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ven be like that of Agur, "Give me neither poverty nor riches." Delivered from the difficulties and hardfhips of the one, and unembarraffed with the incumbrances and perplexities of the other, thou wilt live in comfort and fatisfaction, and thy days will glide on in a pleafing ferenity. Never imagine temporal things to be permapent, let thine own' mind limit their duration. Viciflitudes unexpected may turn back the wheels of profperity; and changes fudden as the whirlwinds of the defert, deftroy all thy pleafing hopes of a long continued fucceffion of delights. Place not, therefore, thy felicity on fleeting objects, nor ftretch out thine hands to grasp at fhadows. Build not thy joys on an aerial foundation, nor place thy hopes on the phantoms of a waking dream. Prepare for misfortunes, and keep thyself always ready to war with adverfity. Every thing in nature may be justly confidered as an inftructive leffon of our own mortality. Life has its fpring, its fummer, its autumn, and its winter. Many find a paffage from the first to the grave; but those who survive both the fummer and the autumn, muft inevitably fall beneath the chilling blas of winter; and the frozen hand of death will open for them the dreary portals of the tomb. Remember, my fon, we are all bound on a voy age to eternity, and that the paffage is difficult and full of dangers; let us therefore be remarkably care

ful, left the current of profperity fhould carry our little barks into the eddies of pleasure, and they be fwallowed up by the whirlpools of vice, or beaten to pieces on the rocks of despair. The merchant, animated with the hopes of riches, traverfes the burning lands of the Arabian waftes, to fetch the choice productions of the east; but what are all the golden treasures of Indoftan, the pearls of Ormus, or the diamonds of Golconda, when compared with the permanent riches which crown the toils and fufferings of a chriftian? What perfon, therefore, would neglect fuch glorious profpects, becaufe a few boifterous winds and adverfe blafts may attend his paffage; furely he is undeferving of fuch glorious treasures, who is afraid to hazard a few momentary and perifhing trifles, for joys of fuch intrinfic value and eternal duration. Purfue now, my son, thy journey in peace; and, when by the favour of the Almighty thou haft reached the land of thy nativity, and fitteft at eafe in the habitation of thy fathers, engrave thefe precepts on the table of thy memory, and make them the conftant fubject of thy thoughts; for then halt thou fecurely tread the paths of virtue, and defire, rather than fear, the approach of the king of terrors. Thou halt fmile at misfortunes, and under the weighty hand of adversity, remember with pleafure the aged inhabitant of Lebanon.

To the Authors of the BRITISH MAGAZINE.

GENTLEMEN,

An obfcure Paffage in MILTON explained.

Among the few over-fights charged out as extremely abfurd, as well ed on the author of Paradife as contrary to fyntax. That the Loft, the following has been point- reader may form a true judgment of 3Q 2

the

the matter, I will tranfcribe the whole fentence. It is in the fecond book, in that beautiful episode of Sin and Death, when Satan first approaches them:

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Satan was now at hand, and from his feat [fat The monster moving, onward came as With horrid ftrides: hell trembled as he Atrode. [mir'd; Th' undaunted fiend whatthis might be, adAdmir'd, not fear'd; God and his Son except, Created thing nought valued he, nor fhunn'd.

I believe it is needlefs to fay that the latter part is the fubject of this cavil. The commentators (I think, all of them) fay, that Milton has joined God and his fon fo infeparably with created beings, that the fenfe is robbed of its perfpicuity.Addifon feems clearly of this opinion, for he begins his quotation with

God and his Son except, &c.

error of the prefs, than a blunder
or inadvertency of the author. To.
prove what I affert, let the words not
and nought change places, alter
the pointing, and the fentence is, in
my opinion, not only very clear, but
even the fuperiority of the Deity
fully acknowledged:

Th'undaunted fiend what this might be,
admir'd;
[cept
Admir'd, nought fear'd, God and his Son ex
Created thing not valued he nor fhunn'd.

I do not remember to have seen this paffage thus explained. If I am fingular herein, I am far from obtruding my opinion as entirely right I only mean to ask the admirers of that great writer, Whether it be not confiftent with common good manners, as well as the reve rence we owe his memory, to trace a thoufand channels for errors which have crept into this divine poem, rather than precipitately to charge them on the negligence or want of

Now what I would infinuate is, judgment of the author? that I fhould rather think this an

GENTLEMEN,

I am, Your's, &c.

