that affords seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, who takes paines to get a good stomacke.

In a word, and what can be said more! Derbyshire is a country where there is lacke of nothing. Sibi sufficit unus. It's England's cornu-copiæ, having almost all necessaries within itselfe, and supplying with its abundance, the wants of other places. It enjoys good aire, fertile ground, pleasant waters; fire and fuel of the best; neighbouring counties fetch her coles from farr, who, being warmed by her fires, cannot but wish and call her blessed. Cattell, corne, sheepe, mill-stones, iron, lead of all sorts and colours, these are her native commodities, which enrich even the Indies, and visit the uttermost coastes of the earth.

I might goe on even to the tyring both of you and myselfe, yet after all I must still leave Derbyshire even as it is, most of her worth and riches hid under ground, in the place of silence. In truth, it's almost a pity to breake up so rich a Haddon-field of discourse, unless we had more time to worke it. I shall onely adde, Derbyshire is a county that lyes in all counties, yea in all parts of Christendome, and beyond; the sun's county, where it never setts, but upon which it shines perpetually. She parts with her entrayles, and without complaints suffers her bowells to be continually torne out, to serve the necessities of all nations under heaven."

There was a collection made, I imagine, at the feast, for the benefit of the poor natives of the county resident in town, for after the last observation there follows, as very naturally to be expected, an inference or exhortation :—

"Let us be children resembling our deare mother. Let us draw forth our soule, [Is. lviii. 10.] our bowells of mercies, our purses at least, to supply out of our sufficiency the necessitie of others; I shall not propose, much less prescribe, I would have it a free-will offering."

1776, April.

*I am not sure that this word is read rightly.

+ A large field much famed for its excellent herbage, here used metaphorically.

Here in the margin, "As the Isle of Rhodes was called Insula Solis, on which it shone every day. Plin. Nat, Hist. 2."

LVII. Dr. Beattie's Account of Second Sight.

MR. URBAN,

THE following remarks upon the second sight, wherewith some of the inhabitants of the Highlands of Scotland are still supposed to be haunted, are extracted from the truly ingenious" Essays" of the celebrated Dr. Beattie, lately printed at Edinburgh, in a large quarto volume, consisting of " Essays on Truth: on Poetry, and Music: on Laughter and Ludicrous Composition; and on the Utility of Classical Learning." Your readers will, I doubt not, be pleased with the sentiments of this philosopher upon so curious a subject. They occur in p. 480, 1, 2, of the work, and will not be deemed unworthy of a place in your valuable Magazine, if an occasional correspondent is not greatly mistaken in his opinion. He has therefore taken the trouble of transcribing them, and hopes they will be inserted as soon as possible.

"I do not find sufficient evidence for the reality of second sight, or at least of what is commonly understood by that term. A treatise on the subject was published in the year 1762, in which many tales were told of persons, whom the author believed to have been favoured, or haunted, with these illuminations; but most of the tales were trifling and ridiculous and the whole work betrayed, on the part of the compiler, such extreme credulity, as could not fail to prejudice many readers against his system. That any of these visionaries are liable to be swayed in their declarations by sinister views, I will not say; though a gentleman of character assured me, that one of them offered to sell him this unaccountable talent for half-a-crown. But this I think may be said with confidence, that none but ignorant people pretend to be gifted this way. And in them it may be nothing more, perhaps, than short fits of sudden sleep or drowsiness attended with lively dreams, and arising from some bodily disorder, the effect of idleness, low spirits, or a gloomy imagination. For it is admitted, even by the most credulous highlanders, that, as knowledge and industry are propagated in their country, the second sight disappears in proportion: and nobody ever laid claim to this faculty, who was much employed in the intercourse of social life. Nor is it at all extraordinary, that one should have the appearance of being awake, and should even think one's self so, during these fits of dozing; or that they should come on suddenly, and while

