1751. Polarity of the Compass the arch, formed by their general figure, was elevated about 8°. From the care and dexterity of my friend, and the nature of the inftrument, I doubt not but these obfer vations are true within a few mi

nutes.

destroy'd by Lightning.

75

Nor is this merely matter of fpeculation; for I lately faw a dozen of four pound rockets fired; the greatest part of which took up near 14" in their afcent, and were totally obfcured in a cloud near 9 or 10' A of the time; fo that the moment of their bursting was only obfervable by a fudden glimmering thro' the clouds: And as thefe rockets, daring the time they were visible, were far from moving with a languid motion, I cannot but conceive, that B the extraordinary time of their afcent must have been attended by a very unusual rife. (See London Magazine for 1749, p. 212.)

The diftance of this ftation from the building in the Green Park is 4000 yards, according to the last great map of London: And hence it appears, that the customary height, to which the fingle, or honorary rockets, as they are ftiled, afcended, was near 440 yards: That three of thefe rofe 526 yards; and that the greateft height of any of thofe fired in the grand girandole, was about 615 yards: All reckoned above the level of the place of obfervation, which I esteem to be near C 25 yards higher than the Green Park, and little lefs than 15 yards below the chefts, whence the great flight of rockets was difcharged.

It feems then, there are rockets which rife 600 yards from the place whence they are difcharged: And D this being more than a third part of a mile, it follows, that if their light be fufficiently ftrong, and the air be not hazy, they may be feen in a level country at above 50 miles distance.

The obfervations on the fingle rockets are fufficiently confonant to fome experiments I made myself: For I found that feveral fingle pound rockets went to various heights between 450 and 500 yards, the altitude of the highest being extremely near this laft number, and the time of their afcent usually short of 7".

But tho' from all thefe trials it fhould feem as if good rockets of all fizes had their heights limited between 400 and 600 yards; yet I am difpofed to believe, that they may be made to reach much greater diftances. This I in fome degree collect from the nature of their compofition, and the ufual imperfect manner of forming them.

E

A Letter from Captain John Waddell, to Mr. Naphthali Franks, Merchant, concerning the Effects of Lightning in defroying the Polarity of a Mariners Compass.

thip Dover, bound from NewN Jan. 9, 1748-9, the new

York to London, being then in lat. 47° 30' north, and longitude 22° 15' weft, from London, met with a very hard ftorm of wind, attended with thunder and lightning, as ufual, moft part of the evening, and fundry very large comazants (as we call them) over-head, fome of which fettled on the fpintles at the top-maft heads, which burnt like very large torches; and at 9 p. m. a fingle loud clap of thunder with lightning ftruck the fhip in a violent manner, which difabled myself, and great part of the fhip's company, in the eyes and limbs; it ftruck the main-maft about up almoft half thro', and ftove the upper deck one carling, and quick-work; part of which lightning got in between decks, ftarted off the bulk-head, drove down all the cabbins on one fide of the steerage, ftove the lower deck, and one of the lower deck G main lodging-knees.

Another part of it went thro' the ftarboard fide, without any hurt to the ceiling (or infide plank); and K-2 ftarted

76

Tradefcant's Garden at LAMBETH.

ftarted off from the timbers four outfide planks, being the whale upwards; one of which planks, being the fecond from the whale, was

broke quite afunder, and let in, it

about 10 or 15 minutes time, 9 feet water in the fhip.

A

Feb.

Some Account of the Remains of John
Tradefcant's Garden at Lambeth.
By Mr. W. Watson, F. R. S.
Tradefeant's garden at South-
TPON a vifit made to Mr. John
Lambeth, May 21, 1749, by Dr.
Mitchell and myself, were obferved
the under mentioned exotick plants.

