Glamorgan, relative to his commiffion to treat with the Irish Catholics, the Editor hath taken occafion to introduce a very curious letter from that Earl to Lord Clarendon, foon after the Restoration. The Marquis of Worcester (late Earl of Glamorgan) to the Earl of Clarendon. My Lord Chancellor, "For his Majesty's better information, through your favour, and by the channel of your Lordship's understanding things rightly, give me leave to acquaint you with one chief key, wherewith to open the fecret paffages between his late Majelly and myfelf in order to bis fervice; which was no other than a real expofing of myself to any expence or difficulty, rather than his juft defign fhould not take Place; or, in taking effect, that his honour should faffer. An effect, you may justly fay, relifhing more of a paffionate and blind affection to his Majefty's fervice, than of difcretion and care of myself. This made me take a refolution that he fhould have feemed angry. with me at my return out of Ireland, until I had brought him into a polture and power to own his commands, to make good his inftructions, and to reward my faithfulness and zeal therein. Your Lordship may well wonder, and the King too, at the amplitude of my commiffion. But when you have understood the height of his Majesty's defign, you will foon be fatisfied that nothing lefs could have made me capable to effect it; being that one army of ten thousand men was to have come out of Ireland through North Wales; another, of a like number at leaft under my command in chief, havė expected my return in South Wales, which Sir Henry Gage was to have commanded as Lieutenant General; and a third should have confifted of a matter of fix thousand men, two thousand of which were to have been Liegois, commanded by Sir Francis Edmonds, two thoufand Lorrainers to have been commanded by Colonel Browne, and two thoufand of fuch French, English, Scots, and Irish, as could be drawn out of Flanders and Holland. And the fix thousand were to have been, by the Prince of Orange's affiftance, in the affociated counties and the Governor of Lyne, coufin german to Major Bacon, Major of my own regiment, was to have delivered the town nnto them. "The maintenance of this army of foreigners was to have come from the Pope, and fuch Catholick Princes as he should draw into it, having engaged to afford and procure 30,000l. a month; out of which the foreign army was firft to be provided for; and the remainder to be divided among other armies. And for this purpose had I power to treat with the Pope and Catholick Princes with particular advantages promifed to Catholicks, for the quiet enjoying their religion, without the penalties which the ftatutes in force had power to inflict upon them. And my inftructions for this purpose, and my powers to treat and conclude thereupon, were figned by the King under his pocket fignet, with blanks for me to put in the names of Pope or Princes, to the end the King might have a ftarting hole to deny the having given me fuch commiflions, if excepted against by his own fubjects; leaving me as it were at stake, who for his Majetty's fake was willing to undergo it, trufting to his word alone. "In like manner did I not ftick upon having this commiffion inrolled or affented unto by his Council, nor indeed the feal to be put unto it in an ordinary manner, but as Mr. Endymion Porter and I could perform it, with rollers and no fcrew-prefs. "One thing I befeech your Lordship to obferve, that though I had power by it to erect a mint any where, and to difpofe of his Majefty's revenues and delinquents' eftates, yet I never did either to the value of a farthing, notwithstanding my own neceffities, acknowledging that the intention of thofe powers given me, was to make use of them when the armies fhould be afoot; which defign being broken by my commitment in Ireland, I made no ufe of thofe powers; and confequently, repaying now whatever was dilburfed by any for patents of honour, as now I am contented to do, it will evidently appear that nothing hath ftuck to my fingers in order to benefit or felf-intereft; which I humbly fubmit to his Majefty's princely confideration, and the management of my concerns therein to your Lordship's grave judgment, and to the care of me, which your Lordhip was pleafed to own was recommended unto you by the late King, my moft gracious Mafter, of glorious memory; and the continuance thereof is moft humbly implored and begged by me who am really and freely at your Lordship's difpofal, firft, in order to his Majesty's fervice, and next to the approving myself, My Lord, June 11, 1660. Your Lordship's moft