4 180 The HISTORY of the laft Seffion of Parliament. April Thefe were the outrages alluded to both by the crown and by parliament, and notwithstanding many things may be urged in extenuation of an infatuated multitude, ftill it must be acknowJedged, that the defpotifm of a mob is of all tyrannies the most intolerable, and that excelles of this nature in the populace fhould, for the fake of example be punished with the utmost feyerity. They were therefore very proper objects of parliamentary refentment; and the House of Commons with great juftice diftinguished the Right Hon. Mr. Harley the lord mayor of London with thanks for having fpiritedly exerted himself in oppofing the rioters, and made a compenfation to Mr. Ruffel and Mr. Capel, two magif trates of Southwark, for fome damages they had fuftained in a like laudable endeavour to suppress disturbances in their neighbourhood. The rage of the populace was at this time particularly directed against the Lord Mayor of London, who, during the election of members for that city, in which he was chofen, had been faid to treat Mr. Wilkes with remarkable neglect; on the first night of rejoicing therefore, in confequence of Mr. Wilkes's fuccefs in Middlefex, the moh, in their progress through the city, topped at the Manlion houfe, and infifted on an immediate illumination. The Lord Mayor happened to be at his feat in the country, but his Jady was in town, and, with a degree of extraordinary fortitude, refused to comply, though the prodigious blaze of lights from every quarter round her, manifefted the dread which was univerfally entertained of the rabble; on this refufal the Manfion-house was attacked with repeated vollies of miffile weapons, till the lamps and the windows were totally demolished, and confiderable damage done to fome va luable articles of interior furniture. Having thus wreaked their vengeance on the refidence of the first city magiftrate, they retired for that evening, and returned the fecond night of illu mination, determined to thew farther marks of their anger, if lights were not hung up in honour of Mr. Wilkes: but on the fecond night fuch preparations were made to receive them, as prevented any material violence; and fome were even feized, committed to Newgate, and afterwards fuffered fines or imprisonment for their misdemean. or.-Having thus explained what we undertook to elucidate, it is only neceflary to add in this place, that the bill for prohibiting the exportation of corn, &c. together with the bill for the importation of rye, &c. duty-free, being paffed, and leave being given for a bill to explain, amend, and reduce into one act, the feveral laws now in being, relating to the raising and training the militia in that part of GreatBritain called England, the parlia ment was adjourned, by his majesty's defire to the 21st day of June, and afterwards prorogued to the 11th of Auguft. [To be continued in our next.] To the AUTHOR of the LONDON SIR, A Ta period when whimsical inftitutions are the fashion, will you condefcend to be informed of a little community of a recent establishment, THE BENEVOLENT SOCIETY? The members of The Benevolent Society, in oppofition to the reigning fpirit of the age, are at all times confiftent--no other qualification having been there infifted on, than amiable fenfibility of heart-a qualification indeed utterly indifpenfable, where the fucceeding meeting is to place Virtue in her faireit point of view, and to give to Vice her proper deformity, to enlarge the judgment, awaken the longforgotten (or at least long-neglected) dignity of the female character, and to to cultivate every focial and moral principle, Can it now, fir, be neceffary to proclaim it of feminine manufacture, and feminine population ? As whatever has virtue for its foundation, and propriety for its fupport, cannot fail of receiving encourage ment from a gentleman whose pen has been many years exercised for the inculcation of both, it was last night determined in full affembly, to folicit a corner in your Magazine, for every publication relative to the fociety, all which will be remitted under the lady prefident's feal, and fubfcribed by the jeveral members. Eight ladies are already enrolled, nor is the number ever to exceed a dozen, of which two are wives, two are widows, three young unmarried damfels, and one a virgin ftricken in years. A univerfal correfpondence will he opened, and all letters, agreeable to decorum and fentiment, duly attended to, nor can it be prefumption to hope; that the hiftories, obfervations, ideas, and