It also drew the virtue of the loadftone from all the compaffes, being four in number, all in good This garden was planted by the order before, one in a brass and above-mentioned gentleman about three in wooden boxes. The hang- 120 years fince, and was, except ing compafs in the cabbin was not that of Mr. John Gerard, the author quite fo much difabled as the reft; B of the Herbal, probably the firft bothey were at firft very near reverfed, tanical garden in England. The the north to the fouth; and after a founder, after many years fpent in little while rambled about fo as to the service of the lord treasurer Salif. be of no service. The ftorm lafted bury, lord Wotton, &c. travelled five days, we loft our main-maft and feveral years, and procured a great mizen-maft, and almost all our fails; variety of plants and feeds, before arrived at Cowes, Jan. 21, in a very C not known in England; to feveral fhattered condition. of which at this time the gardners give his name, as a mark of diftincMr. Gowin Knight, having made tion; as, Tradefcant's spiderwort, fome remarks on one of thefe com- Tradefcant's after, Tradefcant's dafpaffes, which was fhewn to the fodil. He first planted here the Royal Society, concludes thus: Cupreffus Americanus acacia foliis deFrom what has been faid it appears, D ciduis, which has been since so much that this form of needles is very im efteemed, and is now one of the great proper, and ought to be changed for, ornaments of the duke of Argyll's that of one ftrait piece of feel; garden at Witton. and then if a needle fhould be inverted, it might still be used. It alfo fhews the abfurdity of permitting iron of any kind about the E compass-box, or the binacle. Whoever confiders the whole defcription of this compass, I am perfuaded, he will efteem it a moft despicable inftrument: How then muft any one be shocked to hear, that almost all the compaffes, made ufe of by our F trading veffels, are of the fame fort! the boxes all joined with iron wire, and the fame degree of accuracy obferved throughout the whole!

This I am credibly informed, is the cafe; and that for no other reafon, but that one of this fort may be purchased for 5s. and it will coft about 2s. 6d. more to buy a tolerable good' So that the lives and fortunes of thoufands are every day hazarded for fuch a trifling confideration.

one.

G

Mr. Tradefcant's garden has now been many years totally neglected, and the house belonging to it empty and ruined; and tho' the garden is quite covered with weeds, there remain among them manifeft footsteps of its founder. We found there the Borrago latifolia fempervirens of C. B. Polygonatum vulgare latifolium C. B. Ariftolochia clematitis recta C. B. and Dracontium Dod. There are yet remaining two trees of the Arbutus, the largest I have feen which, from their being fo long ufed to our winters, did not fuffer by the fevere colds of 1729 and 1740, when most of their kind were killed throughout England. In the orchard there is a tree of the Rhamnus catharticus, about 20 feet high, and near a foot in diameter, by much the greatest I ever faw.

1751.

Character of a YOUNG LADY, &c.

It is not unlikely but there may be feveral other plants yet remaining in the garden, but flourishing at a different time of the year.

We were defired by one of our Cor refpondent's, to infert the following A true Character of a young Lady of bis Acquaintance,

I

T is true, that Cælia's face is fair as woman's can be, but her foul is an entire ftranger to virtue.

She knows not that excellent rule animum rege, nor has fhe the leaft B command over her paffions; they rufh forwards with an unlimited fway, like a headstrong horfe, that has thrown his rider, and got the reins in his own power.

C

77

wife fayings and obfervations on particular occafions, &c. &c. &c.

2. If, when you are out of breath, one of the company should feize the opportunity of faying fomething'; watch his words, and, if poffible, find fomewhat either in his fentiment or expreffion, immediately to contradict and raise a dispute upon. Rather than fail, criticise even his grammar.

3. If another should be faying an indifputably good thing; either give no attention to it; or interrupt him; or draw away the attention of others; or, if you can guess what he would be at, be quick and fay it before him; or, if he gets it faid, and you perceive the company pleafed with it, own it to be a good thing, but withal remark that it had been faid

Inftead of a courteous, affable, and winning behaviour, her mind is ftocked with nothing but pettish huby Bacon, Locke, Bayle, or fome mours and abfurd morofity.

When the receives a favour from any one, it is with fuch coldness and indifferency, that I really think, it is loft labour to confer any upon her.

She is enamoured with drowsiness D and infenfibility, and too often burys her faculties in the fepulchre of idlenefs.

other eminent writer; thus you deprive him of the reputation he might have gained by it, and gain fome yourself, as you hereby fhow your great reading and memory.

4.