really affectionate WORCESTER." Dr. Scrope obferves, in a note, that this letter is decifive of the difpute concerning the authenticity of the commiffion granted to the Earl of Glamorgan. But, in the preface, he retracts this affertion, as too inconfiderately expreffed. The letter, he says, does not prove the commiffion to be authentic, the proof there refting folely upon the veracity of the writery a very interested perfon. The Doctor takes notice, however, that the authen ticity of the commiffion is abundantly confirmed by two letters from Sir Edward Hyde to Secretary Nicholas, and by a letter of Monf. Montreuil's to the King, all of which are inferted in this volym The general fact, therefore, is now afcertained beyond G contradiction, whatever credit be paid to fome of the particular circumftances mentioned by the Earl of Glamorgan. We fhall close the prefent article, with a spirited letter of Lord Culpeper's, concerning the ftate of his Majefty's affairs in 1645-6. The Lord Culpeper to Mr. John Ashburnham. "This is again moft earneftly to intreat you to bend all your wits so advance the Scotch treaty. It is the only way left to fave the crown and three kingdoms; all other tricks will deceive you. This is no age for miracles; and certainly the King's condition is fuch, that lefs than a miracle cannot fave him without a treaty, nor any treaty (probably) but that. If this take, the King will be in London in peace before Chriftmas. Therefore, if the opportunity I left in your your power be loft, give not over till you find another; and if you find it not, make it. It is no time to dally upon distinctions and criticifms. All the world will laugh at them when a crown is in question. If you can make the Scots your friends upon any honeft terms, do it. Remember, that kingdom united, and the North, and the King's friends at London, will quickly mafter any oppofition which the independents can make. The queftion ought not to be, Whether, but how, you fhould do it. If you can engage a treaty, get a pafs for me, I will quickly be with you. Whether the King take my advice, or not, he will believe it to be the beft counsel that ever was given him. The best you can hope for in the Weft is a reprieve; Midfummer-day will not leave the King one town in it: Ireland will be a broken reed; neither can I believe much in Scotland without a treaty. As for foreign force, it is a vain dream. As foon as FairFax advanceth, all the horfe here are in a net, without poffibility cither to break through, or to fave themselves in our garrisons. The horfe loft, it will be impoffible ever to get up an army again: and if you faw us, you would believe we are not in condition to fight. The daily venture of the King's perfon will be great; fo will the hazard be of the Prince's efcaping beyond fea, if he fhould be put to it: and if he were there, it would be a fad condition; and if he were to fall into the rebels' hands, the King were undone, undone. If half your Scots news be true, the intereft of that nation is clearly of your fide; and you may gain them, and thereby certainly fave the crown, if you will. But you must not flick upon circumftances, nor part unwillingly with what you cannot keep. Your treaty muft not be an underhand one, (that will deceive you) but an avowed one with Lef ley and Calander. As foon as they have promised to protect the King's perfon and his prerogative, he is fafer with them than in Newcafle. All that they can alk, or the King part with, is a trifle in refpect of the price of a crown. Difpute not whilft you should refolve; nor spend in debate that precious time which is only fit for action. This opportunity loft is not to be recovered. Ufe this bearer kindly. If there be a Scotch treaty, his Lord must be at one end of it, and will be very ufeful. He believeth this letter is wholly concerning his Lord. Send him fpeedily back; and write at large by him and all other ways to, &c. February. [To be concluded in our next.] K. ART. VII. Philofophical Transactions. Vol. LXII. 4to. 148. fewed. WE Davies. 