avowing that he alone was the perfon who obtained and tranfmitted to Bofton the letters in question.

To mark the politics of the times, and the nature of the cenfures paffed in England upon Dr. Franklin's conduct,' the Editor has collected into one page, the most licentious parts of Mr. Wedderburn's fhameful Philippic, pronounced on this occafion before the Privy Council; Dr. Franklin being all the time prefent. Here are fome traits of this intemperate oration. "I hope, my Lords, you will mark [and brand] the man, for the honour of this country, of Europe, and of mankind. "He has forfeited all the refpect of focieties and of men. Into what companies will he hereafter go with an unembarraffed face, or the honeft intrepidity of virtue? Men will watch him with a jealous eye; they will hide their papers from him, and lock up their efcrutoires. He will henceforth efteem it a libel to be called a man of letters; bomo trium literarum?" [Fur, or thief.]

Alluding to the duel, and Dr. Franklin's fubfequent printed letter above mentioned, he exclaims-" It is impoffible to read his account, expreffive of the coolest and most deliberate malice, without horror-Amidst thefe tragical events, of one perfon nearly murdered; of another answerable for the iffue; of a worthy Governor hurt in his dearest interests; the fate of America in fufpence; here is a man, who, with the utmost infenfibility of remorfe, ftands up, and avows himself the Author of all. I can compare it only to Zanga, in Dr. Young's Revenge: "Know then, 'twas-1:

I forged the letter, I difpofed the picture;

I hated, I defpifed, and I destroy."

"I afk, my Lords, whether the revengeful temper attributed, by poetic fiction only, to the bloody African, is not furpaffed by the coolness and apathy of the wily American ?"

These horrid charges are refuted by the Editor-firft, with regard to the duel-by obferving, that the letter of provocation appeared in the morning, and the parties met in the afternoon. Dr. Franklin was not then in town: it was after fome interval that he received the intelligence. What bad paffed he could not forefee; he endeavoured to prevent what ftill might follow.'

With refpect to his procuring the letters, he informs us, that Dr. Franklin afterwards took an oath in Chancery, that at the time that he tranfmitted the letters, he was ignorant of the party to whom they had been addreffed; having himself received them from a third perfon, and for the exprefs purpose of their being conveyed to America.'-It was not perhaps fingular, the Editor afterwards adds, that, as a man of honour, Dr.

Franklin

Franklin fhould furrender his name to public fcrutiny, in order to prevent mischief to others; and yet not betray his coadjutor, (even to the prefent moment) to relieve his own fame from the fevereft obloquy: but perhaps it belonged to few befides Dr. Franklin, to poffefs mildness and magnanimity enough, to refrain from intemperate expreffions and measures, against Mr. Wedderburn and his fupporters, after all that had passed.'

Quitting these contentious fcenes, and this unworthy treatment of fo venerable a character, we fhall relieve the indig nant reader, and introduce him into better and more edifying company; by instantly transporting him into a club-room in Philadelphia; where whilom, in more ferene and happy times, a fociety met, governed by fuch regulations as, to use nearly the words of the Editor, carry indeed along with them an air of fingularity; but accompanied with fuch operative good fenfe and philanthropy, as characterife them to be the production of Dr. Franklin. This club is faid to have been composed of men confiderable for their influence and difcretion. Previous to admiffion, the candidate was to stand up, lay his hand on his breaft, and anfwer the four following questions:

1. Have you any particular difrefpect to any prefent members ?—— Answer. I have not.'

2. Do you fincerely declare that you love mankind in general; of what profeffion or religion foever?-Anf. I do.'

3. Do you think any perfon ought to be harmed in his body, name, or goods, for mere fpeculative opinions, or his external way of worship? Anf. No.'

4. Do you love truth for truth's fake; and will you endeavour impartially to find and receive it yourself, and communicate it to others? Anf. Yes.'

The rules of this inftitutión are perfectly congenial to fo fenfible and liberal a teft as the preceding. They appear in the form of queries. The following may ferve as fpecimens:

"Have you met with any thing in the Author you laft read, remarkable, or fuitable to be communicated to the Junto? particularly in history, morality, poetry, phyfic, travels, mechanic arts, or other parts of knowledge?

Hath any citizen in your knowledge failed in his bufinefs lately; and what have you heard of the caufe?

Have you lately heard of any citizen's thriving well, and by what means?

Do you think of any thing at prefent, in which the Junto may be ferviceable to mankind? to their country, to their friends, or to themselves?

'Hath any deserving ftranger arrived in town fince last meeting, that you heard of? and what have you heard or obferved of his character or merits; and whether think you, it lies in

the

the power of the Junto to oblige him, or encourage him as he deferves?

Do you know of any deferving young beginner, lately fet up, whom it lies in the power of the Junto any way to encourage?

• Have you lately obferved any defect in the laws of your country, of which it would be proper to move the legislature for an amendment? Or do you know of any beneficial law that is wanting?

In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, affift you in any of your honourable defigns?

Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice and injuftice, which you would gladly have difcuffed at this time?'

The fifth and laft divifion of this valuable collection contains the miscellaneous, principally philofophical, pieces of Dr. Franklin. The firft, which is a Scheme for a new Alphabet and reformed Mode of Spelling,' will not admit of abridgment. The fecond is a letter to a friend, witten in 1748, on perufing Mr. Baxter's Treatife on the Soul; in which Dr. Franklin opposes the common doctrine of the vis inertie of matter, as inconfiftent with the phenomena of bodies in motion. An idea of the Author's reasoning on this fubject may be collected from the following cafe.

