mens that they had reason and talents; yet they could by no means be reconciled to a polite way of living, and it was found neceffary to tranfport them back to their own difagreeable and fhocking country. (ibid.) The Amianthus, fays he, which M. Egede difcover'd in Groenland, is found in Siberia, where it is made into fmall pieces of incombuftible cloth. They begin with hammering it, and fo reducing it to a wool; then they dip it in cold water, and work it with the hands, repeating this operation till the earth is quite washed from it, and the threads appear free and diftinct. After this they dry the feparated threads, work them with a pair of cards almost like cotton, then fpin it, wetting the fingers with oil inftead of water, and the weaver finishes the piece. A The hiftory of the cachelot (the fper ma ceti whale) is very remarkable. ́M. Anderfon has given an anatomical detail of that fifh, taken from the injudicious relations of feamen. The author fays pofitively that the branches of the veffels containing that medicinal liquor call'd fperma ceti, extend themfelves from the cavity of the cranium to all the extremities of the body, and that it is found between the mufcles of cavities, and little veficles which are full of B it. This anfwers to the fmall tubes of the membrana cellulofa, which are extended on all fides between the mufcles, and are no way related to the brain. So that the fperma ceti is not the produce of the brain of this animal, according to the common opinion, but of its fat. The figure which M. AnderCfon gives us of the cachelot is very remarkable, and has the air of a moniter. Its upper jaw is of an enormous fize, and its lower very thin and very small, and furnished with a number of teeth, which enter the callous cavities of the upper jaw to which they are fitted. Our author has a very long and minute defcription of 15 fpecies of whales. That of the Narwhale he defcribes from his own obfervations upon one of them taken in the Elb. It had but one horn and that on the left fide of the head: But Jacobus and Tychonius having obferved that this animal has naturally D two horns, and that it is meerly by accident that it is found but with one, they having actually feen the skull of the Narwhale arm'd with two horns, this is drawn in the fame manner; and a foreign writer remarks, that it was very right to do so, it being not at all likely that there fhould be animals fo irregular, as to have their right fide fo different from the left. We have already inferted (See Vol. x111. 1.596 and 641. alfo Vol. xv. p. 376.) many curious paffages from M. Egede's defcription of Groenland, which Mr Anderfon has tranflated from the Danish, and inferted in his work, but has added feveral things worthy notice. E If this objection be admitted against fact, why should not there be two hearts, one on the right as well as one on the left fide? In the accurate defcription of the Rhinoceros, by the ingenious Dr Parfons, F.R.S. in Philof.Tranfact. Numb. 470, p. 534, we find that fome have but one horn, others two, and alfo that the G tail of a Rhinoceros, now in the R.S. Mufæum, has on the left fide a brush of bair continued a great way bigber up than on the right. In like manner the quills of birds, and the feet of badgers, are irregular. Mr Egede fays the Narubale has a horn on the left fide of his Inout, the greatest length 14 feet, the ufe to Penetrate the ice to get breath, and to raife" weed for food, and he has a fhort one on ht fnout, which does not come out of He fuppofes, as the animals in the mble land animals, that this is the fea 1. Speaking of fea-calves, the author tells us, upon very credible evidence, that thefe animals are found in the great lake of Baikal in Dauria, at a vast diftance from the fea. The reflexions which he makes on the fociable life of the Groenlanders are very curious, as there may be obfer ved among them, what was never expected to be feen, the state of pure nature, unicorn, but is doubtful whether that of the land be not the African Rhinoceros, which has alfo a horn on his fnout, rather than what is defcribed by Pliny and others, with the body of a horfe, a ftag's head, and a horn in front, an animal not any where now to be found. [The horn of this whale and the Rhinoceros (being fo rare) we shall reprefent on a plate.] Mr Egede fays, that the Sperma ceti is prépared from the skull of the Cacbelot, one yielding 20 or 24 tons of it. This feems a mistake, both as to place and quantity, for as according to him this fish is but from 50 to 70 feet long, it is difficult to believe fo muchSperma coti, even unclarify'd, fhould be contained in the