Specifick Gravities of WOODS.

milky liquor, the smell of which is often un-
fupportable, and which they fuck in again when
the danger is over. The fame is obfervable of a
fpecies of lizards call'd falamanders, which
makes it imagin'd that they can live in the fire,
becaufe at its approach they difcharge from their
pores a liquor, which for a while fecures them A

from the force of that element.

We fhall fay nothing of the motherly care that infects take of their eggs, and of their young, which is the fubject of the 13th chapter, but end with fome curious remarks, from the chapter following, on the fagacity of infects.

"The more we obferve thefe little animals, "fays M. Leffer, the more remarkable will "their actions appear, and the facts concern

ing them, which will make us amends for "what we are to retrench in their history of "ftrange and wonderful things of a certain "kind, which have been afcribed to them by "those who did not regard them with the eyes "of a philofopher. He defcribes the artifice ufed in the fabric of the nests of infects and M. Lyonnet adds the feveral intentions they propofe to answer in the construction, as, particularly, for a lodgment while they are yet crawling worms, when they eat and grow, when they come to undergo their transformati en, and to ferve as a covering for their brood.

The ftructure of the combs of bees and

123

fpiders. We shall entertain our readers with extracts from the ad volume at another opport tunity.

A Table of the Specifick Gravity of Jeveral forts of Wcod.

By Mr C. LAWTON of Northampton. 7 Names of Wood. Specifick The weight Gravity. of a cubic

foot of each

Thorn

54 6

Crab-tree

85

B

53

Quince-tree

83

51 14

Mahogony

82

51

Plum-tree

80

50

50

76

47

wafps takes up a good deal of room here, both p in the text and the notes, where M. Lyonnet rectifies feveral miftakes of the author, and other writers on the fame fubject. Infects which fpin are alfo confider'd with much attention by the author. We fhall conclude with fome remarks on their silk.

They make it as fine or as coarfe as they pleafe, by drawing from their nipples as many E threads as they will, and joining them together. Thofe which ftretch their webs in gardens, know how to fpin two forts; one dry, for the rays or ftrait lines of the web, and the other gluey for the fpirals.

There is nothing ftrange, as M. Lyonnet obferves, in a fpider's faftening her thread to places within her reach. But how can fhe ftretch her web from tree to tree, when they do not F touch? The diftance creates no trouble at all to

the fpider. She fets to work with her legs in drawing from her anus feveral long threads, which being left fluttering in the winds ftick at laft to fame body, and ferve her as a bridge to pafs over thither, and faften to it the thread by which the hung when the fpun the threads, which ferve her for a line of communication from one tree to another.

'Tis a mistake to imagine that fpiders threads are good for nothing but to entrap other infects, er to make a cod about their eggs; they ferve them as carriages for long excurfions, and to tranfport them from one place to another. The threads and flocs of webs, which we see floating in the air at a certain feafon of the year, when the weather is ferene, are nothing but the work of fpiders, who use them as means of flying, without wings, from one quarter to another, whence we see those threads always ftuck with

G

H

Sallow

Elm

N. B. All the woods were very good of the fort, except the clm, and all were very dry..

Extra of a LETTER from Dublin, dated Feb. 24.

have had lately a terrible the

Watrical difpute, occafion'd by one

Mr Kelly offering fome rudeness to the actreffes in the Green-Room, on which Mr Sheridan, the manager (who hath rented Smock-Alley play-houfe for two years) turn'd him out; hereupon Kelly went to the pit, hifs'd him, and threw an orange that hit him on the nofe: Mr Sheridan then applied himself to the audience, who all clapp'd him, and with one voice cried out for Kelly's being turn'd out of the pit; upon which he was taken into the cuftody of a conftable, but let go immediately. This exafperated Kelly fo much, that he went to the back of the houfe again, directly to Sheridan's room, call'd him rogue, rafcal, fcoundrel, and vagabond, which fo enrag'd Sheridan, that he beat him foundly, and then turn'd him out of the boufe,