1773 E find, by an advertisement prefixed to this volume, that, in confequence of a refolution, at a council of the Royal Society, Jan. 28, 1773, the Philofophical Tranfactions will be published twice in each year. Accordingly the volume before us, and the 1ft part of vol. Ixiii. have appeared * • The volume for each year is for the future, to be published in two parts, under the diftinct titles of "Firft Part," and "Second Part," of the volume. within within the space of a few months paft. The fixty-fecond volume, however, has the firft claim to a place in our Review; and we shall begin with those articles which relate to ASTRONOMY. Article 4. Extra of a Letter from Mr. George Witchell, F.R. S. and Mafter of the Royal Academy at Portsmouth, to Charles Morton, M. D. Sec. R. S. inclfing fome Account of a Solar Eclipfe obferved at George's Island, by Captain Wallis; and several afronomical Obfervations made at Portsmouth. This eclipfe was obferved, on the 25th of July 1767, from a point of land, the latitude of which, deduced from the mean of many obfervations, is 17° 30' South; and the longitude, determined, by various obfervations of the diftance of the fun from the moon, between 149° 30′ and 149° 50′ Weft from London. Mr. Witchell computes the longitude from the end of the eclipfe, which feems to have been more exactly afcertained than the beginning, and finds it 9 h. 55′ 55′′ Weft from Greenwich, er 148° 58′, which is 41 lefs than the mean refult of the lunar obfervations; a difference, all circumftances confidered, not very great, as these were the firft obfervations that were ever made on this ifland. The other observations contained in this article are those of meridian tranfits for determining the folftices and the oppofitions of the three fuperior planets. They were partly made by Mr. Bradley, and partly by Mr. Witchell. From a comparison of the former obfervations it appears that the true zenith dif tance of the fun's center 11.0 Hence the mean obliquity, Dec. 21,1770, is 23 28 June 21,1771, 23 28 10.8 And from thefe obfervations the latitude of their obfervatory at Portsmouth appears to be 50° 48′ 2." 4 North. Article 6. Directions for using the common Micrometer, taken from a Paper in the late Dr. Bradley's Hand-writing: Communicated by Nevil Mafkelyne, Aftronomer Royal, and F. R. S. The first use of micrometers was only that of measuring small angles, fuch as the diameters of the fun and moon, and other planets, and taking the diftance of fuch objects, as appeared within the aperture of the telescope at the fame time; but they have fince been contrived for more general ufe; and, in their Ja:er 5 later construction, anfwer the end of taking the difference of right afcenfion and declination of those objects, which, in their apparent diurnal motion follow one another through the tele scope, provided it be, kept in the fame fituation. This paper contains very useful inftructions for applying the micrometer to every kind of obfervation, of which it is capable. It does not admit of an abridgment, and our limits will not allow us to infert the whole of it. Article 9. A Deduction of the quantity of the fun's parallax from the Comparison of the feveral Obfervations of the late Tranfit of Venus, made in Europe, with those made in George Island in the South Seas: Communicated by Mr. Euler, jun. Secretary of the Imperial Academy at Petersburg; in a Letter to Charles Morton, M. D. &c. An abridgment of a differtation on this fubject written by M. Lexell, a member of the imperial academy, and to be inferted in the 16th volume of their Commentaries. By comparing feveral obfervations and applying the neceffary corrections, he makes the fun's parallax 8." 55. Article 14. A Letter from Mr. Peter Dollond to Nevil Mafkelyne, F. R. S. and Aftronomer Royal; defcribing fome Additions and Alterations made to Hadley's Quadrant, to render it more ferviceable at Sea. The principal improvements introduced by Mr. Dollond in the conftruction of Hadley's quadrant, relate to the methods of adjusting the glaffes for the back obfervation. For this purpose he applies an index to the back horizon glass, by which it may be moved into a parallel pofition to the index glass: and by moving this index exactly 90°, the glafs is fet at right angles to the index glass, and is properly adjusted for ufe. In order to fix the horizon glaffes in a perpendicular position to the plane of the inftrument, he has contrived to move each of them by a fingle fcrew, that goes through the frame of the quadrant, and which may be turned by means of a milled head at the back, while the observer is looking at the object. Mr. D. has likewife placed the darkening glaffes, propofed by the Aftronomer Royal, in fuch a manner, that they may be easily turned behind either of the two horizon glaffes; and of these there are three different fhades. * Article 15. Remarks on the Hadley's Quadrant, tending prins cipally to remove the Difficulties which have hitherto attended the Ufe of the Back-Obfervation, and to obviate the Errors that might arife from a Want of Parallelifm in the two Surfaces of the Index-Glafs. By Nevil Maskelyne, F. R. S. &c. See the Nautical Almanack for 1774. Some |