APHOR. IV. Aphorifms of Arbatel. Be obedient to good admonitions : avoid all procraftination: accuftom thyfelf to conftancy and gravity both in thy words and deeds. Refift the temptations of the tempter, by the word of God. Flee from earthly things; feek after heavenly things. Put no confidence in thy own wisdom ; but look unto God in all things, according to that fentence of the fcrip tures: "When we know not what we fhall do, unto thee, O God, do we lift up our eyes, and from thee we expect our help.” For when all human refuges do forfake us, there will the help of God fhine forth, according to the faying of Philo. 143 pfalmift, "Not unto us, Lord, not untə us, but unto thy name give the glory. The fecond Septinary. APHOR. VIII. Even as the fcripture teftifies, that God appointed names to things or perfons, and alfo with them hath distributed certain powers and offices out of his treasures: fo the characters and names of ftars have not any power by reason of their figure or pronunciation, but by reason of the virtue or office which God hath ordained by nature either to fuch a name or character. For there is no power either in heaven or on earth, or hell, which doth not defcend from God; and without his permiffion, they can neither give or draw forth into any action, any thing they have. APHOR. IX. That is the chiefeft wildom, which is from God; and next that which is in fpiritual creatures; afterwards in corpo. ral creatures, fourthly in nature, and natural things. The fpirits that are apoftate, and referved to the laft judgment, do follow thefe, after a long interval. Sixthly, the minifters of pu nifhments in hell, and the obedient unto God. Seventhly, the Pigmies do not poffefs the lowest place, and they who inhabit in elements, and elementary things. It is convenient therefore to know and difcern all differences of the wildom of the Creator, and the creatures, that it may be certainly manifeft unto us, what we ought to arfume to our use of every thing, and that we may know in truth how and in what manner that may be done. For truly every creature is ordained for fome profitable end to human nature, and for the fervice thereof; as the holy Scriptyres, reafon, and experience, do tellify APHOR X. God the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth, and of all things vifible and invifible, in the holy fcrip tur 144 Predictions for January. 1 tures propofeth himself to have an eye APHOR. XI. A number of four is Pythagorical, and the first Quedrade; therefore here let us place the foundation of all wif. dom, after the wisdom of God revealed in the holy fcriptures, and to the confideration propofed in nature. Appoint therefore to him who folely dependeth upon God, the wisdom of every creature to ferve and obey him, nolens volens, willing, or unwilling. And in this, the omnipotency of God fhineth forth. It confifteth therefore in this, that we will discern the creatures which ferve us, from those that are un willing; and that we may learn how to accommodate the wifdom and office of every creature unto ourselves. This art is not delivered, but divinely. Unto whom God will, he revealeth his fecrets; but to whom he will not beftow any thing out of his treafuries, that perfon fhall attain to nothing without the will of God. Beware that ye Therefore we ought truly to defire from God alone, which will mercifully impart these things unto us. For he who hath given us his fon, and commanded us to pray for his holy fpirit, how much more will he fubject unto us, the whole creature, and things vifible and invifible? whatsoever ye afk, ye fhall receive. do not abufe the gifts of God, and all things fhall work together unto you for your falvation. And before all things be watchful in this, that your names be written in heaven; this is more light, that the fpirits be obedi. ent unto you, as Chrift admonifheth. (To be continued.) ASTROLOGICAL NOTICES FOR JANUARY, FROM THE NEW MOON ON CHRISTMAS HOW well our short sketch of the winter folftice has already been fulfilled, it is fuperfluous to point out: the newspapers are crowded with an unufual number of "total loffes at fea," and of perfons" miffing their road." The piratical State of Algiers has denounced war against Sweden, and the Emperor of Morocco recommenced it against Spain. I can, indeed, only name one ship burned, from the newspapers, but, depend upon it, there will be more foon. On the prefent new moon, I fay not new great events will arife, but old will run on to their end-the fails were before given to the wind-the gale is ftrong-return to port impracticable. I fpeak of the world and of MORNING. nations, as well as of matters put in agitation by individuals. Kings will be privately tormented and confpicuoufly impotent and fhamed. Women will be fhamed too, and fubject to men. The common people martial, and melancholy, and wicked. The Government of England will be ftrong of Aufria dejected. The HEAD of Sweden drowned cruelly. The Turks from an. intimate union with France, will civilize