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others, he pushes with more refolute determination toward that state of elevation, which will command the filence at least, if not the refpect of the vulgar. He that wishes to profit by a great man, muft endeavour to please him, and it is happy for him indeed, if he is not required to facrifice his integrity as a preliminary condition.

Great men, who difpenfe their favours without regard to merit, are certain to have the greatest number of dep ndents. They are of all others the molt courted, because the accefs to them is the eatieft. It is but flattering their foibles, fubmitting to their caprices, and praifing them for the virtues they ought to poffefs, and fuccefs need not be defpaired of.

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But if a man of merit applies to fuch a patron, the question is, What is your name, fir?' in a fullen tone of contempt and authority. If letters are produced from friends, fuch as the great man would not wish to disoblige by an immediate refufal, the applicant is told that he will take the matter into confideration, and in the mean time, he will be glad to fee him,' which, in the language of greatnefs, implies that he hopes he has feen him for the last time. The novice, however, has not yet learned any other meaning for words than he finds in his dictionary; he calls again, receives a promise, and takes his leave with all the elevation of hope, and writes to his friends in the country an account of his fuccefs.

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The day foon arrives when he is again to pay his refpects to the great man-who is now fo extremely busy, and has been fo for fome days, that he really has not had time to make the proper applications, but if the petitioner will call on Monday, he will see what can be done.'-This ftill pleases the dependent. He is flatter. ed to think that the great man has not forgot him, that he keeps his cafe in mind, and amid all his weighty cares, is to condefcend to make proper applications to fome higher quarter. The next day of meeting is announced,

and with it another adjournment, which is continued from day to day, until months having elapfed in fruitless application, he firft fufpects, and then becomes certain, that he has been deceived, and that he has spent his time, the little money he had, and all the courtship he was mafter of, merely to have the honour of adding to the lift of thofe on whom the great man exercises his skill in avoiding importunity, and teaching patience. Happy would it be for many, if they even now faw the fallacy of trufting to the promifes of great men, and had a portion of fpirit remaining, too great to fubmit to further indignities. But very unaccountably, fome men seem to find that expectation on the great is pleasant, and fome that it is genteel.

I have juft met with a ftory in the life of the celebrated John, duke of Argyle, who died fome years ago, which I cannot help tranfcribing, as it is not inapplicable to the fubject in hand, and might afford an excellent precedent for great men, and perhaps convey fome instruction to little men. If great men attended to it, the miferies of delay and independence would be greatly alleviated, and they who wafte the prime, of their days in courting the favour of the great, acquire a portion of ill-humour which never leaves them, or fall into defpair from accumulated mortifications, would be refcued from a pursuit fo unworthy of an active and independent mind, and apply to employments where fuccefs, by being connected with their own exertions, would be more within their power.

This great statesman, John, duke of Argyle, was cautious not to decive any by lavish promises, or leading them to form vain expectations; of this, we have the following inftance in the Biographia Britannica.

A young gentleman of North Britain, liberally educated, with a large fhare of natural parts, was fent up to London by his father, who had feve ral other children, and had advanced this fon for this expedition as much as

he could fpare without beggaring his family. He had confented to this journey of his fon, on the repeated promifes of a certain peer of that country, to put him into a handsome way of bread; his reliance on this nobleman's faith, made him itretch a point to furnish his fon, fince he looked up on that as bestowed in order to fettle him for life.

Full of pleafing hopes of immediate preferment, our young adventurer arrived at his patron's house, who received him with open arms, and a thoufand proteftations of ferving him; but several months paffed over, and nothing but promises came; years went away in the fame empty manner; every next month promised him happiness, but ftill it was as barren as the laft. The young gentleman had paid levee to this little statesman, till he had exhaufted all his patrimony, and wearied all his relations, yet ftill he was enjoined patience, and promifed mountains.

In the third or fourth year of this attendance, this young gentleman was walking very melancholy in Hydepark, when he faw the duke of Argyle alight from his coach, in order to take a walk. A thought ftruck into his head to addrefs the duke, though an entire ftranger to him, for a place in his grace s ditpofal in the ordnance, depending on his humanity for fuccels. He accotted his grace, told him he was a gentleman of his country, of

fuch a name and family; that he was in low circumftances, and heard that fuch a'fmall place was now vacant, and in' his grace's gift, therefore he took the liberty to beg that his grace would put him into it. The demand was fo uncommon, that his grace made him repeat it again, before he gave any anfwer; and then he said, Sir, I know your family very well, but don't flatter yourself with that; take for anfwer, that I will not give it you.' The young gentleman replied, God bless your grace, this exactly answers the character I have heard of you.'

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These last words a little furprised the duke, and he defired the young man to explain himself, which he did by faying, that if another peer had been fo honourable as to make him the fame anfwer, upon his firft application to him, he would have been now in a condition to live without making fo odd an application as his preffing neceffities obliged him just now to make to his grace. His grace recollecting fome circumstances he had formerly heard, of the connexion between this young gentleman's family and his former patron, was moved with the unhappy youth's cafe. After a fhort paufe, he directed him to call at his house next day, and in lefs than three days, provided for him beyond his expectations.