skull. He adds, indeed, that the upper part of his head is much longer than that of other whales.He mentions alfo his unufual form: His fpouts are in his forehead, and not on the hinder part of his head, as in other whales, his tongue thin and pointed, his unH der jaw armed with teeth, and he has but one eye, which is in on one fide of his head;fo that the Groenlanders come on the blind fide of him. (See the foregoing note, and the remark above at E Č.4, 1.) uni. Mifs POLLY N. B. Since our extract in 1743 of Mr The SPEECH of Mifs POLLY BAKER, before a Court of Judicature, at Connecticut near Bolton in New England; where he was profecuted the fifth Time, for having a bastard child: Which influenced the Court to difpenfe with her Punishment, and induced one of her Judges to marry her the next Day, by whom she has had fifteen Children. M% AY it please the honourable bench to indulge me in a few words: I am a poor unhappy woman, who have no money to fee lawyers to plead for me, being hard put to it to get a tolerable living. I fhall not trouble your honours with long fpeeches ; for I have not the prefumption to expect, that you may, by any means, be prevailed on to deviate in your fentence from the law, in my favour. All I humbly hope is, that your honours would charitably move the governor's goodness on my behalf, that my fine hay be remitted. This is the fifth E F BAKER's Speech. 175 time, gentlemen, that I have been dragg'd before your court on the fame account; twice I have paid heavy fines, and twice have been brought to publick punishment, for want of money to pay those fines. This may have been agreeable to the laws, and I don't difputeit; but fince laws are fometimes unreasonable in themfelves, and therefore repealed, and others bear too hard on the fubject in particular circumftances; and therefore there is left a power fomewhat to dispense with the execution of them; I take the liberty to fay, that I think this law, by which I am punished, is both unreasonable in itself, and particularly fevere with regard to me, who have always lived an inoffenfive life in the neighbourhood where I was born, and defy my enemies (if I have any) to fay I ever wrong'd man, woman or child. Abstracted from the i law, I cannot conceive (may it please your honours) what the nature of my offence is. I have brought five fine, children into the world, at the rifque' of my life; I have maintain'd them well by my own induftry, without bur thening the townfhip, and would have done it better, if it had not been for the heavy charges and fines I have paid. Can it be a crime (in the nature of things I mean) to add to the number of the king's fubjects, in a new country that really wants people? I own it, I fhould think it a praife-worthy, rather than a punishable action. I have debauched no other woman's husband, nor enticed any youth; these things I never was charg'd with, nor has any one the leaft caufe of complaint against me, unlefs, perhaps, the minifter, or juftice, because I have had children without being married, by which they have miffed a wedding fee. But, can this be a fault of mine? I appeal to your honours. You are pleafed to allow I don't want fenfe; but I must be ftupefied to the laft degree, not to prefer the Ghonourable ftate of wedlock, to the condition I have lived in. Í always was, and ftill am willing to enter into it; and doubt not my behaving well in it, having all the industry, frugality, fertility, and fkill in ceconomy, appertaining to a good wife's character. I H defy any perfon to fay, I ever refufed an offer of that fort: On the contrary, I readily confented to the only propofal of marriage that ever was made me, which was when I was a virgin; but too cafily confiding in the perfon's fin cerity See Maid's Soliloquy, Jan. Mag. p. 42. * upon hufbands, when the laws take no care to provide them any; and yet feverely punish them if they do their duty without them; the duty of the firft A and great command of nature, and of nature's God, encrease and multiply: A duty, from the steady performance of which, nothing has been able to deter me; but for its fake, I have hazarded the lofs of the publick efteem, and have frequently endured publick difgrace and punishment; and therefore ought, in my humble opinion, inftead of a whipping, to have a statue erected to my memory, B Cerity that made it, I unhappily loft my Own honour, by trufting to his; for he Bot me with child, and then forfook me: That very perfon you all know; he is now become a magiftrate of this county, and I had hopes he would have appeared this day on the bench, and have endeavoured to moderate the court in my