This

This had bad effects; for two nights
after Kelly and his friends befet the
houfe (of which Sheridan had notice,
and did not go) and abus'd the wo-
men, went into all the dreffing-rooms
in fearch of the manager, and, in a
warlike manner, ftabbed all the trunks,
boxes, and cloaths, to the great preju-
dice of the fhapes and bufkins. Two
nights after, Sheridan appeared upon the
ftage again, applied to the audience in
a handiome fpeech; and faid he would
abide by their decifion; which was
(with loud claps) that he should play,
and then he went through his part with-
out oppofition. But the confequence
was, that the gentlemen, as they called
themfelves, formed a party against him,
and the next play night (which was for
the benefit of the hofpital of incurables)
when the curtain was drawn, they all
cry'd, No play, unless Sheridan afks par- C
don of Mr Kelly, and all the gentlemen:
Then clapping and hifling began on both
fides, and continued 'till the latter got
the better, on which the manager re-
tired, and would not afk pardon. This
raifed fuch a univerfal clamour, that the
audience broke up, which was the finest
I ever faw, the pit being all filled with D
ladies, except the front rows. The
next day war was declared on both
fides, papers being published pro and con,
which difpu te hath employ'd prefs ever
fince. Upon this ill treatment all the
actreffes made affidavits with Sheridan,

and Kelly against Sheridan; bills were
prefented by both parties to the grand-
jury, and both found last Tuesday. On
Thursday the trial came on at the king's
Bench, at the court of oyer and termin-
er, when Sheridan was acquitted, Kelly
and Brown (fon of Brown mentioned in
the Draper's Letters) found guilty of
faults on Mr Sheridan and the actreffes.
On Saturday they receiv'd their fen-
tence, Kelly to pay 100/. for the first af-
fault, 200/. for the fecond, and 200!.
for the third, a month's imprisonment,
and to find fecurity for his good beha-
viour for seven years. Brown was fined
100/. and to give fecurity for his good
behaviour for a year.

From Faulkner's Dublin Journal. SIR,

HESE verfes which I fend you

ances at the theatre. I let you publish
them now, that they may ferve as a
mark of my esteem for a man who I am
proud to fay was my fellow-fcholar in
the univerfity, and whom I really think
an ornament to my country; who, if
he be not a gentleman, is yet at least a
man of family and learning, and of pro-
digious abilities in that profeilion, to
which it is happy for all men of taste,
that the freightness of his fortune, and
the neglect of his friends obliged him
to ftoop. Whether I am a gentleman or
no, I believe is no great matter, or
whether I fhall ever affect that title,
which is fo much abused and prostituted,
is more than I yet know; however, this
I can tell you, that I am a man, and I
know it by this very good token, that I
feel fomething in my nature that in-
clines, and even forces me to an oppo-
fition against any man that can be fo
mean and narrow-hearted as to indulge
himself in acts of infolence and inhu-
manity. I am, Sir, &c.

On the Celebrated Mr SHERIDAN
Soft k beneath the stroke of fate,
INCE man, however good or great,
Since like a meteor in the skies

He flashes forth a while, and dies,
The human wit hath oft contriv'd
To make the mortal longer liv'd,
That what his nature hath deny'd
By memory may be fupply'd;
Hence poely divine began,
That ftudious all the foul to trace,
And fculpture made a rock a man;
And this the godlike port and face.

But tho' th' inventions both be great,
Yet neither fingly is compleat :
For ftatues fixt, and dead appear,
And words unutter'd cheat the ear.

The mightier art is yet behind
In which the others are combin'd,
To found the poet's words, and make
The ftatue of the hero fpeak.
For this an art fo excellent,
So wide and boundless in extent,
Thee SHERIDAN admir'd and fam'd,
Hath Nature's hand indulgent fram'd.
For who beholds thee in the scene,
G With dignity of voice and mien,
But fwears he fees before his eyes
The hero's fhape and toul arife?
Our heart leaps up when Cate draws
The patriot's fword in freedom's caufe,
Or if thy action Brutus claim,
The lait of all the Roman name,
Who bravely thunn'd no deed or doom
To lay, or to be flain for Rome,
Who facrific'd to that great end
Himself, and harder yet, his friend,

Thave been written a good while paft, almoft fince Mr Sheriaan firit ap- H peared on the itage; they have lain by me ever fince, and perhaps would have lain by for ever, but for the late diflurb

Reformation of the
Something next awe from heav'n we
And almost to his virtues kneel; [feel,
Or if the magic of thy art

Bid others from the graves to ftart,
No longer of the dead depriv'd
We fee antiquity reviv'd.