It is acknowledged, that if a body, A, moving with the celerity 1c, and the force 1 f, impinge against another equal body, B, at reft; the two bodies will move on together after the ftroke, each with half the celerity and force of the first body; or each will move with c, and f: but the celerity and force of both bodies added together is 1, and I f; that is, precifely the celerity and force of the body A, before the ftroke. In this cafe, there is no abatement of velocity or force :-Where then is the vis inertia? What does it, or how does it discover itfelf?'

The next paper contains Experiments, Obfervations, and Facts, tending to fupport the Opinion of the Utility of long pointed Rods, for fecuring Buildings from Damage by Strokes of Lightning-and was read at the Committee of the Royal Society, appointed to confider the erecting conductors, to secure the magazines at Purfleet, in Auguft 1772. The experiments, though valuable on account of that luminous fimplicity which diftinguishes all the productions of this great man-in politics, as well as in philofophy, cannot eafily be defcribed without the affiftance of the plate that accompanies them. An observation, however, of a more popular kind, and more generally intelligible, may be here inferted with propriety.

In oppofition to the advantages expected to be derived from the ufe of high pointed rods, it may be alleged, that the means are

not

not adequate to the propofed end:-that though, in our fmall experiments, a fine pointed needle will filently, and almoft inftantly, discharge the electric matter from a charged prime conductor, or even an electrical battery, at the diftance of a few inches; no fuch advantages are to be hoped for, in any confiderable degree, from a pointed rod opposed to a charged cloud, many acres in extent, at the diftance of half a mile, or a mile, or more. But that high pointed rods may rob a cloud of very great quantities of electric matter; and thereby poffibly difarm it of the power of doing mischief, is rendered evident by the following fact:

The Author's houfe at Philadelphia, was furnished with a fod extending nine feet above the top of the chimney. To this rod was connected a wire of the thickness of a goofe quill, which defcended through the well of the ftair-cafe; where an interruption was made, fo that the ends of the wire, to each of which a little bell was fixed, were distant from each other about fix inches; an infulated brass ball hanging between the two bells. The Author was one night waked by loud cracks, proceeding from his apparatus in the ftair-cafe. He perceived, that the brass ball, instead of vibrating as ufual between the bells, was repelled and kept at a distance from both; while the fire fometimes paffed in very large quick cracks directly from bell to bell; and fometimes in a continued denfe white fiream, feemingly as large as his finger; by means of which the whole ftair-cafe was enlightened, as with fun-fhine,' fo that he could fee to pick up a pin.-From the apparent quantity of electric matter of which the cloud was thus evidently robbed, by means of the pointed rod (and of which a blunt conductor would not have deprived it), the Author juftly conceives, that a number of fuch conductors muft confiderably leffen the quantity of electric fluid, contained in any approaching cloud, before it comes fo near as to deliver its contents in a general stroke.'

The last piece in this collection, is a paper under the modeft title of Suppofitions and Conjectures towards forming an Hypothefis, for the Explanation of the Aurora Borealis.' Some idea of the Author's attempt to form an hypothefis on this fubject, may be collected from the following thort fketch of it;

The air, heated between the tropics, and containing a great quantity of vapour, replete with electric matter, is rendered light, and accordingly rifes into the upper parts of the atmosphere; and after spreading northwards and fouthwards, on the different fides of the equator, it finally defcends near the two poles: from whence an oppofite current of cool and dense air is, at the fame time, put in motion towards the equator, to

Twelve were propofed on and near the magazines at Purfleet.

fupply

Yupply its place. This circulation of warm and cool, i. e. of light and heavy, air, is eafily rendered vifible, in a room where there is a fire, by means of a little smoke.

In the paffage of the electrified vapour to the northward, for inftance, in the form of clouds, great part of it is precipitated, before it arrives at the polar regions, in rain, fnow, or hail. That these contain electric matter, is rendered evident by receiving them in infulated vessels; to which they communicate their electricity.

In the temperate regions, this electricity is readily received and imbibed by the earth; which, in those climates, is a good conductor; and which will receive it either filently, conveyed to it by the rain, &c. or fuddenly, in the explofions attending

thunder ftorms.

In the cold polar regions, however, the cafe will be different. That part of the electrified vapour which reaches them, and defcends with the fnow, does not fall on a conducting earth; but on a vitriform cake of ice, with which the earth is there eternally covered; and which (particularly when the cold is extreme +) will not conduct electricity. The electric matter therefore not being able to penetrate through this non-conducting ftratum, will be accumulated on the furface of it, as on a plate of glass.

This plate of ice thus becoming overcharged, the electric matter will, at different times, burft from it, as happens when a Leyden vial has been overcharged; and will break through the fuperincumbent atmosphere (lower here than at the equator) till it arrives at the vacuum, or highly rarefied air, above, which is a good conductor; where it will run along towards the equator, diverging as the degrees of longitude enlarge; and exhibiting appearances refembling thofe which the electric matter is known to prefent, in our experiments made on it, in vacuo.

Thefe are the principal outlines of the Author's hypothefis. The paper itfelf is thort, and aphoriftical; and is faid to have been read to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, at their meeting after Eafter laft year. The Editor has added to it feveral ingenious notes, confifting of illuftrations, queries, fpeculations, &c. and has hazarded a new conjecture on the fubject.-For this, however, as well as many other pieces of the Author not noticed by us, we must refer our Readers to the volume itself; not without expreffing our hopes that the ingenious

+ The Author had long ago obferved, that ice, in America, would not conduct a fhock. He does not feem to have been acquainted with the late fingular experiments on this fubject, made by M. Achard; who found that, in a very confiderable degree of cold, ice acquired electric qualities nearly approaching thofe of glafs; fo as even to bear a charge, &c.