Remarkable Fires in 1791. 175 With refpect to London in particu- A Great part of the town of Minehead in Somerfetfhire deftroved. MARCH. The Albion Mills confumed; the damage computed, at leaft, at 70,000l. MAY. Several houfes deftroyed near St. George's Church in the Borough. A great fire at the village of Kinnerfley in Shropshire. JUNE.-A large timber-yard in Rofemary-lane; feveral buildings detroyed, and near 40 dwelling houfes received damage. JULY.-Birmuham fires. AUGUST.-Nine houfes deftroyed at the Water-gate, Deptford; the King's fhips moored near the fpot, were much endangered. SEPT.-Seventeen houfes, a large tanner's work, feveral barns and granaries, and a large quantity of farming-ftock, deftroyed at Newport in Shropshire. A fire broke out at a cabinet-ma 20 ker's work-fhop, in Duke-ftreet, Soho, timber-yard in Bermond A great conflagration in Rotherhithe, near 50 houfes and warehoufes destroyed: a fhip under repair near the fhore, took fire from the houfes, and after feveral attempts to fcuttle her, fheered off into the stream. The efforts of feveral hundred people in boats, around, prevented any material damage to the numerous tiers which the paffed through; the appearance of fuch a fire fhip in motion, in the midst of the fhipping of the port of London, was a fight equally fingular, awful, and interefting; the was at length, with great dexterity, laid athwart the fterlings of London Bridge, where she burnt to the water's edge. Nov.-The great cotton mill at Clithero, in Lancashire, built by Livefey and Co. was entirely destroyed; the damage was estimated at 20,000l. DEC.-The porter-brewhoufe at Worcefler, nearly confumed. This was the largest brewery in Great Britain, thofe of London excepted. Bugle Hall, a large house in Southampton, formerly the refidence of the Earls of Southampton, entirely burnt down; the diftrefs of the inhabitants of the town was much increased from a violent ftorm of wind and rain, which continued all night, threatening them at once with deftruction from oppofite elements. The great cotton-mill at Warrington, in Lancashire; the damage com. puted at 18,000l. The Duke of Richmond's house, in Privy-garden Weftminster, destroyed in the day-time, notwithstanding the immediate affiftance of engines, firemen, a regiment of foldiers, &c. The floors of this houfe had been lined with iron plates, and various other precautions had been taken to render it incom bustible. 1. Their quantity in longitude, extent, and profundity; viz. length, breadth, and depth; crookedness and straightness. 2. Their quality in colour and figure, in reference to fhape and complexion. 3. Their action in reference to other lines, as touching or cutting. 4. Their paffion in relation to other lines, as being touched or cut by them. 5. Place and pofition. The lines of the hand are principally 1. The line of the heart, which is that of life, which is referred to the Sun. 2. The Cephalick line and parts, which is the middle natural line, to the Moon and Jupiter. 3. The line of the head to Mercury. 4. The Table line, or line of fortune, to Jupiter. 5. Venus's girdle, to Venus. 6. The line of Death, or finifter of the line of life, to Saturn. 7. The Percuffion, to the Moon and Mars. The wrift is referred to Mars. There are lines of an inferior degree, which are not found in every hand, and they are, 1. The way of the Sun, or Solar. 2. The milky way, or via combusta. 3. The Way of Saturn. THE DESCRIPTION AND SITUATION OF THESE LINES. 1. The line of the heart, or life, inclofes the thumb, and feparates it from the plan of Mars. 2. The middle natural line begins at the rifing of the fore-finger, near that of life, and ends at the mount of the Moon. 3. The line of the liver begins at the bottom of that of life, and reaches to the table line, making this triangular figure A. 4. The table line, or line of fortune, begins under the mount of Mercury, and ends near the fore-finger and middle-finger. 5. Venus's girdle begins near the joint of the little-finger, and ends between the fore-finger and middle-finger. 6. The Percuffion is between Venus and the Moon, alfo called the Ferient a feriendo, from ftriking.. 7. The wrist contains thofe lines which feparate the hand from the arm, called Ra Scetta. See the following Figure. VOL. I, 3 Z THE Obferve, that if the letter A be found in the place of Saturn, (as in this mount or line) it denotes that the perfon will be covetous. If H XE be found there, it predicts that the perfon will be laborious during life; that he will be rich, and live well in old age; that he will be deemed wife, and obtain the favour of great perfons, but let him beware of his kinsfolks, who will endnavour to perfuade him to make over his citate to them, and if they can obtain that point, will prove ungrateful. If the letter A, or fuch a mark be found in the place of Jupiter 2, the perfon will prove honeft, wealthy, and a good friend; if the letter B is found there, he will be powerful, rich, fortunate; beloved by kings and princes. If fuch a b is found, he will be rich, religious, and much efteemed. If C be found, he will be general of an army. If D be there, it denotes perfi dioufnefs Explanation of the Figure. dioufnefs in all the party's actions, and committing inceft. If the letter E be found, or fomething like it, he will be enriched by women, but hated by his parents. If F appears, he will be a ftatesman, grave, wife, fortunate in counfel, and be loved by his fuperiors. If G be found, he will be a man of luxury, especially in women, but preferve his reputation among his acquaintance. If the letter o, or fuch a character as ▲ be feen, he will be wife and difcreet, have a