O could unalterable fate
Tranfgrefs, and lengthen out thy date,
From ages ftill to ages lend thee,
From death and from decay defend thee,
To hand to generations down
Th'illuftrious dead of old renown,
To fhew by ftature, pofture, drefs,
By voice exact, and fhape exprefs,
With what a majesty they trod,
And fpoke, how like a prefent God,
A thousand Iliads 'twou'd furpass,
A thousand monuments of brafs.

in the prefent century let 11 days be omitted, the equinoxes having gone back fo many days fince the year 325. The latter end of January feems to be the most convenient time of the year for this omiffion, as this will not interfere with thofe Sundays which are denominated and A numbred, or otherwife determined according to their diftance from Eafter; as Septuagefima, &c. the Sundays in Lent, thofe betwixt Eafter and Whitfunday, and after Trinity; all which depend on Eafter, and fhould the omiffion be fix'd among them, it would create confufion in the church-fervice appointed for thofe Sundays; which would alfo be the cafe, if it fhould B disturb the Advent Sundays or Christmas holi days: But if it be at the end of January it comes in among the Epiphany Sundays, which have no fixt number, and always break off at Septuagefima Sunday whenever it happens; fo that little or no inconvenience in this refpe& will arife by rejecting thefe 11 days here: And as to the feaft of St Paul's converfion, and the faft on the day of King Charles's martyrdom, they may be entirely omitted for that year. This will at once reduce our reckoning to that of the Gregorian, and tho' it may be of fome fmall prejudice in common affairs, as fhortening the quarter for tenants, &c. yet as a remedy for this may eafily be provided (if the legislature fhould ever think fit to make this alteration) and as it can never happen again (at least for a great many ages) if due care be taken to regu late the calendar for the future, this inconvenience is fcarce worth minding.

An ENQUIRY into the Imperfections of the ENGLISH CALENDAR, with a C Scheme for reforming it, by correcting the Errors in the Gregorian Account, and fubflituting that in the room of the Account we now use. (See Vol. XV. p. 377.)

TH

HE folar tropical year being, according to the calculation of the beft aftronomers, 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 57 feconds, and the Julian year, which we now ufe, 365 D days 6 hours; it is plain that the equinoxes are anticipated every year 11' 3": or neglecting for the prefent the odd feconds (which make but a day's variation in 28,800 years) we may reckon the yearly anticipation 11 minutes; that is, 11 days in 1440 years, or 55 days in 72c0 years. Now the Gregorian account rejecting 3 leap-days in 400 years, i. . 54 in E 7200 years, will in that period of time have alfo an error of one whole day, which in 28,800 years will amount to 4 days; to which we may add one day arifing from the odd 3 feconds, in that period of time, as above: So that the Gregorian calendar errs 5 days in 28,800 years; for it rejects but 216 days out of the Julian account, during that time, whereas the antici- F pation at 11'3" in a year amounts to 221 days. For the correction of which errors in both calendars, I would propofe the following method.

In order to prevent the confufion that arifes in bufinefs, foreign correfpondence, &c. by two different reckonings as at prefent, but more efpecially that Eafter may be kept according to the intention of the first council of Nice, (which was held A. D. 325) it feems most convenient to make that time the ftandard of our correction as other nations have done; otherwife it might be more eligible to bring the equi noxes back to the days on which they stood at our Saviour's birth: And as the Gregorian account has not fenfibly err'd with regard to the equinoxes fince its firft inftitution in 1582, and H is made to correfpond, in this respect, with the time in which the aforefaid council was held, we may confider the prefent reckoning in that calendar as the true one; and out of any year (Gent, Mag, MARCE 1747.)

