86

"Structure of it, and narrowly examining the Cha"racters of the Degrees, which are only intelligible to myself, I have an Opportunity of enquiring into the Capacities and Faculties of their << Minds.

66

"IN Affemblies, made up partly of the Fair "Sex, I generally obferve my Thermometer to rife, "at leaft, above Sprightlinefs: And in those which "confift wholly of Men, it rifes in Proportion as "the Bottles empty: But when I have vifited the "fame Friends, the next Morning, at their Tea"table, I generally find it funk two Degrees lower, " than it was before it begun to rife the preceding Evening *.

66

HERE my Friend was interrupted, by the Servant's coming to tell him the Mufic and Tea-table waited for him, in the Garden: Upon which, he put the little Instrument into its Cafe, and, giving it me, faid he was going the next Day on a Journy, from which he should hardly return in lefs than a Fortnight; and as it might be of fome Diverfion to me, in the mean while, I was welcome to carry it with me. He gave me, at the fame Time, another Cafe, in which he faid I would find an Inftrument, differing both in Form and Ufe, which latter I should be inftructed in by the Manuscript he carefully wrapt up with it. We, thereupon, went down into the Garden, where I found eight Perfons, Men and Women, each at different Inftru

*The original Author undoubtedly took the Hint of this pretended Invention, from an Obfervation in the Spectator, Vol. IV. p. 112. upon the Experiment faid to be made in the Glass of a Thermometer, with a Liquor found in the Pericardium of a Coquette: But the Application, and the pretended Effect of that and this are fo very different, that he, on that Account, by no Means, deferves the Name of a Plagiary, and much less does the Author of these Letters, who has made fo great Alterations in his Translation, merit that Name.

ments

ments, and all my Friend's Domeftics. Madame la Gouvernante play'd the Thorough-Bafs, on the Harpfichord, and fung feveral Songs, which fhe accompanied herself, while my Friend play'd the Bafs-Viol. However, fhe frequently rofe, and furrender'd her Place to another, while fhe ferved us with Tea and Coffee, and, for the greater Variety, gave us two or three Solo's on the Lute. My Mind was, in the mean Time, fo taken up with the Treafure I had in my Pocket, that, notwithstanding the great Love I have for Mufic, I could hardly give Attention to this elegant Entertainment, which continued for near two Hours. I then took Leave of my Friend, expreffing the greatest Sense of Gratitude I was capable of, he, on his Side, continuing his Profeffions of a fincere Friendship, and insisting upon my spending fome Days with him, at his Return.

I No fooner got to my Lodgings, than I fhut myself up in my Chamber, and begun to write these Particulars, refolving to let you partake, as foon as poffible, of the Pleasure I had already received, and might hope hereafter, in the Acquifition of fo valuable an Acquaintance, of whom I shall always be able to fay, with Pliny, Erat homo ingeniofus, acutus, acer, & qui plurimum & falis haberet & fellis, nec candoris minor. My next will, I believe, give you an Account of fome Experiments I fhall probably make with the two extraordinary Inftruments commited to my Care; 'till when, as ever, I remain, &c.

LETTER

SIR,

LETTER XVIII.

HAMBURG.

HAD hardly finish'd my Letter of the when Morpheus clos'd my Eyes,

and obliged me to haften to Reft: But Curiofity open'd them again, with the Rifing of the Sun, to make fome farther Remarks on my Thermometers; for fo I conceived the one Inftrument I had not yet feen muft likewife be. I made a Begining, by trying fome Experiments, on that I already knew the Ufe of, with fome Books I had in my Trunk: And as I am never without Plays of all Sorts, I refolved my firft Trial fhould be with them; I therefore fetch'd my whole Stock, and laid them on the Table, and, after many Experiments, made the following Obfervations: An Italian Opera finks it to its lowest Ebb, and, on the other Hand, a Pantomime, or Ballad-Entertainment, fwells it with fuch Impetuofity, that I was cautious of repeating the Experiment too often, for Fear of burfting the Tube. I tried it with several of Shakespear's Plays, and found it to deviate but very feldom from its Center, for any long Time, with any of them; and tho' it did, indeed, fre quently take a fhort Trip above the middle Region, I plainly perceiv'd my Author had never loft his View of that Point. It was juft the fame, when upon reading fome of thofe Puns, or what the French

