1 #784 OPTICS. to M. Frederick Buthner, profeffor of mathematics. As I was lately on a vifit to my brother Daniel Schelgvigius, advocate of the fupreme court of judicature at Konigsberg, in Ducal Pruffia, on the 11th of Auguft I received an invitation from Lieutenant-Colonel Raphael de Boy, governor of Gramfau, whofe feat is two miles from Konigsberg. After ten o'clock at night, going out to view the heavens, we obferved an IRIS perfect in every circumstance, and not different in any refpect from the ufual appearance of the Iris in the day time, except indeed, that, inftead of a red, it was of whitish colour. We perceived it begin and increase, till it became complete. This phenomenon lafted above an to Dr. Samuel Schelgvigius. 183 colour. The time of feeing the phe The moon muft, therefore, have If the portent of the phenomenon be asked, I anfwer, 1ft, an unfettled state of the air; for this lunar iris was an euphatic meteor generated in the air, whence, on the preceding 11th and 12th of Auguft a clear and fultry fky, a bright fun, rain, thunder, lightning, and hail were obferved. On the following day, cold winds, funfhine, rain, and hail were alternately felt. 2. Confidered in a political light, I obferve that a phenomenon feen on the 30th of March 1660 was followed by the peace of Olven Klofter*, which I now hope, by the bleffing of God, will be established in all the Pruffian territories without bloodshed or battle. Dantzick, 26th Aug. 1699. In tranflating Profeffor Buthner's anfwer, we have omitted a conjunction of the planets, which happened on the which the 11th of Auguft, the day preceding the upon obfervation of the iris, learned profeffor lays fome itrefs, as we did not think it material to the explanation of the phenomenon. * Concluded between the Emperour and the Kings of Poland, Sweden, and Denmark. THE THE MISCELLAN Y. ORIGINAL LETTERS ΤΟ A LADY. Hope your commendation will not make me vain. If it fhould, it will appear how little I deferve it. I do from my foul defpife that weaknefs which grows giddy the moment it is lifted up a little. It is a certain fign that there is a vacuum fomewhere in the brain, to which the wind of applaufe immediately rushes, and with fuch impetuofity as to deftroy the equi. librium of the head. Now, in fach a cafe, the effects for all the world are fo like intoxication, that we make no fcruple to fay, the man is drunk, Now, though I look with all the difdain that can crowd itfelf into my eyes upon this praife-valiant hero of wind and froth, yet I am not indifferent to rational, well-timed, delicate applaufe. I feel it diffufe its animating glow over the heart, and the effect it hath upon me is to make me happy that I am not a mere cypher in the creation—that I have a power of communicating pleafure to others:-hence the defire of it is confirmed and increafed; and to diffufe happiness around me, and biefs the little circle of my friends, enters into the very firft fprings of action, and interweaves itfelf with the plans and purfuits of life. This general principle admits of many particular divifions - each proportioned to the degrees of love and etteem which I bear towards particular objects. You know what feat you hold in my heart, and can from hence determine how ftrong the defire of pleafing you must be. And on the fame principle you may alfo judge how fatisfactory it is to find that all doth not vanish in a mere fecret wish ftifled in its birth for want of power to bring it forth to life and action. How happy I am made by the affurance I have of contributing in fome degree to your entertainment! I do not pretend to any thing higher. You need no in fruction from me. Your own fine un- The I admire the ingenuity and delicacy of your reproof-and I feel the force of it too. Thofe gentle, oblique, equivocal ftrokes do much execution where direct home-blows would mifs their aim, or not be perceived. But I have twenty things to fay to you on that fubject as well as others of more importance to yourself and to me. I thank you for your friendly fympathy on another account of infinitely more concern to this confused head, and this torn, distracted, bleeding heart. Good Heaven!-but exclamations will not mend the matter. I wish fleep would. But of late it hath been the Alpha and Omega of my thoughts. Come, fweet Patience and philofophic Fortitude-come, ye foothing thoughts of fympathizing friendship, feel my breaft against the cancered arrows of fpite and envy! Let them rebound on thofe those who send them-but not to give the pain they have given me-noGod forbid!-let them fall harmlefs to the ground-and be buried in the cold and dark cavern whence they were drawn. L. K. LETTER II. NO!-I do not think you felfish at leaft, not more fo than you ought to be to enjoy and to contribute enjoyment. Self-love that only ferves to awake the focial paffions is a principle as effential to the happinefs of others as our own. It is a point from which the mind fets out, first by benevolent wishes and then by benevolent actions to fill up the circle of focial duties. Pleafure, to be fure, is linked with thofe duties-and fo it fhould be, to excite us to them, and to render them as eafy as they are neceffary. To do a good action and not be pleafed with it, when we fee it hath been really conducive to the comfort and fupport of a fellow-creature, must, I fhould think, detract from the intrinfic merit of it. How otherwife can we fhew the benevolent difpofition of the mind? Without this relish and approbation of it, we fhall perform it grudgingly. The heart must be interefted in it and feel its influence, or it will be a forced, mechanical fervice, which cannot pleafe the all-feeing Deity; and was its hidden ungenerous principle laid open to the view of man would be an offenfive and difgufting object.