one is engaged in some business. The same thing happens to persons much fatigued, or long kept awake, who frequently fall asleep for a moment, or for a longer space, while they are standing, walking, or riding on horseback. Add but a lively dream to this slumber, and (which is the frequent effect of disease) take away the consciousness of having been asleep; and a superstitious man, who is always hearing and believing tales of second sight, may easily mistake his dream for a waking vision; which, however, is soon forgotten when no subsequent occurrence recalls it to his memory; but which, if it should be thought to resemble any future event, exalts the poor dreamer into a highland prophet. This conceit makes him more recluse and more melancholy than ever, and so feeds his disease, and multiplies his visions; which, if they are not dissipated by business or society, may continue to haunt him as long as he lives; and which, in their progress through the neighbourhood, receive some new tincture of the marvellous from every mouth that promotes their circulation. As to the prophetical nature of this second sight, it cannot be admitted at all. That the deity should work a miracle, in order to give intimation of the frivolous things that these tales are made up of, the arrival of a stranger, the nailing of a coffin, or the colour of a suit of clothes; and that these intimations should be given for no end, and to those persons only who are idle and solitary, who speak Erse, or who live among mountains and deserts, is like nothing in nature or providence that we are acquainted with; and must therefore, unless it were confirmed by satisfactory proof, (which is not the case,) be rejected as absurd and incredible. The visions, such as they are, may reasonably enough be ascribed to a distempered fancy. And that in them, as well as in our ordinary dreams, certain appearances should, on some rare occasions, re semble certain events, is to be expected from the laws of chance; and seems to have in it nothing more marvellous or supernatural, than that the parrot, who deals out his scurrilities at random, should sometimes happen to salute the passenger by his right appellation."

1777, March.

LVIII. Useful Hints for Learning to Swim. By Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. F.R.S. In a Letter to a Friend.

DEAR SIR,

I CANNOT be of opinion with you, that it is too late in life for you to learn to swim; the river near the bottom of your garden, affords a most convenient place for the purpose. And, as your new employment requires your being often on the water, of which you have such a dread, I think you would do well to make the trial; nothing being so likely to remove those apprehensions, as the consciousness of an ability to swim to the shore in case of an accident, or of supporting yourself in the water till a boat could come to take you up.

I do not know how far corks or bladders may be useful in learning to swim, having never seen much trial of them. Possibly they may be of service in supporting the body while you are learning what is called the stroke, or that manner of drawing in and striking out the hands and feet that is necessary to produce progressive motion. But you will be no swimmer till you can place some confidence in the power of the water to support you; I would therefore advise the acquiring that confidence in the first place, especially as I have known several, who, by a little of the practice necessary for that purpose, have insensibly acquired the stroke, taught as it were by nature.

The practice I mean is this; chusing a place where the water deepens gradually, walk coolly into it till it is up to your breast, then turn round your face to the shore, and throw an egg into the water, between you and the shore; it will sink to the bottom, and be easily seen there, as the water is clear. It must lie in the water so deep as that you cannot reach it to take it up but by diving for it. To encourage yourself in order to do this, reflect that your progress will be from deeper to shallower water, and that at any time you may, by bringing your legs under you, and standing on the bottom, raise your head far above the water, Then plunge under it with your eyes open, throwing yourself towards the egg, and endeavouring, by the action of your hands and feet against the water, to get forward till within reach of it. In this attempt you will find that the water buoys you up against your inclination; that it is not so easy a thing to sink as you imagined; that you cannot, but by active force, get down to the egg. Thus you feel the

power of the water to support you, and learn to confide in that power; while your endeavours to overcome it, and to reach the egg, teach you the manner of acting on the water with your feet and hands, which action is afterwards used in swimming to support your head higher above water, or to go forward through it.

I would the more earnestly press you to the trial of this method, because, though I think I satisfied you that your body is lighter than water, and that you might float in it a long time with your mouth free for breathing, if you would put yourself in a proper posture, and would be still and forbear struggling, yet, till you have obtained this experimental confidence in the water, I cannot depend on your having the necessary presence of mind to recollect that posture, and the directions I gave you relating to it. The surprise may put all out of your mind. For, though we value ourselves on being reasonable knowing creatures, reason and knowledge seem, on such occasions, to be of little use to us; and the brutes, to whom we allow scarcely a glimmering of either, appear to have the advantage of us.

I will, however, take this opportunity of repeating those particulars to you, which I mentioned in our last conversation, as, by perusing them at your leisure, you may possibly imprint them so in your memory, as, on occasion, to be of some use to you.

First, that, though the legs, arms, and head of a human body, being solid parts, are specifically somewhat heavier than fresh water, yet the trunk, particularly the upper part, from its hollowness, is so much lighter than water, as that the whole of the body, taken together, is too light to sink wholly under water, but some part will remain above, until the lungs become filled with water; which happens from drawing water into them instead of air, when a person, in the fright, attempts breathing, whilst the mouth and nostrils are under water.

2dly, That the legs and arms are specifically lighter than salt water, and will be supported by it; so that a human body would not sink in salt water, though the lungs were filled as above, but from the greater specific gravity of the head.

3dly, That therefore a person throwing himself on his back in salt water, and extending his arms, may easily lie so as to keep his mouth and nostrils free for breathing; and, by a small motion of his hands, may prevent turning, if he should perceive any tendency to it.

4thly, That, in fresh water, if a man throws himself on