* This Thought our Author feems to have borrow'd from the Tatler, who fays, " Shakespear had an agreable Wildness "and Warmth of Imagination,"

call

call Jeu de Mots (or Play with Words) of which this grear Author is but too full; when, I fay, I read fome of thefe Paffages, and the Spirits in my Tube thereupon funk below their Center, they foon mounted again, and, with my Author, return'd to their proper Situation. By moft of our modern Plays, they were very bufy towards the two Extremities, frequently rifing and falling feveral Times, during the Reading of a fingle Scene, but rarely con tinuing, for any Time, within the five middlemost Degrees But I had the Satisfaction, at reading Mr. Addifon's Cato, to find, that, notwithstanding they often rose two Degrees above the Center, they never, tho' a Tragedy, went more than a full Degree below it.

I RESOLVED next to make a Trial with fome other Books, and fetch'd an Arm-ful, without examining into them. The first I open'd was Eachard's Gazetteer, which funk the Spirits of my Tube at least three Degrees below the middle Point, but they rofe near as much above it, on laying that down, and taking up the Tale of a Tub. With the Atlantis, I obferved, they always rofe to Sprightlinefs, and fometimes to Fire. I tried my Thermometer with feveral of the Spectators and Tatlers, and always found it frife or fall exactly as the Subject requir'd; infomuch that I was able to distinguish the Author of every particular Piece, by my Glafs, before I came to the End of it, to know it by the final Letter. Having made thefe Experiments, with Books of fo many different Subjects, I ref lv'd before I concluded, to make a Trial with a Book or two of Divinity: The firft that came to my Hands, was a Volume of Archbishop Tillot fon's Sermons, and I foon found all the Signs of a ftrong Judgment, fervent Zeal, and ardent Defire of convincing Mankind of the faving Truths of the Gofpel, which I had Reason to expect from fo great

and

and good a Man. I next made a Trial with a fmall Piece of Baxter's, which, tho' the Man's Intent may have been upright, 1 found fo clogg'd with the Weight of Dulness, that it feldom reach'd the middle Region, without, at the fame Time, running up to all the Height of Enthufiaftical Madness and Extravagance.

My Tea being, by this Time, brought up, while I was drinking, I began to pleafe myfelf with the Hopes of being one Day Mafter of so ufeful and diverting a Piece of Art. I had obferved, in my Friend's Repofitory, a Phial of Liquor exactly of the Colour of that in the Tube; and as I did not doubt but the Virtue was contained in the Spirits, (conceiving it would be eafy to get the Machine made) I hop'd I might obtain a fmall Share thereof. As we are apt to anticipate our Joys as well as our Fears, I began to number the Discoveries I fhould, from Time to Time, make with this new Machine. There are, thought I, feveral particular Societies, as well in the City of London, as elfewhere, whofe Judgments and Understandings I fhall measure with the greatest Exactitude, and I fhall follow (faid I to myself) the Inhabitants of that great City and its Suburbs, in all their Haunts, from the Church to the Play-houfe. Nay, I flatter'd myself, with the pleafing Hopes, that there fhould not be the leaft Grain of corrupt, depraved Taste among us, but what I fhould ferret out and difcover, by Means of this my Thermometer: That being detected, and expofed to the Eye of the whole World, the Evil might, by Degrees, be removed, and a better Taste and Judgment be thoroughly restored and established amongst us.

I BEGAN to wifh myself a larger Portion of this wonderful Liquor, than I could hope to obtain, in Order to make a Prefent of one of these