee none; the moft la tent beauty does not escape him, and he is fenfible of the fmalleft blemish Lelicacy of tafte is judged of by the fame marks that we ufe in judging o the delicacy of an external fenfe. the goodnefs of the palate is not trie by frong flavours, but by a mixtur of ingredients, where, notwithfland ing the confufion, we remain fenfibl of each; in like manner delicacy o internal tafte appears, by a quic and lively fenfibility to its finef moft compound, or mof latent e jets.

Correctness of Tafle refpe&ts chief the improve ment which that facult receives through its connexion wit the underflanding. A man of co rect taste is one who is never impofe upon by counterfeit beauties; wh carries always in his mind that ftand ard of good fenfe which he employ in judging of every thing.

He efti

mates with propriety the compara tive merit of the feveral beauties which he meets with in any work c genius; refers them to their prope claffes; affigns the principles, as fa as they can be traced, whence thei

powe

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