I am, fir, yours, &c.
CONTENTUS PARVO.

Account of the EARTHQUAKE felt in various Parts of England, November 18, 1795; with fome Obfervations thereon. By Edward Whitaker Gray, M. D. F. R. S. Concluded from Page 339.

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weft fays alfo, that people in general feem confident that the fhocks came from the northeast, but that many think they came from the fouth; and that, to himself, the fecond shock appeared to come from the north. Dr. Storer fays the direction appeared to him to be from the northeast to the fouthwest, but to others it appeared the reverse. The accounts of the - earthquake's direction in the county newspapers are as various as the above; but I think it needless to give any farther proofs of what I have advanced, and fhall only obferve that, various as the opinions of those who felt the earthquake were, with refpe&t to its direction, the greater number of perfons agreed in thinking it to have been from fome northern point toward a fouthern one; which, as we fhall presently fee, is as contrary as poffible to that direction which is deduced from obfervations of the time at which it was felt in different places. In the county papers, the earthquake is faid to have been felt at Bristol, and in fome parts of Gloucefterlhire, fome minutes before eleAt Worcester, it is faid (by Dr. Johnstone) to have been felt about eleven, or five minutes after. At Kenilworth, in Warwickshire, (Mr. Johnson) fix minutes after eleven. At Afhover, in Derbyshire, (Mr. Milnes) about a quarter paft eleven. At Wirksworth, in the fame county, (Mr. Bennet) about twenty minutes paft eleven. And at Wollaton, in Nottinghamshire, (Mr. Gregory) between twenty and twenty-five minutes past eleven *. From this, about five minutes and a half are to be deducted, for the difference of longitude between Bristol and Wollaton. Great allowance muft likewise be made for the uncertainties which attend obfervations of this kind, from the different manner of keeping clocks, and from other circumstances too obvious to be mentioned; but it must be remembered, that those circumstances are as likely

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to occafion error on one fide as on the other; and, when the whole is fairly confidered, it feems to me impoffible not to feel inclined to think that the earthquake was felt confiderably later in the northeast than in the fouthwest; in other words, that it moved progreffively from the fouthwest to the northeaft, or nearly fo.

Suppofing, however, that fome of the abovementioned obfervations of time are of too uncertain a nature to admi: any inference to be drawn from them, others among them are of a very different kind. Mr. Johnson, whofe accuracy may be fafely relied on, appears to have remarked the time of the earthquake with great precifion, and he fates it to have been, at Kenilworth, at fix minutes paft eleven. Mr. Gregory, to whofe exactnefs we may equally truft, fays the blaft was heard, at Wollaton, between twenty and twenty-five minutes paft eleven, and the earthquake came on about a minute after the blaft. Now, if we fuppofe it to have been only twenty-ohe minutes pait eleven when the blast was heard, it will bring the time of the earthquake to twenty-two minutes paft eleven; and, if we allow a minute and a half for the difference of longitude between Kenilworth and Wollaton, there will still remain an interval of fourteen minutes and a half for its progrefs from the first mentioned place to the latter. The diftance between thefe two places is about forty-five miles, and the fituation of Wollaton, with refpect to Kenilworth, is about north northeaft; confequently, the obfervations of Mr. Johnfon and Mr. Gregory are, of themselves, fufficient to render it probable (as far as obfervations of time made in two places only can do fo) that the direction of the earthquake was not very different from that above stated; at least, that it was from fome point to the weftward of fouth, toward fome point to the eastward of north; which, as was before obferved,, is very contrary to

I have omitted mentioning the time expreffed in one or two of the foregoing letters, because it appears not to have been obferved with much attention.

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the idea which moft perfons who felt it formed of its progrefs.

Thefe two obfervations also, in my opinion, furnish another argument that the earthquake moved progreffively in one direction only; for, if it had been produced by a central force acting in all directions, we fhould furely have expected that the effects of that force would have been most powerful where they were firft felt; whereas, we have feen that the earthquake, though undoubtedly more fevere in Nottinghamshire than in Warwickshire, was felt much fooner in the last mentioned county.

Of the various earthquakes felt in England within this century, thofe to which the one here treated of has moft analogy are, that of September 30, 1750; that of September 14, 1777; and that of February 25, 1792. The earthquake of last year was of much greater extent than either of the others, confequently a much greater number of counties came within its influence; but there is, to a certain degree, a general analogy in the tract of country, affected. It is alfo obfervable, that the direction affigned to the abovementioned three former earthquakes, is nearly the fame as that I have fuppofed to have been the direction of the one here defcribed. This recurrence of earthquakes, in former tracts, has been long obferved in all countries much fubject to them; and has, with great reason, been confidered as a strong argument in fupport of the opinion, that their caufe is fituate within the earth.