-The ftrongest characteristic of fincerity is not only to do good, but to take a pleafure in it. This is the fterling ftamp of reflection. And if any thing is current in the court above it is this. Your expreffions of friendfhip meet the most welcome reception in a heart moft fincerely devoted to it. There they find a fecure, fettled refidence: and with fuch delightful guetis I can fit down in peace and comfort, though others withdraw their failes, and load me with calumnies and reproach. They are welcome, if it will give them any fatisfaction. Retired into that temple which friendship hath confecrated, I am fecured from their attacks. It was not till I returned from church in the morning that I received your kind prefent.They are very good; and I intend to diftribute them tomorrow. I know the parfon will relifh them. But there was fomething fent with them that I relifhed more than an epicure could the richest dainty. I might return your compliment with more propriety than you bestowed it; for if any thing ever exceeded the command of words, it is the exquifite fatisfaction I received from your most beautiful letter. "The fentiments were conceived by the warmth of a benevolent heart: a difcerning underftanding confirmed their truth: gene rofity, with the alliftance of elegance, gave variety to beauty."Such was your letter-thefe its characteristicsand the beft expreffion of its excellence must be borrowed from itself. — I have just received a very courteous and fatherly letter from Dr. He gives me advice in refpect to my new office, and lays a ftrong emphafis on my preaching much on the great fcheme of REDEMPTION. By marking it fo peculiarly I was inclined to think that he fufpected my fentiments to be rather lax and free on that fubject. Perhaps he may think I have imbibed fome of Bihop Hoadley's principles with refpect to the facrament, which I know he greatly dif approves of, and thinks them very fubverfive of the true, original defigns of the gofpel. After all, I think that their fentiments are more nearly united than they may appear to be at firft view. He muft furely dislike the Calviniftic doctrine of Christ's fatisfaction. He must fee how totally inconfiftent it is with the mercy of God, which is always reprefented in feripture as the firft and only fpring of redemption. Now, I cannot well difcern a middle path between that and the Bishop's reprefentation of the matter. If Chrift fully fatisfied divine juftice, which (as the the Calvinifts fay) would be paid to the uttermoft farthing; the unavoid able confequence is, that mercy on the father's part must be totally excluded, and all our obligations are due to the fon. If a creditor is determined to arreft and throw me into prifon, and another interposes, out of pure gene rofity, to rescue me, and get my dif. charge, by a full payment of the debt, can I thank the creditor? Certainly not. I owe nothing to him, becaufe he was relentless, and would not difcharge me till his claims were anfwered: and as long as they were answered, it matters not by whom in refpect of him. But if the pure and voluntary benevolence of the Father was, as the fcripture conftantly fays, the original, impulfive caufe of our redemption, then the obligation is to be referred principally to him. He works by fecondary inftruments in the economy of providence and grace. Chrift was one great inftrument of our redemption :not by the purchase of it, but by the revelation of it. By him it was fent as a free gift: and though we are taught to love and admire fecondary agents, yet the chief praife is to be attributed to the great firtt cause that is all in all. -This appears to be the genuine, original doctrine of the gofpel. Reafon approves and admires it: and gratitude hath the wideft fcope for the exercife of the finer pallions of the human heart. I have not received even one gentle remonftrance for my freedom in a cer tain affair. I mentioned it immediately as I came home, fcorning to cloke or hide what I had no reafon to be afhamed of. I hope it is a good omen. They fee my firmnefs and independence; and though many in private may complain, yet very few care to reveal their complaints to me.-There is nothing like giving folks a confcioufness of what you are. This puts a reftraint upon them, and though it doth not fecure you from their fecret jealoufy and refentment yet it certainly doth from their open petulance. I long to hear your fentiments of my rencounter with that little fpitish wafp of the north. He hath the inclination to fting, and would do it to poifon with fome timorous, tender fouls. But he cannot make me feel it. There are many guards upon my flesh.