penetrating judgment, understand arts and fciences, be extremely loved for his merits, be rich, and have trufty friends all his life. If the letters A a in any of the fignifications of Mars, the perfon will be hard-hearted, much given to anger and paffion, and prove unmerciful. If Bb be found, he will be rich, be loved by princes, and have a great poft in the army. If C be found, he will be an expert maller in geometry, and other fciences, yet be a fufferer by grief, or a fall from an high place. If the letter d, he will injure his father, be fplenetic, and afflicted with aches in his joints, If the letter E appears, he will be litigious, and fuffer much by it, keep company with lewd and vile women, and if he gets a loving wife, will go near to break her heart. If the letter F be found, the perfon will be crafty, falfe, a liar, a traitor, and fuffer much thereby. If G, he will be a thief, and commit many abominable actions, If the letters A a be found in the place of the Sun, the perfon will be happy; but if they are not perfect, then judge the contrary. If the letters Bbare there, they then denote the perfon to be ingenious, to have a good wit, to be advanced to high ftations, and univerfally beloved. If the letter C appears, it prognofticates pair, lofs of eyes, fudden death, and that the perfon will do mifchief to his father. If it be like the letters Dd, they denote power, riches, and prefer ment. If the letter E, it fhews that 179 the perfon will have a large inheritance, but addicted to venery and the most unnatural paffions. If the letter F, it foretells wifdom, a good memory,, and the perfon will underftand arts and fciences. If Gg, the perføn will be given to mirth, keep great company, yet be fubject to furfeits, and pains of the head and ftomach. If fuch an O, or fuch a one O, be found in the mount of the Sun, they denote honefty, riches, that the perfon will be an inventor of arts, beloved by women, and will fuffer by them. If A a be found in the place of Venus, he is unfaithful; will love poor, beggarly, fick, and unwholsome women, and will receive dainage from them. If the letter B, the perfon will be happy in marrying into a noble family, by which he will get riches and honour. If C be found there, it denotes the perfon to be a fornicator, and will commit lewdnefs with his near relations, and at laft marry one whom he knew before. If the letter Dd, he will be an expounder of dreams, a fearcher of hidden fecrets, will fpeak truth, and love travelling. If the letter E be found, he fhall be fortunate in all things, and receive joy and content from perfons of quality. If F, he will dispatch much bufinefs. If G be found, he will receive much joy and good by women. If A a be found in the place of Mercury, fuch perfons will be inquifitous, fearch after fecrets, and fludy to find the philofopher's ftone, and receive great prejudice thereby; they will be flow of fpeech, of a perverte mind, rail against others, and do that to their neighbours which they would. not have done to themfelves. If B is found there, they are merchants, fair and honeft dealers, and will have great fubitance. If C be found, they will neglect their own good and welfare, be given to fports and games, be learned in the tongues, write well, but compofe falfe things and perform excellent conclufions by their own in duftry. If D be there, they are wife Z 2 men, 180 Anfwers to Queries. men, doctors in fciences, particularly Aftronomy, and Astrology; but if that letter be unhapely, and of an ill colour, they are poor, will do great things in youth, be rich after middle age, fuffer pain at the ftomach, and other parts, and love magic arts. If E, they are religious, will be women's taylors, or ftay-makers, or bufy themfelves in pictures. If F be found, they are expert and excellent fearchers into nature, and have great knowledge in philofophy. If G G g, they are of good life and understanding, loving little children, little women, &c. And they who are of the nature of the moon D, and have this character X in the quadrangle, will be poor, in youth extremely rich after middle age, and then be reduced to pover ty, they love a quiet life, and are eafy THE QUERIST. N° VI. But to the query. The common proof that ftones grow is fupported by an obfervation that if ftones are gathered out of a ploughed field; in a few years there will be fo many as there were before;" which is a very erroneous doctrine, as I know by experience. Undoubtedly, If you gather all the ftones from off the furface of the land, it must caufe the plough to enter deeper into the earth, and lay hold of thofe ftones, which before it did not touch; but if you weigh a stone, and bury it feven years, it will be the exact weight to a grain as before. Notwithstanding all this, I verily believe, that they were all once in a fluid ftate and could bring forward many refpectable authorities in proof of it; but as I am afraid of being too prolix, fhall content myfelf with one. , John Reinhold Forfter, F. A. §. fays, in his difcourfe on mineral bodies *, "All fofils, minerals, and metals, are generated by combination : combination depends upon the attraction of the diferete parts, or the Sepa ration of the concrete parts, neither of which can be effected without previous fluidity," "Stones are undoubtedly maffes of earth, which were formerly in a foft diffolved ftate, and have been indurated by electrive attraction, chryf talization, or evaporation." "An abforbent earth, mixed with a few acid and alkaline particles diffolved together in water, and afterwards evaporated by a gentle degree of heat, might form calcareous ftones." "The difference in ftones arifes from the |