ing thereto remains unexamined. Soon as the nature of the patient, and the debility of the agent come to be afcertained, the miracle ceafes. The principal point therefore to be attended to in making experiments, is the proper choice of matter to act, or be acted up. on; the ftrength of one, and debility of the other; their active and paffive qualities. On a due enquiry into the proportion and difproportion of things, and attentive obfervation of caufes, which, on a superficial view, feem unfit to produce the effects they are known to do, depend many wonderful fecrets of nature. A few inftances to our purpofe will be fufficient to remove doubt and incredulity.

If you wish to make a carbuncle, or any thing to fhine by night, provide yourself with a number of glow-worms, which, having bruifed, inclofe in a glafs veffel, and bury them for a fortnight in warm horfe dung, when you may diftill water from them, which is to be preferved in cryftal or glafs and it will afford a light in the darkest place fufficient to read by. Some adopt another method, by adding to the worms, galls of tortoifes, weafels, furos, and water dogs, which, being buried in dung as before, and remaining therein the time already prescribed, will produce, by distillation, a liquid, that will anfwer the fame purpose.

In order to make hot water, take dragon-wort, diftil it, and you fhall have a water, which, being mixed with wine, or any other liquor, and fet near the flame of a candle, will take fire.

Serpents, fquibs, &c. are thus made: Take a pound of fulphur, two pounds of charcoal of willow, and fix pounds of faltpetre, reduce them to a fine powder, and wrap them in paper cafes: these cafes ought to be long, flender, and well filled with the above ingre dients, if intended to rife high

but fhort, and only half full, if defigned to imitate thunder.

Albertus's fentiments upon the wonderful appearances in nature-impreffed with a conviction, that it is the duty of philofophers to examine the principles on which are founded those operations that create wonder among men, a reftlefs purfuit after knowledge, made me affiduous in tracing it through various authors, until a thought fuggefted itfelf, which muft ftrike all men, even the unlettered-namely, the connexion and affinity there are between man and his virtues, through the means of incantations, forcery, characters, words, and many more inconfiderable things, which do not feem poffible, as not being fuppofed to have a fufficient caufe; after having weighed the matter, and studied it with the attention methought it deferved, I hit upon an opinion appofite to my purpose in Avicenna, on the ope tions of nature, to this purport-That, in the human foul, there exifts a faculty of changing things, when it is under the influence of any paffion carried to excess, fuch as love, hatred, and fo forth. Now when the foul indulges an excess of this kind, it manifestly changes things agreeably to its wishes; this I had fome difficulty to conceive; but on my becoming converfant with authors who have treated of necromancy, images, and magic, I discovered that the affections of the foul, are the main-fpring of all; whether this affection of the foul be fuch as to alter the body it inhabits, or that of others, or that, on account of its exalted nature, it commands an implicit obedience from all externals; or that, in aid of this affection, the afpect of the heavenly bodies, concur with a fortunate juncture of time, which may, perhaps, produce thofe effects, which we are apt to afcribe to the foul.

Let her reflect that the steps fhe overleaps to afcend the fummit of her wifhes,, must be painfully measured back in cafe of a fall.

FORTUNE.

Efteem and duty are to kindle love in her heart; then can wifdom fay, that fhe fhall not be happy?

WISDOM.

If she cannot command happiness, let her deserve it; and that goes a great way towards finding it.

Having opened Rochefter at the be ginning, I beg to be indulged in taking my conclufion alfo from him :

Tell me then the reason why
Love from hearts in love does fly?
Why the bird will build a neft
Where he ne'er intends to rest?
Love, like other little boys,

Cries for hearts, as they for toys;
Which, when gain'd ́in childith play,
Wantonly are hrown away.
Still on wings, or on his knees,
Love Beals on by flow degrees:
Bafely flying when moit priz’3;
Meanly fawning when defpis'd;
Flatt'ring or infulting ever,
Generous and grateful never:
All his joys are fleeting dreams,
All his woes fevere extremes.

I HAVE, for a confiderable time, had it in contemplation to establish a WEEKLY LECTURE OR CONVERSA ZIONI for the occult fciences and true philofophy; but the want of a proper bafis in the public mind has delayed it. I would indeed eftablish two focieties -one more open, the other more confolidated: the laft fhould be of renovated, purified, and invigorated Free Màfonry, from which I will not exclude women: the firft for Noviciates. Perhaps there are few quite ripe for the laft; but the first may, I conceive, be fpeedily established. Only let a fufficient number of perfons of both fexes fend in their names, and engage to fupport it, and I will immediately make the arrangements-their labour will not

be loft, and matter is inexhaustibleStock muft ever rife in these funds. I recommend it carneftly to all, and religiously.

Ifay lecture or converfation, because I would meet all occafions. I am ready to take the amusement of the company on myfelf by a lecture,, if converfation be not fupplied-I am also ready to furrender the lecture to converfation.

The fubfcription must be liberal, as the gradual providing of a library is defirable: but the fcheme will gradually enlarge. However, this point can be fettled on a meeting of the fubfcribers. I have in my eye the fchools of philofophy in Greece. Mr. Locke will keep a book for Subfcribers.

"HERE is Wisdom, let HIM that hath understanding count the number of the beaft, for it is the number of a man; and his number is fix hundred threefcore and fix." REVELATIONS, xiii. 18.

Mr. John Henderfon, whofe come

tary fplendors not long fince illuminated the fphere of learning, firft called my attention to this number in the year 1788. I went up ftairs, and in lefs than half an hour, returned with the anfwer I now publish.

It is a plaufible, but imperfect num

ber,

ber, and therefore is the number of a man; who, on viewing his fuperficial unities, aims at doing every thing, and can do nothing. He runs a fine courfe, fays, "What has been, fhall be;" but, on opening his last double, down a precipice he falls.