This done, let the reckoning be continued as in the Gregorian account, omitting 3 leap-days in 400 years (that is, one at the last year of ech of the first three centuries, and retaining it at the end of the 4th) 'till the year of our lord 6000 (if the world continue fo long) and in that year let the leap-day which is retain'd in the Gregorian account be omitted. By this means there will no error creep in, in all this long tract of time, but the equinoxes and folfti ces will happen precifely on the fame day of the month, as at the time of the Nicene council, allowing for the difference between leap years And if the reckoning be and common years : continued as before, only omitting the leap-day at the end of every 6000 years then to come, the error (fuppofing the length of the folar tropical year as above) will be but one day in 144,000 years, which is fuch a trifle as not to be regarded. I chote to fix this omiffion at the end of 6000 years rather than at 5760 (which is the period ftrictly computing) because it feems moft convenient to have it at the ciofe of a round chiliad of years: Befides, we are not fure that the length of the folar year is fo nicely calculated as not to err a fecond of time, and this reckoning makes it 365 days, 5 hours, 48 57" 36" which is 24" lefs than by Tycho \ Brabe's calculation. But we need not trouble ourfelves much about this, fince the Gregorian account (corrected by omitting one leap-day as above) will hold exactly true for the first 60co years.

If ever the legiflature fhould think fit to make fome fuch reformation as this, it is to be R with' d

wish'd that they would at the fame time fix, the beginning of the year with other nations on the tit of January; and thereby put an end to that ridiculous cuftom of making two beginnings to, the fame year: Which inconfiftency arifes from our reckoning from the incarnation, A whilst other nations reckon from the birth of our Lord, and our differing from them by one whole year in our Ara; tho' we reckon the fame number with them during fome part ofevery year, because of the different commencements of the Ara's. Our conformity with them in this particnlar would bring our Æra W.15 to-be the fame with the Dionyfian, and one B year nearer the true reckoning from our Saviour's birth; tho' this is, I think, on all hands allowed to be at least two years short of it."

C

Prime: And this they caus'd to be inferted in the firft column of the calendar, against the day of each month in which the ecclefiaftical moon fhould begin to be reckoned, that is, with the Jews, at the day of the firft appearance of the new moon as before obferv'd, and not precifely the time of the change or conjunction itfelf. Thus, for inftance, in the month of March, the number 16 is placed over the 8th day, the day affign'd for the new moon when the prime is 16, and which would be the true. time were there no defect in the Metonic cycle. Thefe numbers in the first column of the calendar are ftill to be feen in many of our common prayer books, and fhould be in all; and tho' they seem to ftand confufedly and without any order, as 19, 8, and after a space between, 16, 5, &c. yet (as Dr Holder obferves) they precifely follow the progreffive order of the epacts, of which they are but indices, beginning at the greatest epact, and defcending in order to the leaft.

The most material part of our business is still
End, viz. the afcertaining the true time
When Eafter (and the other moveable feafts
which depend thereon) ought to be celebrated
according to the intention of the Nicene coun-
cil; previous to which, it may not be amifs to
enquire a little into their proceedings in this af
fair.That venerable affembly, in order
to put an end to the warm difputes which had
continued between the Eaftern and Wellern
churches from the time of Pope Victor, fix'd
the day of the Pafchal feaft on the first Sunday
after the first full moon that should happeu
next after the 21st of March, which was then D
the day of the vernal equinox, and which they
fuppos'd would always continue fo, imagining
the Julian year to be of a length with the fo-
lar: But this regulation of theirs is to be fo
understood as that-1, Their full moon is
on the 14th day of the Ecclefiaftical moon,
(viz. that which the Jews, who begin their
reckoning from the first appearance of the new E
moon, counted the 14th day) which (ecclefia-
ftical moon) is fo called, either because they
difpos'd the epacts in the calendar for fixing the
Pafchal moons agreeable thereto, or elfe be-
caufe in procefs of time it varied from the true
time of the full moon, and render'd this di-
ftinction neceffary. -2dly, That by next
after the 21ft day, Is meant inclufively, or F
next after the commencement of that day; fo
that if the full moon happened March 21,
that was the pafcbal full moon, and if this
was on a Saturday, Eafter was to be kept the
next day. -3dly, That in leap years when
the vernal equinox in that age must often hap-
pen on the 20th, the 21ft should notwithstand-
ing be taken infead thereof; for fhould the
20th be then taken, as fome authors fuppofe, G
and that day should happen to be Saturday, Ea-
fter would be kept the next day, together with
the Jewish paffover, which they were follici-
tous to avoid, making the 22d day the limit of
Eafter.