It has alfo been observed in many earthquakes, as in this, that, whatever was the state of the wind fome time before, it was calm at the instant the earthquake happened. This has indeed been fo generally the cafe, as to

have induced fome to fuppofe that wind would prevent a certain accumulation in the atmosphere, which, according to their theory, is necessary for the production of an earthquake. Unfortunately for that theory, however, there are more inftances than one of earthquakes having happened during a gale of wind *.

Some perfons thought this earthquake was moft feverely felt in high fituations; others remarked that fome low places were just as much affected: upon the whole, there does not seem room for any material inference on this head.

That the waters about Nottingham fhould not, according to Dr. Storer's obfervation, have fuffered any remarkable agitation or elevation, may be thought furprifing; especially when it is recollected that the earthquake of November 1, 1755, which was fo fatal to the city of Lisbon, occafioned an unusual agitation of the waters in various parts of this kingdom, without occafioning any perceptible motion of the earth in thofe parts. A fimilar circumflance, however, is recorded by M. Bertrand, respecting an earthquake which was very fevere in many parts of Switzerland, on December 9, 1755, but which, as he fays, produced little or no agitation of the lakes there; whereas a very confiderable one had been produced in them by the earthquake of November 1, in the fame year, though it was but slightly felt upon the earth.

The wind felt in the mine at Afhover, was probably the effect of the blast mentioned by Mr. Gregory. Similar blafts have been taken notice of in many other earthquakes: a rushing wind is faid to have accompanied that felt in England, September 14, 1777.

* Dr. Thomas Heberden, in his account of an earthquake felt in the island of Madeira, March 31, 1761, fays, though it has been remarked that a calm always attends an earthquake, no fuch thing happened now; a fine gale of wind blowing before and after, as well as during the time of, the fhock. M. Bertrand alfo, fpeaking of an earthquake felt at Zuric, December 9, 1755, fays, Le tremblement étoit accompagné d'un vent violent, que quelques perfonnes ont apperçu dès le commencement, d'autres à la fin des ébranlemens.'

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With refpect to the other unufual atmospherical circumftances with which this earthquake was accompanied, I fhall only observe, that fimilar ones, particularly black denfe clouds, corufcations in the air, &c. have been noticed in feveral other earthquakes yet, upon the whole, perhaps few have been attended with more remarkable circumftances of that kind. How far they were connected with the earthquake, it is impoffible to determine; be that as it may, it must be allowed that they appeared to be fo, to fuch a degree as very naturally to incline thofe who noticed them to be of opinion, that the cause of the earthquake was fituate in the atmofphere. Upon this head I cannot help remarking, that thofe who entertain that opinion refpecting the cause of earthquakes, feem always to conclude that the electric fluid muft, in that cafe, neceffarily be the agent. This, I think, is going too far: we furely do not know enough of the nature of the atmosphere to warrant us in making fuch a conclufion; and what we do know of electricity (either natural or artificial) rather leads us to conceive that the electric fluid is formidable only when concentrated, or collected within a certain fpace, and moving with infinite velocity; confequently its effects are limited in their extent, and it is inftantaneous in its operation. Whereas earthquakes have, more than once, extended their effects over immenfe portions of the globe; and they appear to move (fometimes at leaft) with a degree of flowness of which we cannot fuppofe the electric fluid capable, without fuppofing it thereby fo far divefted of its deftruc

tive power, as to be incapable of producing what is truly confidered as the moft dreadful of all natural phænomena

The foregoing reflections are of fered as naturally arifing from the confideration of the account here given, and by no means as taking either fide of the great question, whether earthquakes are to be confidered as terrestrial or as aerial phænomena. A queftion which appears to me to be involved in the greatest obscurity; and this obfcurity feems to arise, not fo much from a want of arguments on either fide, as from the arguments on both fides being fo many, and fo ftrong, that the mind hefitates lefs which fide to choose, than which to reject. For as, on the one hand, there are many circumstances attending on earthquakes, (particularly their frequent recurrence, in many parts of the world, in the fame tract,) on which it is impoffible to reflect, and not feel difpofed to believe their caufe fituated in the earth; so, on, the other hand, it seems equally impoffible to reflect on the unusual atmospherical appearances, with which the earthquake here described and many others have been accompanied, and fuppofe all those appearance s merely accidental, and unconnected with the earthquakes. It is not, hovvever, my intention to enter into a minute examination of this part of the fubject; but I cannot refrain from hinting, that those who may hereafter be inclined to do fo would perhaps do right to begin by inquiring, whe ther all commotions of the earth which go under the name of earthquakes are really produced by the fame cause †.

* Of the flowness here spoken of, the earthquake defcribed in the foregoing pages affords fufficient example, particularly in its progrefs from Kenilworth to Wollaton; (fee page 397) but, in the account of an earthquake felt near Oxford, June 19, 1665, it is faid, that Dr. Holder, F. R. S, who was then at Blechington, took notice that it was observed by thofe in the further part of the garden, fome very di fcernible time before it was observed by those in the house, creeping forward from the one place to the other.'

To prove that this is not an unneceffary inquiry, it might perhaps be fufficient to refer to what has been faid refpecting the agitation of the waters; (page 398) but, as

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