To determine the nature of 666, I examined what were the properties of a perfect number, viz. the number of a circle, or 360. I found, that it divided into and 3 without a remainder, fo did 666. This fimilarity rendered the laft plaufible, exclufive of the nature of 3 and 9, which I fhall prefently explain: but when I divided by 7, I detected the imperfection; for 360 divided by 7, left 3, a perfect and productive and vital number remaining; but 666 thus divided, left only 1, unproductive, dead.

EXPLANATIONS.

NO. 3.

I. THREE is PERFECT, becaufe

every entity is neceffarily composed of three, beginning, middle, end; innermoft, middle, outermoft; commencement, progrefs, conclufion, &c. &c. &c.

II. THREE is PRODUCTIVE, be caufe every thing that is perfect (that is perfe&t in its firit principles, in its conftitution, and fuch are all DIVINE Works, and no other), neceffarily produces; trees, water, &c. all produce. This is particularly noticed in the Mofaical account of the Creation.We know that what is imperfect, cannot produce, and if imperfection ftop production, it fhews that perfection is the cause of it; indeed, were it not fo, it is plain, there could be no Creation.

III. THREE is VITAL, becaufe every thing perfect and productive muft neceffarily have LIFE: production is the act of giving Life, and nobody can give that, which it has not; for production is only the increafe of the producer. By the bye, modern philofophy is fhamefully ignorant of these first principles.

NO. 9.

NINE is a number of inflexible re

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folution; it is perfection exercifed, produced, and confummated. It is inflexibly refolved, becaufe, however it extends, it retains its elementary form; no combination of numbers can conceal NINE; only add together the units, which exprefs or compofe any number, and you will fee immediately, whether their fum-total, order them as you pleafe, will divide or not upon NINE, and if not, what will be the remainder above NINE. One inftance is enough, for. there is no exception in this rule-360: I fay 3 and 5 make nine; combine them as you pleafe, you will not get more or less out of them. This divifion of 666 into 9, expreffed too in this particular inftance, by a triple repetition of the fame figure, withew what ftrong refolutions a man can take: the divifion by 7, will fhew us the effect of thefe refolutions. There remains one "How can ONE be warm alone ?" Why do ye not pluck the fruit of your feififhnefs, ye generous Britons, ye notable John Bulls, who lay "Every man for himfelf"there's your fruitwhy don't you eat it you fall-I promile you, and that foon, and to gluttony.

NO. I.

ONE is DEAD, becaufe imperfect, it is either a beginning without a middle and an end, a fuperftructure with no foundation and no props, or a center without radii, a nonentity.It is evidently unproductive.

Now I have done what was never done before: I have defined the difference between the felfifhnefs of GoD and that of Man; one is grounded on his inherent PERFECTION; his incapability of annihilation; his poffeffion of the principles of production, TRINITY. The other is only refolute on a prefumptuous difregard of certain termination, death, inane unity--But I have to explain SEVEN,

NO. 7.

SEVEN is a family number, the founE e 2 dation

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dation of the Social Pact. It confills of twice three, man and wife-and a unit, which reprefents their offspring, not yet capable of production, nor of felf-fuftenance. We may hence obferve, that perfons cannot enter into a conjugal ftate without being perfect: and agreeably to my defcription here, the perfect ftate of the Church is always emblematized in Scripture by a conjugal state.

Thus, we may clofe this head of illuftration, by obferving, that, 360 is a perfect number, and congenial to a perfect figure; for, poffeffing all the firmnefs of Deity 40 times (a number, I fhall probably find fome opportunity of inferting an Effay upon), and running through all the relations of fociety coneluded under that compafs, exhibits a PERFECT REMAINDER; a SOLID MIND, round which,

Impavidum ferient ruinæ.

HOR, Lib. III. Od. 3.

From thefe numbers, let us alfo obferve, the difference between the works of Nature and of Art: the firft, as I have already flightly obferved, are uniformly productive, whether animals, trees, land, water, air, fire: the latter are not only unproductive of themfelves, but the lafl effects of their efforts and experiments on any thing, which has the misfortune to fall under their hands, is to reduce it to caput mortuum. So much for a man, and his number detached from Divinity, in a philofophical view.

I fhall now illuftrate the meaning I have affigned to this number, on principles of prophecy and Revelation."

That man acting independently of God and Chrift, is very Anti-chrift, affume he the form of the afcetic or the debauchee, obfcured by a mitre or a crown, infamous in philofophy or in perfecution-I fhall demonflrate:

First, To Philofophy, Rev. xiii. 11. to the verfe with which I began this Effay The Beaft had two HORNS like a lamb, and he spake as a Dragon. And he exercifeth all the power of the

tempt.

as many as

To perfecution--For the alliance between perfecution and philofophy, (i. e. the philofophy of anti-christ) I fhall the 15th v.quote would not worship the image of the beaft fhould be killed," &c. I alfo quote the Birmingham riots. "How ?" fay you" the philofopher was the perfecuted." Come back with me to the tenth verfe and I will explain it, and you will fee that fcripture does not prophecy by halves. "He that leadeth into captivity, fhall go into captiwvity-be that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the word." Has not Dr. PRIESTLY's life been an open war with those, who would fhelter humanity under the wings of divinity, as neither vital nor perfect without that protection and union? Has he not avowedly, through his life (his death I fhould and do fay) maintain what I have defcribed as the principle of anti-chrift and of death-viz. MAN'S INDEPENDENCE OF COD and the poffibility of fubfittence when the first caufe of exilence is removed the first anti-chrift in terms, the fecord death in effect— the first rebellion, the fecond folly Has he not been" a perfecutor and injurious?" Has he not under a lamb like

*Acknowledged Anti-chrift, fo this is only another form.

fron