reflections of eight not uninformed females, even unaffifted by foreign fupplies, may afford a variety of entertainment, if not inftruction for your fair readers. As to the rules, method of conftituting, or detaching a member (no expulfive claufe being neceffary, or practicable with the BENEVOLENTS) they are the fimpleft in nature, inclination, convenience, felf-fatisfaction and focial, comprehending the whole. Having thus communicated all the preparatory circumstances, I will prefume to introduce the ladies to your acquain tance. The presidential chair was unanimoully voted to Mrs. Milnham, the elder of the widows-who, though turned of forty, and inconceivably exercifed in the fchool of difappointment, joins the molt engaging vivacity, to the moft lively goodness of heart. Her father and mother unfortunately perithed, at an early period of her existence, in their passage to Ireland; and as generofity was that unfortunate father's characteristic, and his only provision a place under the government, beauty and virtue became the only inheritance of his daughter in confequence of which this daughter experienced innumerable diktreffes (which in all probability will 181 be occafionally mentioned) before that beauty and that virtue obtained her a man of fortune for her legal protector. Her husband's tenderness and admiration, contrary to all example, feemed to increase with increafing time affluence and tranquillity her poffeffions, gratitude and affection the bleffed inhabitants of her bofom : but fo fleeting is human felicity, that in the inftant we imagine we grafp it, it flies us for ever, and the fhaft of anguish is lodged beyond all power of extraction. She was feized with the fmall pox, and as her complexion, and every charm of her countenance became a prey to that mercilefs diforder, her weak minded husband, incapable of diftinguishing misfortune from offence, foon degenerated into the crueleft neglect of her. But however the was affected on this trying occafion, her temper and her fortitude were inviolably preferved. Never was fa mily regulated with more amiable decorum; children, for she had two little daughters, more properly educated; nor husband more universally obliged and honoured. His heart would frequently reproach him, that all was not right on his part.-Diffipation, nevertheless, seemed to extract the fting, and he continued his wandering unreflecting life, until the grave proved a final interruption. A noble fortune wholly at her own difcretion, for he was the guardian of her children, did not fail to attract a numerous train of courtiers-it was true, they were all well convinced that Mrs. Milnham was a woman of understanding and principle, but then she was a woman, and under fix and twenty, therefore their devoirs must be grateful to her, and fome one or other, be the object of her election. Mrs. Milnham treated them with great civility; to conceive herself affronted would have been to conceive them rational beings, for fools and infants are fecure from the charge of intentional offence. To have proclaimed her refolution of never changing her condition, or to have told them that he was fenfible her perfon poffeffed few attractions, would have been to invite a torrent of absurdity and nonfenfe. She therefore only begged they would allow her time for recollection that her drefs, though not not fufficiently marking her character, yet was fufficient to demonftrate that vanity had not resumed its empire in her heart, and that the man who prefumed to addrefs her before the gaiety of her appearance fhould afford him a fanction, fhould be the man of all others fhe would refufe. This honeft fineffe fucceeded to her with---and as the fign of grace was never hung out, fhe was never disturbed by renewed applications. Her beloved children were all her felicity and care, and as an additional exercife of her patience and refignation, they were at diftant periods required at her hands. Heaven had bestowed, and heaven demanded. The task of humanity was to avoid the fin of murmuring. The fecond in esteem is a lady Mary Bristow, whofe husband went out a commodore in the late war, accompanied by two fons, the one fifteen, the other twenty years old. In a warm and vigorous attack on a well fortified garrison, it was the commodore's misfortune to receive many dangerous wounds, and to fee his eldeft fon expire at his feet, in the moment he was endeavouring to relieve his father. The furviving boy loft his right arm, an unhappiness, which in conjunction with the uncommon merits of his difpofition and