When modeft men have been thus treated by you a few times, they will chufe ever after to be filent in your company; then you may fhine on without fear of a rival; rallying them at the fame time for

dullness, which will be to you a new fund of wit.

Far be it from me, to speak any thing either thro' hatred, or contempt of this lady; the only motivetheir which induced me to write this E character, was my earnest defire of contributing fomewhat towards her reformation.

MEANWELL.

RULES for a Man of Wit and Learning to make himself a dif- F agreeable Companion.

7OUR bufinefs is to fhine; there

Yfore you muft by all means

prevent the fhining of others; for their brightness may make yours the lefs diftinguished. To this end,

1. If poffible, engrofs the whole G difcourfe; and when other matter fails, talk much of your-felf, your education, your knowledge, your cir

Thus you will be fure to please yourself. The polite man aims at pleafing others, but you fhall go be. yond him even in that. A man can be prefent only in one company, but may at the fame time be abfent to twenty. He can please only where he is, you wherever you are not.

There has already been fo much faid on the Subject of Chanting, in our Mag. for laft Year, p. 363, 462, 507, that we hope our Correfpendent will excufe us for inferting only the Conclufion of his fourth Letter, which is as follows.

S nobody can be fond of chant

cumstances, your fucceffes in business, Aing for the fake of praying.

your victories in difputes, your own

nel

78

MATHEMATICAL QUESTIONS Jolved. Feb.

neither can one, because he is a lover of
finging-for tho' it is bad reading, it is
not ever the more good finging, but there
is "juft enough of finging in it, to spoil the
reading, and just enough of reading to
fpoil the finging; that we may aptly apply
to it Cæfar's remark on one who delivered

himself with improper emphafis, and mo- A
dulation of voice, Si cantat, male cantas,
filegis, cantas. — -When our Blessed Lord
tanght his difciples to pray, his inftructions
were, When ye pray, fay,—and I dare
anfwer for it, it never was in his thoughts
to have that most perfect and excellent
prayer which he taught them, fung. Add,
as what is above all not to be evaded, that

of chanting, for the greater folemnity and awfulness of reading the fervice, in that it is not chanted in cathedrals themselves, but, read, on the Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent, and in all Paffion-week. Why then do we overlook fuch obvious and weighty confiderations, and in defiance of them, continue a practice, which only expofes us, and prejudices our prayers; furely every thing which concerns their perfection claims our utmoft regard.-Before thou prayeft, prepare thyfelf, and be not as one that tempteth the Lord. Et ipfius eft oratio perfecta, cujus & caufa clamar, & lingua, & actus, & ferme, & vita, &

we have the conceffion of the very patrons Bogitatio .

. Luke xi. 2.

+ Caffiodore, in Pfal. xvii.

ANSWER to the Queftion in NAVIGATION, in November laf, P.514.

N. B. That A is the port they failed from, A B the merchant ship's courfe, A C the man of war's course, and B C the diftance between them: The merchant ship's courfe and dif tance is N. N. E. 112, and the man of war's course and diftance is N. E. by E. 119 miles, and the distance between them is 67 miles or minutes, and the man of war is bacicule 43 5 north.

ANSWER to the QUESTION in November laft, p. 486.

THE weight of the piece of marble is = 107,749 558 times the weight of the bell.
See these two Questions more largely answered in our laft, p. 29.

Declaration of the Emprefs-Queen to the Dyet
of the Empire, concerning the Election of a
King of the Romans

S foon the king of Great Britain,

A after his arrival at Hanover, had

made to the emprefs-queen the firft over- G
ture of his defign to intereft himself in
the election of a king of the Romans, in
favour of her imperial majefty's eldest
fon the arcliduke Joseph, the empress in-

timated, as in juftice the ought, how grateful the was for the care that prince took of the advantage of her archducal-house. She alfo fignified in the most pofitive manper, and in writing, that being animated by the fame falutary views as his Britan nick majefty, fhe, would proceed in this affair no otherwife than according to the contents of the golden bull, the observance of which is held fo facred in the empire, and according to the tenor of the fecond

para.