And that their rules might be ob-
ferv'd in all fucceeding ages, they (inftead of
the Jewib cycle of 84 years, which was before
us'd by the chriftians for this purpofe in com-
mon with the Jews) made use of a Lunar cy-
cle of 19 years, conftituted by Mato long be-
fore, viz. about the time of the Peloponnefi-
an war, 400 years before our Saviour's birth
which cycle we now call the Golden Number, of

;

On this foundation, and on a fuppofition that the vernal equinox would alway be on the 21ft of March, was built the table to find Eafter for ever, ftill extant in our common prayerbooks; but as the vernal equinox has fince gone back about 11 days, occafion'd by the excess of II minutes in the Julian year above the folar, fo the Metonic cycle, or golden number, having likewise an anomaly of about one day in 312 years, or 1 hour 27' 32" 42" Sc. in every cycle, it has, fince the council of Nice,made an anticipation of about 4 days and 13 hours; and fo much their rule (and the faid first column in the calendar) afligns the afpects of the moon to the fun later than by calculation they are found to be. And for this reafon the true day of the Pafchal full moon (which is, or fhould be, the full moon next after the vernal equinox) is not always after the 21st of March, nor Eafter day (as kept by us) the first Sunday after the faid full moon: 'Tis true the faid full moon is by

these numbers in the first column of the calen dar always plac'd after the 21ft of March, but it fometimes really happens before it; and this, error in the calendar will always remove Eafter out of its place whenever the true full moon happens within 4 days and 13 hours next before the 21st of March; fetting afide the error arifing from a falfe fuppofition that that is the day of the vernal equinox. Therefore Eafer as kept by us (who follow the Nicene rules) being always on the first Sunday after the day fo affign'd for the pafchal full moon in the calendar as aforefaid, we celebrate that feftival on the right day (that is according to the intent and defign of the faid council) but now-and-then as it were by chance: viz. when the day found by the table in the common prayer book, or, which is the fame, by the faid ft column of the calendar, happens on the first Sunday next after the vernal equinox,- -But I need not Henlarge any farther on this, fince Mr Whißon in the Gentleman's Magazine for December 1744, page 652, has fet the matter in a cleat light, and put a stop to the wranglings and difputes of fome other writers, in that magazine,

Reformation of the Calendar.

who only quibbled about words, or did not thoroughly understand the fubject they were upon.

Thefe defects in the rules laid down by the Nicene council are not wholly corrected in the Gregorian calendar; for that calendar is alfo liable to fome errors in its rules for keeping Eafter; fometimes (though very feldom) fixing a wrong day for the vernal equinox; fometimes differing from the true time of the pafchal full moons, tho' by a lefs interval than formerly; and fometimes it falls into that remarkable fault which the Julian calendar never admitted of, viz. the celebrating the pafchal folemnity at the fame time with the Jezus, which the primitive chriftians were very careful to avoid, and which the Nicene council expressly provided againft.To give an inftance of this.

A

B

Suppofe the first appearance of the pafchal new moon (that is, the time of the ecclefiaftical new moon according to the Jews' computation as well as the Nicene, as obferv'd before) should happen on the 8th of March (N.S.) in the evening, then the 14th day of the ecclefiaftical moon, which is the day of the pafchal full C moon, and nearly answers to the real full moon in the heavens, (or the 15th day reckoning from the change) will begin on the 21ft in the evening; and the Jews, who begin their days at funfet, will then of courfe begin the celebration of their paffover: And if the 21ft of March fhould then happen on Saturday, the followers of the Gregorian calendar muft in this D cafe be their colleagues in the pafchal feast, viz. on the 22d of March.

