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veyed into the blood; and when the sun is among the horned signs, may produce such a spirit of unchastity, as is dangerous to the honour of your worships families.

That mankind living much upon the seeds and other parts of plants, these being impregnated with the sunbeams, may vegetate and grow in the bowels, a thing of more dangerous consequence to human bodies than breeding of worms; and this will fall heaviest upon the poor, who live upon roots; and the weak and sickly, who live upon barley and ricegruel, &c. for which we are ready to produce to your honours the opinions of eminent physicians, that the taste and property of the victuals is much altered to the worse by the said solar cookery, the fricassees being deprived of the haut gout they acquire by being dressed over charcoal.

Lastly, Should it happen by an eclipse of an extraordinary length, that this city should be deprived of the sunbeams for several months; how will his majesty's subjects subsist in the interim, when common cookery, with the arts depending upon it, is totally lost?

In consideration of these, and many other inconveniences your petitioners humbly pray, that your honours would either totally prohibit the confining and manufacturing the sunbeams for any of the useful purposes of life, or in the ensuing parliament procure a tax to be laid upon them, which may answer both the duty and price of coals, and which we humbly conceive cannot be less than thirty shillings per yard square; reserving the sole right and privilege of

the

the catoptrical cookery to the Royal Society, and to the commanders and crews of the bomb-vessels, under the direction of Mr. Whiston for finding out the longitude; who by reason of the remoteness of their stations, may be reduced to straits for want of firing.

And we likewise beg, that your honours, as to the forementioned points, would hear the reverend Mr. Flamstead, who is the legal officer appointed by the government to look after the heavenly luminaries, whom we have constituted our trusty and learned solicitor.

IT CANNOT RAIN BUT IT POURS,

OR,

LONDON STREWED WITH RARITIES.

BEING

An ACCOUNT of the arrival of a White Bear, at the house of Mr. Ratcliff in Bishopsgatestreet: as also of Faustina, the celebrated Italian singing woman; and of the copper-farthing dean from Ireland.

AND LASTLY,

Of the wonderful Wild Man that was nursed in the woods of Germany by a wild beast, hunted and taken in toils; how he behaveth himself like a dumb creature, and is a christian like one of us, being called Peter; and how he was brought to court all in green, to the great astonishment of the quality and gentry, 1726.

WE shall begin with a description of Peter the savage, deferring our other curiosities to some following papers.

Romulus and Remus, the two famous wild men of antiquity, and Orsin that of the moderns, have been justly the admiration of all mankind: nor can we presage less of this wild youth, as may be gathered from that famous and well known prophecy of Lilly's, which being now accomplished, is most easily interpreted:

When

When Rome shall wend to Benevento,
And Espagne break the assiento;
When eagle split shall fly to China,
And christian folks adore Faustina:
Then shall an oak be brought to bed
Of creature neither taught nor fed;
Great feats shall he achieve-

The pope is now going to Benevento: the Spaniards have broke their treaty; the emperor trades to China; and Lilly, were he alive, must be convinced, that it was not the empress Faustina, that was meant in the prophecy.

It is evident by several tokens about this wild gentleman, that he had a father and mother like one of us; but there being no register of his christening, his age is only to be guessed at by his stature and countenance, and appears to be about twelve or thirteen. His being so young was the occasion of the great disappointment of the ladies, who came to the drawingroom in full expectation of some attempt upon their chastity; so far is true, that he endeavoured to kiss the young lady Walpole, who for that reason is become the envy of the circle; this being a declaration of nature in favour of her superiour beauty.

Aristotle says, that man is the most mimick of all animals; which opinion of that great philosopher is strongly confirmed by the behaviour of this wild gentleman, who is endowed with that quality to an extreme degree. He received his first impressions at court: his manners are first to lick people's hands, and then turn his breech upon them; to thrust his hand into every body's pocket; to climb over people's heads and even to make use of the royal hand

to

At his first appear

to take what he has a mind to. ance he seized on the lord chamberlain's staff, and put on his hat before the king; from whence some have conjectured, that he is either descended from a grandee of Spain, or the earls of Kingsale in Ireland. However, these are manifest tokens of his innate ambition; he is extremely tenacious of his own property, and ready to invade that of other people. By this mimick quality he discovered, what wild beast had nursed him: observing children to ask blessing of their mothers, one day he fell down upon his knees to a sow, and muttered some sounds in that humble posture.

It has been commonly thought, that he is Ulrick's natural brother, because of some resemblance of manners, and the officious care of Ulrick about him; but the superiority of parts and genius in Peter demonstrates this to be impossible.

Though he is ignorant both of ancient and modern languages, (that care being left to the ingenious physician, who is entrusted with his education) yet he distinguishes objects by certain sounds framed to himself, which Mr. Rotenberg, who brought him over, understands perfectly. Beholding one day the shambles with great fear and astonishment, ever since he calls man by the same sound, which expresses wolf. A young lady is a peacock, old women magpies and owls; a beau with a toupee, a monkey; glass, ice; blue, red, and green ribbons, he calls rainbow; a heap of gold, a turd. The first ship he saw, he took to be a great beast swimming on her back, and her feet tied above her: the men, that came out of the hold, he took to be her cubs, and wondered they were so unlike their dam. He understands perfectly

the

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