-If any thing can be done to make me feel, it must be a large collection of ftings made into one, well pointed and poifoned.And what then?-hath not friendship a lenient hand, and cannot the adminifter a remedy that can heal the deepest wounds that malice and zeal can make ?————With this I rest in peace, and fhall never want the confolation I wish whilft Mrs. — numbers with her friends her affectionate L. K. LETTER III. WHY fhould you delight to torture my curiofity? The power which excited, can only gratify it. You are not a bankrupt in praife, and not like to be fo; and, therefore, under Bo kind of neceffity of borrowing it at any rate. If I was not well affured of this, I fhould have been apt to have fufpected you had a defign upon me on that head. Appearances are much against you, for writing fo beautifully, and complaining fo unjustly. "Had you the pen of a Sterne you would give me the story!" What an excufe for fuch an omiffion! when not only the materials were ready at hand, but every ingredient to cement, every ornament to adorn, every inftrument to mould, to polifh, to complete. "But where was the skill to compofe?" In YourSELF. I would venture to reft the appeal with a ftranger, with your laft letter in his hand. Can that pen diftort in description which gives us fuch exquifite touches of beauty and variety in reflection? Can the hand which hath unfolded all the brighter excellencies of the moral fhade or difguife the fory? It cannot be. The moral is the ftory's highest perfection. It fublimes it beyond its native pitch, extracts from it it finer qualities, or rather mingles with it that celeftial fire which gives that animation, beauty, and expreffion to it which the foul does to the body. I have paid this fmall and unequal tribute to your genius. To your humanity, let wretchedness, taught by its gentle influence to fing, pay a higher and nobler tribute than falls within the A compafs of language to exprefs. How truly divine that melody which gratitude calls forth from ftrings before difcordant! Benevolence attunes them, and as that breathes they vibrate the very mufic of the fpheres." The account which you continue to give me of your uncle diftreffeth me greatly. I regard him in that high and diftinguishing light you do, I efteem his virtues which are of the greater kind-I revere his abilities-which really clafs him with the firft rate ge. nuifes of the age. I am happy that I knew him; and promifed myfelf ftill greater pleasure and improvement from his acquaintance. How fincerely I 4 fhall lament his lofs! and for you, my friend, I fhall feel all that fympathy can excite. This is friendship's ultimate bond it is the character of its reality on earth-the very rudiments of its high perfection in heaven-the firft buddings of that celeftial plant whofe branches point to a more friendly foil, where no corroding inEfects prey upon its root-where no contagious blaftings contract its lovely foliage, or nip its fair and opening bloffoms. In that aufpicious region, the proper clime of truth, virtue, and benevolence, and, therefore, the native country of the heaven born foul-every amiable principle will be cherished by that immortal dew which the fountain of love diftills, and unfolded by the warmth of that all-animating fun, which knows no change, and fees no cloud. Thus, indeed, virtue will be like the tree planted by the rivers of water, which bringeth forth its fruit in its feafon, and whofe leaf withereth not." Green in immortal youth, it will know no autumn-loaded with all the pride of plenty, it will experience no winter-ftrong with increafing vigour, unfading bloom will fmile around it, and decay will not, as here, ftep clofe on the foot of age. It is a happiness to be able to enter into reflections, and to cherish those wishes which connect us with immortality. What will the tranfport of poffeffion be! The mind is loft in purfuing an object fo immense and aftonishing! words fail. The powers of imagination languish with their own efforts. Mortality drops its dark curtain-and heaven only can draw it back. I think I need not ask your pardon for moralizing fo very seriously, If I have not weakened the subject by expanding it, or flattered it by dull and trite remarks, I know it will not be difliked because it is moral and grave. Your letter infpired me with fentiments of the ferious and plaintive kind, and other circunftances have concurred to ftrengthen their impreffion. It is neceffary-I am fure I find it fo!-to recal the roving excurfions of giddy fancy, and check thofe wild and wan ton flutterings which diffipate the very beft powers of the mind, and in the gay rambles of loofe imagination weaken and unfit them for folid purfuits. Be you, my dear Madam, my guide to reftrain, as well as my friend to chear and fupport my mind. Happy am I in a connection with one who unites each of these characters! I number it amongft the first bleffings of indulgent heaven, It is the cordial drop which it mingles with the cup of lifeand all its bitter draughts are sweetened by its influence. May nothing tinge or four it. Ever clear, gentle, and prevailing, may it contribute, as to the paft, fo to the future happiness of Your affectionate REFLECTION. METAPHYSICS, however ufeful to detect the fubtilty of the arguments of other, are often very detri L. K. |