The like miftake may arise from an error in the day of the pafchal full moon as fix'd by the Gregorian calendar: For inftance, in the year 1622, the pafchal full moon according to that calendar was on Saturday the 26th of March, whereas it really happen'd the 27th day between 3 and 4 in the morning; on which day the Jorus kept their paffover as well as the church of Reme their Eafter.

It must after all be acknowledged, that pope Gregory's mathematicians did the utmost that could be expected from a computation by cycles and epacts, and that the errors in their calendar are very few; and happen but feldom in comparison of thofe of the old calendar: But F they might more conveniently, and with greater facility, when they were forming rules for the keeping Eafter, have fubjected the vernal equinoxes and pafchal full-moons to astronomical calculation; which would have infallibly remedied all the defects of the former calendar in relation to the celebration of this feaft, and is, indeed, the only method that can be us'd, G if we would guard against all errors and mistakes therein. And this method was taken by the proteftant princes in Germany, when they reform'd the calendar by a decree of the diet of Ratifbon in the year 1700; for they having caft away 11 days from the end of February that year, and in other refpects reduc'd the yearly computation to the Gregorian form, ordered H that the day and hour of the vernal equinox, and of the poft æquinoctial full moon fhould be determined by the Rudolphine tables, and that Eafter should be kept the Sunday after that

127

full moon, according to the intention of the Ni cene fathers; whofe example they also followed in providing against the confounding this feaft with the fetus' paffover: But whether they, Look care to have the Jews' computation from in making this provifion (or the Swedes and Danes who afterward received their regulation) time to time compar'd with the astronomical, (which would be the most effectual method of preventing that error) I know not. If they did not, their reformation is alfo fo far defective; for in cafe the pafchal full moon happen on a Saturday, the affigning the next day for the pafchal feaft will be liable to the error beforementioned, as has been already obferv'd; fo that that caution alone, of poftponing Eafter for a week, when the full moon falls on a Sunday, will not fuffice.

On the whole, that the errors in fixing the feaft of Eafter may be effectually avoided, I think the following rules thould be obferv'd.'"

1. That the true time of the vernal equinox,

and of the next following full moon, be determin'd by aftronomical tables. 2. To celebrate Eafter on the first Sunday after the faid full moon, unless, when it happens on a Saturday,the Jews' paffover fhould alfo happen to begin that evening, in which cafe, as well as when the full moon happens on a Sunday, the pafchal feaft fhould be poftponed for a week longer.

3. That when the full moon and vernal equinox come together on the 20th of March (according to the reform'd calendar) and the next day happens to be Sunday (which may be the cafe) it would be proper to poftpone the feftival 'till the Sunday after, even tho' the Jews' paffover be then on the Saturday: For this would be agreeable to the tenor of the Nicene decrees, and of both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, which never fix Easter Tooner than the 22d of March.

But as thofe rules fuppofe the Jewish com putation tobe frequently compar'd with the aftronomical, it may not be amifs to fubjoin a fhort view of the nature of their computation. Now the Jews were commanded to celebrate the paffover on the 14th day of the first month at even, Exod x11, 6. Levit, xx111, 5. that is, of the first month of their ecclefiaftical year (viz. Nifan) which always happened about the time of the vernal equinox ;and care was taken that it should do fo, by in tercalations from time to time, which their ufing Lunar months rendred often necefiory. And as this month always began from the time when they firft obferv'd the appearance of th: new moon (or when they concluded it should appear if not prevented by clouds) their 14th day of the month, therefore, anfwered to the 15th of the aftronomical moon, and conequently to the day of the full moon ite. So that to find the time of their paffover according to this rule, we need only to compute from aftronomical tables the true t me of the pahal new moon, and thence the time of its it ap pearance, from which 14 days must be reckon

ed