favour; then I fhould have fcorn'd to have mentioned it; but I muft now complain of it, as unjust and unequal that my betrayer and undoer, the firft caufe of all my faults and mifcarriages (if they must be deemed fuch) fhould be advanc'd to honour and power in the government, that punishes my mil fortunes with ftripes and infamy. I hould be told, 'tis like, that were there no act of affembly in the cafe, the precepts of religion are violated by my tranfgreffions. If mine is a religious offence, leave it to religious punishments. You have already excluded me from the comforts of your church communion. Is not that fufficient? You believe I have offended heaven, and mult fuffer eternal fire: Will not that be fufficient? What need is there, D then, of your additional fines and whipping? Town, I do not think as you do; for, if I thought what you call a fin, was really fuch, I could not prefumptuoufly commit it. But, how can it be believed, that heaven is angry at my having children, when to the little done by me towards it, God has been pleased to add his divine skill and admi-E rable workmanship in the formation of their bodies, and crown'd it, by furnifhing them with rational and immortal fouls? Forgive me, gentlemen, if I talk a little extravagantly on thefe matters; I am no divine, but if you, gentlemen, must be making laws, do not turn natural and ufeful actions into crimes, by your prohibitions. But take into your wife confideration the great and growing number of batchelors in the country, many of whom, from the mean fear of the expences of a family, have never fincerely and honourably courted a woman in their lives; and by their manner of living, leave unproduced (which is little better than murder) hundreds of their pofterity to the troufandth generation. Is not this a greater offence against the publick good, than mine? Compel them, then, by law, either to marriage, or to pay double the fine of fornication every year. H What nuft, poor young women do, whom custom hath forbid to folicit the mon, and who cannot force themfelves F G Mr URBAN, TH Boerhaave tells us, that one effect of fire is dilatation of all folid bodies, and particularly, that an iron bar beated, increafes in all its dimenfions. This being fo, fuppofe a rod of metal, or a glass tube laid before a fire ; the parts turn'd towards the fire being more heated, and confequently more expanded than the oppofite ones, will oblige the rod, or tube to put on the figure of a curve, convex towards the fire. Such of your ingenious readers, as will give themselves the trouble to compute the effect of this curvature in every cafe of the experiments, will, I believe, be furprized to find, how exactly every circumitance is this way accounted for. I could with pleasure enter into the detail, but am afraid of taking up too much room. I fhall only add, that it feems probable, thefe experiments may afford hints capable of being improv'd to very amufing, and even advantageous purpotes in mechanicks. March 23, 1747. I am, Yours, &c. O. S. [The Rev. and ingenious Mr Granville Wheeler, F. R. S. aligns the fame realon, in two letters to the Royal Society, printed in the Tranfa&t. Numb. 476, where he lays, that he thought he could difcern the curve or fuelS. U. ling of the tube.]. M French King's Declaration to the States General. Memorial of the Abbe DE LA VILLE, prefented to their High Mightinees the States Genera!, by the Secretary of France, April 17,1747. High and Mighty Lords, TH HE king has commanded me to communicate to your High Mightinefies the declaration, of which I have the honour to fend you the annext copy. At the fame time that you will there fee the juft motives, which have determin'd the military operations, the plan of which his majesty has at length been obliged to approve, you will there difcover alfo whit the king's intentions are with regard to the re-establishment of peace, and the true intereft of the United Prominces. The king finds himself at this time under fo much the more regret abfolutely neceffitated to continue the wa, as the territory of the republick is perhaps ready to be the theatre of it; and his majefty defires nothing more fincerely than to infpire your High Mightineffes, before it is too late, with refolutions worthy your vigilance, and the wifdom of your government. It belongs only to your High Might ineffes to prevent the dangers with which your territories are threatned; you may even yet, by taking proper precautions for the fecurity and repofe of your people, open the way to a general peace. 