To the Authors of the BRITISH MAGAZINE.

IN the courfe of experiments which I was making, I had occafion of mixing clay with a large quantity of water in a ciftern

After the water and clay had remained thus mixed for fome weeks, I rafted the water before it should be thrown out, and found it fweet and well flavoured. On this I ftirred them, to find whether any putrid french might rife from the bottom, but was agreeably furprifed to find that the whole was equally fweet.

I now refolved to keep it longer,

in order to see what effects time might have on the mixture, and, if my memory ferves me right, repeated the tastings and ftirrings for feveral months, with equal fuccefs, though fome part of the time was fummer, during which I expected that the water would have become highly putrid.

I communicated this difcovery to the fociety for the encouragement of arts, &c.

The fociety paid the regard to the communication which so important a matter deferved.

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It was referred to the committee of chemistry, with orders to make what experiments fhould feem to them requifite, to determine a point fo neceffary to the welfare of numbers; as many difeafes are known to take their rise from putrid water. I shall not take upon me to relate the judicious fteps taken by the committee in this matter, not having attended their meetings. I fall only, in general, inform you, that the whole was confirmed by the report of the committee.

Here is then a very eafy means whereby every cottager has it in his power conftantly to ufe fweet and wholefome water.

It is no more than mixing with water a quantity of common clay, fufficient to take off its tranfparen-. cy, fo far as that the hand held just

under the furface fhall not appear through it.

It is of no great confequence tothe farmer, or labourer, by what quality in the clay this falutary change is effected, if they enjoy the benefit arising from it.

If I may venture my opinion, I think, the clay acts only as a fubftance of exceeding fmall particles, which being diffufed through the minute interftices between the particles, of water, adhere, by their clamminess, to every animal or vegetable fubftance they meet with, and carry them to the bottom.

I fhall not enter here into the great naval purpofes to which this difcovery may be applied, leaving that to the Author himself, or to fome better pen.

I am, your's, &c.

Account of a remarkable Decrease of the River EDEN in Cumberland.

From the PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS.

IN the night between the twentyeighth and twenty-ninth of December last, the river Eden, at Armathwaite, fell at least two feet perpendicular. The decrease of the water was fo fudden, that feveral trouts and young lampreys had not time to fave themselves, but were found the next morning frozen to death. Of the former eye-witneffes can speak to fifteen, of the latter two hundred, all which were found in the extent of no more than forty yards. And feveral dozens of young lampreys were easily taken up alive, by the hand, in the fhallows. The

fuddennefs of the water's' decrease may be so far ascertained, as follows: The miller of Armathwaite-mill left off grinding at twelve o'clock that

night, there being then fufficient

water to work the mill. He went to the mill the next morning at fix, and there was not then water enough to turn the wheel round. It hath not been known, that the river Eden was ever so low at this place, by a foot, in the dryeft fummer. The water continued in this ftate till about eleven o'clock in the morning of the 29th, and then gradually increased (no rain or fnow falling) till about one in the afternoon, by which time it had risen about a foot perpendicular.

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I fhall only obferve to you, that there was a moft intenfe froft that night, and a strong wind varying from the north-eaft to the fouth

eaft; and that the river runs here from fouth-weft to north-east. I am, Sir, Yours, &c. WILLIAM MILBOURN.

An Account of the Success of the Bark of the Willow in the Cure of Agues. In a Letter to the Right Honourable George Earl of Macclesfield, President of R. S. from the Rev. Mr. Edmund Stone, of Chipping-Norton in Oxfordshire. -From the Philofophical Tranfactions.

(Read before the Royal Society, June 2d, 1763.)

A Mong the many useful difcove

ries which this age hath made, there are very few which better deferve the attention of the public than what I am going to lay before your lordship.

There is a bark of an English tree, which I have found by experience to be a powerful aftringent, and very efficacious in curing aguifh and intermitting diforders.