character, frequently procure him the indulgence of attending his mother and filter Sophia to the fociety. Mrs. Stanley, who poffeffes the third rank, if fuch a diftinction can be proper where all difclaim fuperiority, is the wife of a Weft-India merchant, a man of large fortune, but most capricious temper---the turns and ebullitions of which are invariably fuftained by her with the dignity of good fenfe, and the uncontending confide. ration of good nature, though approbation and gratitude are her's in the most lively degree, when reafon predominates, but as the flightest contradiction, or the minutest interruption by whatever means derived, produce a torrent of frenzy, and fubfide into difhumour, confequently the hour of approbation is too fhort lived to atone for days and weeks of unmanly reproaches and complaints. The widow of the honourable Mr. Lloyd, just turned of three and twen A pril ty, is the fourth lady I fhall present to you.-After an acquaintance of five years with the man of her choice, whofe fortune was rather inferior to her own, her relations thought proper to confent to their union: but it was merely confenting to her obtaining a tender fanction for lamenting.He lived only fix months-yet though deprived of the power of contribu ting to his happiness, the proves the utmost honour to his memory. youth, beauty, amiable fentiments, might recommend her to any fufceptible heart, or her fortune excite the mercenary one to folicit her favour, but he is fo uniformly collected, fo confiftently averfe to every overture, that the fecures herfelf from thofe devoirs, every beholder confefles the is intitled to receive. Her Mifs Sophia Bristow is what all her young acquaintance call a prude at eighteen-that is, fhe will not be treated like a fool because the is handsome, nor fuffer the fmalleft infringement of delicacy, because the may be converfing with a rake or a coxcomb-her livelinefs is the oppofite to levity, her referve to affectation, and her whole conduct under the regulation of the most amiable principles. Every tender, benevolent, and filial inclination, glow warmly in her heart, and all friends behold her with unspeaka. ble delight. The Mifs Middletons are particular favourites with Lady Briftow, not that they can by any means boast the perfections of her daughter, but that fhe knows them unfortunate, and believes them deferving. Their mother died when they were very young, and their father foon united himself to a gay and inconfiderate creature. The nurfery and the boarding school by concealing them from his fight, and preventing them proving the fmallest interruption to this fluttering companion, fo abundantly alienated his affections, that except the remitting them the intereft of fifteen thousand pounds for their provifion (the principle of which, by their grandfather's will, is to be divided between them on the day of marriage, or at the age of twenty) he became utterly neglectful of them. On their leaving school, Lady Bristow prevailed on Mrs. Min 1769. -The Benevolent Society. 183 and accept the beft compliments of the fociety. I am, fir, Your humble fervant, SOPHRONIA. barely feventeen, promiles to be a To the AUTHOR of the LONDON handiome woman. The last lady, though not least in love, is a Mrs. Seymour, whofe heart, infenfibly attached to a moft amiable relation. This relation, formed in a peculiar manner for pleafing, had no fufpicion of the favourable fentiments with which he had infpired his coufin, nor had he an idea of enquiring by what tye, but that of confanguinity, he was fo abundantly united to her. To know her happy was to be fo himfelf, and to obtain marks of her approbation his highest ambition. He danced with her one evening at a ball, and from too great attention to her fafety, was negligent of his own, and that her chair might not escape his watchful eye, let down the front glafs of the one in which he was conveyed. A cold-a fever was the confequence he died-confeffing her the miftrefs of his best affections, and the furvived to weep his love. Many of fers were made her, but he was neither inclined nor capable of perfuading herself that the ought to beftow her perfon where the could not give her heart. She is now turned of fifty, and it is very poffible the reader may derive as much entertainment from little anecdotes fhe is poffefled of, as from any one perfon in the whole aflembly. May I now, fir, prefume to tell you that next to the favour of giving thefe particulars a place in your Magazine, will be the indulgence of promifing all letters to the fociety, poft