'Tis your confidence, and not your poffeffions, which the king feeks to obtain; and his mary will earnestly lay hold of every occafion, in a juncture fo critical, to demonftrate to your High Migh ineffes the most real effects of his efteem and affection. I have nothing to add, after executing this order of the king, but to repeat to your High Migh ineffes a tender of my profound respect, and my acknowledgement for the marks of be nevolence with which you have been pleased to honour me to this prefent, and of which I entreat you will vouchfafe the continuance. Sign'd, L'Abbe DE LA VILLE. DECLARATION communicated, by order of the juft caufe to complain of the unbounded fuccours with which the United Provinces have aflifted the Queen of Hungary, yet his majesty was not willing to confider the States General as his direct enemies. The regard which he has conftantly had for them, and the propofitions which, on different occafions, have been made to them by his minifters, are demonftrations of the fincere difpofition his majesty has always had, not only to keep the theatre of war at a diftance from the territory and neighbourhood of the United Provinces, but also to procure them the glory 5177 of contributing effectually to re-establish `peace between the powers at war. With this falutary view it was, that the king, in the month of July, 1742, entrusted with the minifters of the republick his pacifick intentions, and the juft and reafonable conditiA ons, upon which his majesty then confented to terminate the troubles with which Europe was unhappily disturbed. B E The king, not to leave any doubt concerning the purity of his intentions, and the entire confluence which he is ready to place in their High Mightineties, offer'd even to yield up Dunkirk to be garrifon'd by their troops. His majefty has conftantly from that period profeffed the fame moderation, and the fame dfire of peace, without having the confulation to infpire the United Provinces with fentiments fo agreeable to the particular interest of their republick, and the general advantage. Not content by private advances to excite the zeal of the ftates general, the king propofed to them, by a public memorial, which his minister presented to them in September 1745, the affembling of a congrefs to treat without delay on the great work of peace. In short, it was not poffible for his majefty to fhew any further teftimony of his affection and confidence for the States General, and the refpect he had for them. The fame refpect would have been ftill obferved, did not reafons of war, and the fecurity of the conquefts which his majesty has made from the Queen of Hungary, abfolutely require on his part the moft speedy and effectual precautions to guard them from the defigns of his enemies. If the republic had not afforded them an azylum in its territory, and furnish'd them with fuccours of all kinds without limitation, the king would not have found himself under an indifpenfable neceffity to interrupt the multitude of refources, for perpetuating, mangre all his efforts, a war which has already continn'd but too long. Compelled, therefore, only by these circumftances, and the conduct of the United Provin ces, his majefty has permitted the general of his forces to take indifferently all the measures F which his military skill and experience fhall fuggeft, to prevent the enemy's army from moJefting the awful poffeffion of his conquefts, and to fecure the repofe of his new fubjects. The king had been juftify'd if he had, at the beginning of the laft campaign, entered with his whole army on the territory of the States General, because they had afforded a retreat to the troops at enmity with France; but his majefty believing the fincerity of the overtures made to him to re-establish peace, fufpended the execution of an enterprize, which not only the laws of war, but the bad condition of the allied army would equally have warTanted. The king preferr'd the advantageous fentiment which he had of the candour and good faith of the republick, to the general opinion entertain'd throughout Europe, that, under the fpecious veil of negociation, its real intention was Was to procure the neceffary delays for warding off the approaching danger, and to prepare ftill greater efforts for continuing the war. Thefe fufpicions were confirmed by the diffi culties which were affectedly raised to the opening of the conferences at Breda; difficulties not only unforefeen, but contrary to the exprefs engagements made with the king; difficulties, which could have no other motive but to embarrafs more and more the negociations for peace, and prevent their success. A And that this was the motive, events have render'd but too manifeft. The troops of