About fix years ago, I accidentally tafted it, and was furprifed at its extraordinary bitterness; which immediately raised in me a fufpicion of its having the properties of the Peruvian bark. As this tree delights in a moift or wet foil, where agues chiefly abound, the general maxim, that many natural maladies carry their cures along with them, or that their remedies lie not far from their causes, was so very appofite to this particular cafe, that I could not help applying it; and that this might be the intention of Providence here, I muft own had fome little weight with me.

The exceffive plenty of this bark furnished me, in my fpeculative difquifitions upon it, with an argument both for and against these imaginary qualities of it; for, on one hand, as intermittents are very common, it was reasonable to fuppofe,

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that what was defigned for their

cure, fhould be as common and as easy to be procured. But then, on the other hand, it feemed probable, that, if there was any confiderable virtue in this bark, it must have been discovered from its plenty. My curiofity prompted me to look into the difpenfatories and books of botany, and examine what they faid concerning it; but there it existed only by name. I could not find, that it hath, or ever had, any place in pharmacy, or any fuch qualities, as 1 fufpected afcribed to it by the botanilts.

However, I determined to make fome experiments with it; and, for this purpose, I gathered that fummer near a pound weight of it, which I dryed in a bag, upon the outfide of a baker's oven, for more than three months, at which time it was to be reduced to a powder, by pounding and fifting after the manner that other barks are pulverized.

It was not long before I had an opportunity of making a trial of it; but, being an entire stranger to its nature, I gave it in very small quantities, I think it was about twenty grains of the powder at a dofe, and repeated it every four hours between the fits; but with great caution and the strictest attention to its effects =

the

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the fits were confiderably abated, but did not entirely ceafe. Not perceiving the leaft ill-confequences, I grew bolder with it, and in a few days encreased the dofe to two fcruples, and the ague was foon removed,

It was then given to feveral others with the fame fuccefs; but I found it better answered the intention, when a dram of it was taken every four hours in the intervals of the paroxyfms.

I have continued to use it as a remedy for agues and intermitting diforders for five years fucceffively and fuccefsfully. It hath been given I believe to fifty perfons, and never failed in the cure, except in a few autumnal and quartan agues, with which the patients had been long and feverely afflicted; thefe it reduced in a great degree, but did not wholly take them off; the patient, at the ufual time for the return of his fit, felt fome fmattering of his diftemper, which the inceffant repetition of these powders could not conquer: it feemed as if their power could reach thus far and no farther, and I did fuppofe that it would not have long continued to reach fo far, and that the distemper would have foon returned with its priftine violence; but I did not stay to see the iffue: I added one fifth part of the Peruvian bark to it, and with this fmall auxiliary it totally routed its adverfary. It was found neceffary likewife, in one or two obftinate cafes, at other times of the year, to mix the fame quantity of that bark with it; but thefe were cafes where the patient went abroad imprudently, and caught cold, as a poft-chaife boy did, who, being almoft recovered from an inveterate tertian ague, would follow his bufinefs, by which

means he not only neglected his powders, but, meeting with bad weather, renewed his diftemper.

One fifth part was the largeft and indeed the only proportion of the quinquina made ufe of in this compofition, and this only upon extraordinary occafions: the patient was never prepared, either by vomiting, bleeding, purging, or any medicines of a fimilar intention, for the reception of this bark, but he entered upon it abruptly and immediately, and it was always given in powders, with any common vehicle, as water, tea, fmall-beer, and fuch like. This was done purely to afcertain its effects; and that I might be affured the changes wrought in the patient could not be attributed to any other thing: though, had there been a due preparation, the moft obftinate intermittents would probably have yielded to this bark without any foreign affiftance and, by all I can judge from five years experience of it upon a number of perfons, it appears to be a powerful absorbent, aftringent, and febrifuge in intermitting cafes, of the fame nature and kind with the Peruvian bark, and to have all its properties, tho' perhaps not always in the fame degree.

:

It feems likewise to have this additional quality, viz. to be a fafe medicine; for I never could perceive the leaft ill effect from it, though it had been always given without any preparation of the patient.

The tree, from which this bark is taken, is filed by Ray, in his Synopfis, Salix alba vulgaris, the common white Willow. Hæc omnium nobis cognitarum maxima eft, et in fatis craflam et proceram Arborem adolefcit.

It is called in thefe parts, by the

common

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