1751. EMPRESS QUEEN'S DECLARATION.

paragraph of the 3d article of the reigning emperor's capitulation; being refolved to lend a hand towards this arrangement, no farther than it should not be contrary to the pragmatick fanction, nor prejudicial to the rights of a third perfon, nor repugnant to the prefent fundamental conftitution of the empire.

Hitherto the empress has conftantly prac tifed this maxim' and will as invariably adhere to it hereafter. Her imperial majefty has opened herself in a preliminary way, and with confidence, to fuch of the electors of the empire as had beforehand declared themselves to be in the fame fentiments as "the king of Great-Britain. She did not addrefs herself to them by formal requifi. tions, which, in fuch a cafe, ought to have been common to the other electors, but contented herself with caufing verbal overtures to be made to them, as the has alfo done to fome other courts.

The emprefs, in agreeing fo eafily to this propofition, has been induced thereto by the powerful motive of maintaining the tranquillity of our dear country, Germany. She confidered, that its repofe would be thereby the better fecured against any at tempts either foreign or domestick. This object, the chief of all her cares, has ever prevailed over all other confiderations. All her views, all her intentions have had refpect thereto. Her efforts for confolidating the publick tranquillity, have kept pace with her attention and care to give no umbrage nor jealousy herself to any one; and to prevent others, as far as lay in her power, from giving any.

In thefe difpofitions her imperial majesty was not willing to have caufe to reproach herself with not having known the full value and dignity of king of the Romans, or with having fhewn herself indifferent about a thing which cannot but infinitely contribute to the common repofe, if the principles on which the propofes to frame her conduct be not departed from.

A

79

pieces he had published against the treaty, and against the election. Moreover, in the various cafes that have happened in the courfe of 200 years and upwards, the treaty of Cadan never was mentioned or called in quefton. And therefore the emprefs refts affured, that pretexts of this nature are very far from the laudable and judicious way of thinking of the electors of the empire,

Her imperial majefty is fenfible how important it is to ftick to the difpofition of the 8th article of the treaty of Weftphalia, in what concerns the election of a king of the Romans. She is not ignorant, that it was in conformity to this article, that the Belectors and states of the empire entered into an agreement amongst themselves as Ratisbon, in 1671, the effential tenor of which is inferted in the 2d paragraph of the 3d article of the imperial capitulation. She is therefore ftill perfuaded, as the has always been, that they cannot proceed with more fafety in this affair, than by conforming to the terms of the one and

the other.

The emprefs-queen, as first secular electress of the empire, knows the obliga tion which that quality lays her under to defend the prerogatives of the electoral college. She acknowledges herfelf equally bound to take care that no encroachments be made on the prerogatives of the colD lege of princes, in which her imperial majefty has the co-directorship. She has always been, and ftill is folicitous to prevent, as far as lies in her power, divisions among the members of the empire, not fo much on account of the interefts of her archducal house, as in confideration of the confequences which these fatal divifions are attended with, in prejudice of the publick good and the intereft of every member in particular.

She is not ignorant of what happened in former times, when Ferdinand the first was elected king of the Romans. She confiders at the fame time, that there may F be found in the empire fome of those turbulent fpirits, who making it their study to darken the cleareft truths, and to imbitter by every kind of artifice the most innocent things, would make a handle of the treaty of Cadan to raise obstacles to the affair in question. Nothing but paffion or malignity can move them thereto. It is well known, that the tranfaction at Spire, made in 44, pofterior to the treaty of Cadan, did invalidate that treaty ; and that the then elector of Saxony did engage to call in and deliver up all the

5

The welfare of the country, and the principal advantage of the two first colleges of the empire, depend on their mutual union. Nothing appears more defirable to the empress, than to labour to confolidate this union by removing every cause of difcord. She judges that this end cannot be more esfily attained, than by conforming, in the cafes that require it, to the rules formerly practifed. Every innovation in the empire muft needs create a ferment, and a ferment is commonly fol lowed by diforder.

Thefe being the emprefs's real fentiGments, her imperial majesty will continue to profefs them conftantly; being perfuaded, that as they are agreeable to the fundamental laws of the Germanick body, they cannot but be likewise conformable to the way of thinking of the electors and other