faft-They will aid each other, and afterwards the Russians and Swedes will join the alliance. Spain will gradually come to. Some would-be defpots will be whipt foundly, and held to naked fhame and heavy punishment. [ 145 ] PHILOSOPHICAL AMUSEMENTS. PAPER V. A Take-In. a room full of company, keep both your hands close to his wings, and hold them tight; put him on a table, and Tomake a Perfon tired, or fweat, at carry-point his beak down as ftrait as poffi ing a fmall Stick out of a Room. MOST amufements become more agreeable as they appear more infignificant at the firft, and become more laughable in the end: give a stick into the hands of any perfon, fuppofe not thicker than a pea in circumference, or three inches in length, and tell him you will lay any wager, that he shall not carry it out of the room a foot from the door without sweating, being tired, or complaining that his back aches; this the perfon (not knowing your intention) no doubt will laugh at, and readily accept the bet: as foon as you have made the ftake fure, take a knife and cut off a little bit, fo fmall you can ble, and then let any one draw a line with a piece of chalk, directly from his beak, and all the noife you can poffibly make, with drums, trumpets, or even the crowing of other cocks, will not disturb him from the feeming lethargy, which that pofition you have laid him in, with the chalked line, has effected. Strange as this is, yet the certainty of it is past a doubt, as many gentlemen who have, ere this, fported fome hundreds on the royal turf, have aflured us, they have tried the experiment, and declare it to be a fact. played with a Fowl. hardly fee it, and bid him carry that The Cambridge Scholar, or a comical Trick at firft, and then give him another and if he thinks proper to abide by the wager, you may, by this means, make him go fome thousands of times; but fooner than proceed to the end of the experiment, it is a thoufand to one, but he owns he has loft; for it might be fo managed, by the fmallnefs of the pieces cut, the little tick might find him employment for a fortnight. A droll Trick with a Cock., BIRDS, and animals, it is very well known, are poffefied of wonderful faculties; and may be taught to perform wonderful things: this is evident from recent circumftances: Mr. Pinchbeck's learned dog and bird are fufficient proofs to establish this beyond all other arguments. Among the many things practifed on, and with the feathered race, this of the cock is not the least particular. Take a cock from rooft at night, or off its walk by day, and bring him inte VOL. I. A Perfon who was rather put to it for money, fet his wits to work how to obtain a little of that neceflary commodity; he carvaffed over a number of things in his mind, and at last hit upon the following expedient. He had got a young cock, which he had brought up to do almoft whatever. he pleafed (that is, as far as the nature of the bird would allow) it would lay down as dead, with his head tucked under its wing, and lie in that manner as long as he thought proper. This cock he ftripped all the feathers from, as they do geefe in Lincolnfhire, and fet the cryer to work, informing the gentlemen, ftudents, &c. (for it was at Cambridge) that at fuch an hour in the evening he would exhibit a roafted fowl, which, as foon as attempted to be cut up, fhould rife out of the dish, and fly away with the fork ftuck in it. (To be concluded in our next.) T Inge Ingenious method of throwing a Ring out of a window, in a dark night, and causing it to be found in a Gentleman's Pocker, or Sleeve, as performed by Herman Boaz. minate one to the right and the other to the left, of two different doors, the firft tube answers to the middle door. If the ball is required to come out of the right hand door, the confederate pushes a lever to open the first valve, which the ball muft meet in its defcent; without falling, by its own gravity, inthis being open, the ball cannot país into the door at the right hand. If the to the fecond tube, which conveys it derate, with the aitance of another left hand door be required, the confelever, opens the fecond valve, and the ball pafling over the firft, which is fhut, which conducts it to the door requifalls neceflarily into the third tube, ball fhould pafs through the middle red;-finally if it be required that the door,-the confederate has nothing to do, because the ball goes then directly, always following the first tube, without the poflibility of falling into either of the others. PROVIDE yourfelf plain gilt rings worth 2d. or 3d. each. Then at the time the company is introducing, convey one into a Gentleman's coat pocket, or fleeve. When you have a mind to exhibit the trick, afk a lady to lend you a plain gold ring, which if the helitate to do, defire her to fcratch it on the infide, and let feveral fee her mark, that she may be fure you give her the fame again. Then defire fome perfon to come to you, and have your magic ftick ready, and a counterfeit ring ready to put on