paid, to pafs through your hands? There is a vacancy for four members, and those who have propofals to make, or matter to communicate, may, with your leave, direct to the Benevolent Society, under cover, for the Editors of the London Magazine. I will no longer trefpafs on your patience, than to beg you will adjuft the little prelimininaries of the corre fpondence to your own fatisfaction, SIR, MAGAZINE. S there have been divers calcula view, of the enfuing tranfit of Venus over the difk of the fun; several of which have made mention of the great use it will be of in aftronomy, &c. (fhould the feveral obfervers be favoured with a clear fky) yet no writer has gone fo far as to thew the curious part of mankind how, or after what manner this ufe is to be obtained, and the nature thereof; therefore I do not doubt but fome of your readers, would be glad to know, in a plain, eafy manner, fomething tending that way, whereby they may fee more clearly into the nature and import of its real ufe. In explaining of which, I fhall follow the fteps of our late celebrated Dr. Edmund Halley, and from whom alfo I fhall beg leave to borrow my plan. And first, the ufe and advantage this tranfit is to be of to us, is this; by it we can determine the Sun's horizontal parallax, to a greater nicety than has ever yet been attempted; and from that we can also determine the Sun's true distance from the earth; knowing which, we can also find all the planets dittances both from the fun and from the earth; thereby giving the aftronomers an opportunity to fettle their theories, to a greater degree of exactnefs, than ever before could be done; which will open a way for improving not only every part of aftronomy, but geography, and navigation; and hence all must allow it to be advantageous even to the whole world. The reafon why nothing else could ferve for this great purpose, is because the horizontal parallax of the fun being so small, that all other methods that have, or could be invented, proved upon trial to be infufficient for fo nice a point; for all the oblervations requifite could not be made. accurate enough to determine it; an error in obferving being scarcely to be • Which is the angle that the femidiameter of the earth appears to have at the fun, which Sir Ifaac Newton fufpojed when greatest not to exceed 10". avoided, 184 Ufe of the Tranfit of Venus. THE S P L E M F D Aprik taining this parallax of the fun; in order to which the following requifites are neceffary, viz. as in this fcheme, let AB be the fun's diameter, =31′ 37′′, CD the vifible way of Venus over the fun, whose duration is (i. e. the central) 6 h. 17' 16'; EFthe earth's diameter, 7969,16 Englith miles. Let KLNM be the parallel of any place, we will fay London (by way of exemplifying it) in which latitude we must find how many miles make one degree of longitude, which is thus: As radius: the miles in one degree under the equator: CS la titude: miles in one degree in that parallel, viz. 43, 23; hence, by this I find, that 43,23 miles (true measure) is one degree of longitude in the parallel of London, whose radius is 2476,89 miles, found thus; 43,23 × 360 = 15562,80; then if 3,14159:115562, 80 4953,79 diameter, half of which is the radius. Let KL and MN be chords, each of 6h. 17′ 16′′ the central duration of the tranfit, which reduced into degrees of the equator, are 94° 19' = 6555,004 miles. SCHEME. B = Now from this diagram it is plain, that if there were two fpectators at E and F, without any diurnal motion, they would have the fame angle for the fun's diameter feen to each of them and to a spectator at the earth's center AIB 31' 3", and the fame duration of the tranfit from O to P= 6 h. 17 16 of time; but fince the fpectator at M to the weft of London, after he has feen the ingrefs at 9, during the time of the tranfit be carried to N by the rotation of the earth, and there will fee the egrefs at r; and he, at L, under the fame meridian, in the east, that saw the ingrefs at t, will be thereby arrived in contrary direction to K, to fee the egrefs at S. Here will be a double parallax, answerable to the time and angle of the tranfit, along qt and rs; the one in excels the other in defect, and both the very fame, as if a fingle fpectator had feen the ingrefs when he was at E, at the point ; and the other when he was at F, at the point D; as compared with a fpectator that continued in the See a further account by me in the Appendix to the Lond. Mag. for 1768. Venus being nearer the Earth than Miercury, therefore is the best for the Purpose. earth's |