Holland having in 1744 enter'd on the territories of France, in the plains of Life and Cifoing, B without the States General pretending by this invafion to make direct war on the king, his majefty declares, that in this ftep, to which he is compelled, of entering the territory of the republick, his defign is not to come to a rupture with her, but only to ftop or prevent the dangerous effects of the protection which the gives to the troops of the Queen of Hungary, and the King of England. It will not be reasonable to expect that the king fhould, to his own prejudice, fhew a fcrupulous forbearance in regard to the pretended neutrality of powers acting as auxiliaries to his enemies, while they themselves exercife the greatest oppreffion against his majesty's allies, even fuch as never once exceeded the bounds of the strictest neutrality. D Nevertheless the king, to demonftrate as much as poffible what he owes to himself, together with thofe benevolent fentiments which he ftill entertains for the States General, has exprefsly enjoined the commandant of his army to take care that the French troops, entering on the territories of the United Provinces, fhall obferve the ftriéteft difcipline, and regulate E their operations only from neceffity. His majefly, far from inclining to give any difturbance to the religion, the government, or to the commerce of the republic, is,on the contraTy,difpofed to grant all protection to the fubjects of the States General, his majefty being perfuaded that their conduct will be answerable to his fo favourable intentions. F Laftly, to give a more convincing teftimony of the fincerity of his majefty's defign, which is only directed to fruftrate the evil difpofition of his enemies, and to overcome their inflexibility to all propofals for accommodation, his majesty declares, that he will confider the places and countries, he shall be obliged to take poffeffion of for his own fecurity, no otherwife than a pledge, which he promises to restore, as foon G as the United Provinces fhall give convincing proofs that they will no longer furnish to the enemies of his crown fuccours of any kind, which are one of the principal causes of the continuance of the war. The king defires only the establishment of the publick tranquillity, upon juft and folid foundations; and the interest which his maje H fty takes in the fafety and happiness of the States General caufes him to behold, with regret,that they perfift in facrificing to certain fo reign confiderations, and unjust prejudicos, their treasures, their troops, their poffeffions, their tranquillity, and perhaps the form of their government. On FEMALE EDUCATION. `SIR, Mellays, have been wrote on the fubject of education; and if they had met with the wifh'd for fuccefs, it would have been needless to have faid a word more; however, my mite is at the fervice of the ladies, the fafhion of whofe drefs I fhall not meddle with, but confine my pen entirely to the topic of education. By education then I mean a teaching young minds thofe things, which, by without which they would be wholly nature, they have no idea of, and unbiaffed. Education naturally has a tendency to fome particular end,and reafon tells us that end fhould be the good of the perfon taught, which must be determined by the fame reason, whereever there is no better light to guide us. Confider we then the prefent method of educating of our daughters abstractedly from our duties as Chriftians; and let us with all gentleness fee, whether the pretty creatures are not unhappily biaffed, to theirs, and their future families misfortunes, through the mistakes of their parents, by that very education, which reafon tells us fhould be the greatest preservative against their making a wrong judgment of things. Gay as our prefent race of females are, they would be fhock'd fhould we pretend to doubt they hoped to fee their daughters lead the lives of virtuous wives; no lefs would it shock them (as indeed it ought) fhould we fuppofe them capable of feeing with unconcern the ruin of their children; but greater ftill would be their trouble, fhould we prove them the authors of their childrens future misfortunes. Whilft we are in this world, there must be different ranks of men, and fome by birth, and others by fortune, will have a fuperiority over the rest of mankind; but let us be great, or let us be little, decency requires we should play the part allotted; and 'tis as ridiculous in real life, for inferiors to ape their fuperiors, as it is in the footman on the ftage to mimick the fine gentleman, his mafter. But is not the fame done in real life? Are not our daugh ters |