it. Now tell the perfon to hold your flick faft at each end, but let him grant you liberty to put ring on it, which he and all the company will fuppofe to be the ladies ring, but you know it to be a counterfeit, then take him to the window, and bid him throw it out, and be yourself fatisfied that he has. Then after an apparent embarraffment, tell him he. A Pigeon killed by the stab of a Sword given deceived you, for he put it in fuch a gentleman's pocket, and defire the gentleman to fearch carefully, and he will find it. the Be fure to get the ring into your hands immediately, and then dextrously produce the Lady's, for the inipection of the company. This is a good trick if well managed. MATHEMATICAL MAGIC. (Continued from Page 117.) A Ball is thrown into a houfe with three From THEOPHRASTUS PARACELSUS. to its Shadow or Image. THE name of Theophrastus Paracelfus, is given to this trick, becaufe it is faid that a man of that name killed his brother by giving a ftab with a dagger to his portrait-This anecdote, which doubtlefs has not been reported by con temporary hiftorians, nor confirmed by ocular witnefles, muit be-regarded certainly as apocryphal - however, be this as it may, the trick in queftion, confifts in tying the neck of a pigeon to a double ribbon well extended and doors, and comes out of any one that the fupported by two pillars, and beheadcompany chufes. AN inclined tube into which the ball ros defcending, has, towards the bottom, two apertures at different heights, which are fhut by machines like valves, which the confederate can open by the play of his levers ;-thefe two apertures form the mouth and exuemity of two other tubes, which ter ing the bird without touching it-at the moment you pierce with a fword a bird painted on paper. The two ribbons to which the pigeon is tied, hide a final fteel blade, extremely fharp, and bent in the form of a fickle; this blade is tied to a fmall filken cord, which paling between the two ribbons, and into one of the co lumns, to which the pigeon is tied, is com Magical Nofegay. communicated to the hand of the confederate. The neck of the pigeon must be controuled by a kind of filken ring, to keep it fteady-he who performs the trick, when he prepares to ftab the painted bird, gives a stamp as a fignal, the confederate then draws his cord, and the circular blade is brought to act on the neck of the pigeon, which inftantly cuts off his head. The Conjuror's Castle. TWO cards being chofen by the company, are fhuffled with the reft, the pack is put down the chimney, and comes out of the door, and the chofen cards appear in the chamber windows. This trick confifts in making the company draw two forced cards, the fame as thofe you have placed behind the windows of the caftle, (which being a little longer than the reft, can be eafily fmuggled out of the pack,) you then defire any one to fhuffle the cards and let the pack fall down the chimney, which falling upon a lever, opens the windows, and difcovers the chofen cards, and by its own weight comes out at the door. 147 this trick, you must with a little stick, made for that purpose, put each of the fruit within the end of the branch, together with the flowers, fo that no part of them may appear; and the better to conceal them, the greatest number of leaves may be at the end of the branches, you must then fix the nofegay in the neck of a kind of bottle, which contains a double bellows, and is put in motion by the levers concealed in the table, and expands the flowers and fruit like aeroftatick balloons, at the time you require, and by having a fmall valve in the principal ftalk to open upwards, you may take it out of the boule to fhew the fpectators, N. B. This trick has been called Palingenefia, a word derived from the Greek, which means a regeneration, because it confifts in creating new objects for the fight of the fpectators. * **There are many other ways of performing this trick, but we think it fufficient to give the most fimple, the fureft, and the most effective. A Ring put into a Pistol, which is after found in the bill of a Dove in a Box, which had been before examined and fealed. ONE of the company is requested to put his ring into a piftol, which is charged by another of the fpectators;an empty box is fhewn to the company and a third perfon is defired to fhut it, who ties it with a ribbon and feals it-This box is placed on a table in tight of the company, nevertheless, after the piftol is fired, and the box opened, the dove is there found with the very ring in his bill, which had really been put into the piftol. When the pistol is taken under pretence of fhewing how it is to be managed, that moment the performer avails himself of, to fmuggle out the ring; it is then conveyed to the confederate, who puts it in the bill of a tame dove, and by stretching his arm into the interior part of the table,he conducts the bird into the box, the bottom of which has a fecret opening: the ribbon which has been fealed and furrounds the box does T 2 not |
