ftruments and tools for all trades and manufac- His Lordship added, that he would not, by any further particulars prevent the pleafure I fhould certainly take in viewing the grand academy, whither he was refolved I fhould go. He only defired me to obferve a ruined building upon the fide of a mountain about three miles diftant, of which he gave me this account: That he had a very convenient mill within half a mile of his house, turned by a current from a large river, and fufficient for his own family, as well as a great number of his tenants: That about feven years ago, a club of those projectors came to him with propofals to destroy this mill, and build another on the fide of that mountain, on the long ridge whereof a long canal must be cut for a repofitory of water, to be conveyed up by pipes and engines to fupply the mill: Because the wind and air upon a height agitated the water, and thereby made it fitter for motion; and because the water defcending down a declivity, would turn the mill with half the current of a river, whofe course is more upon a level. He said, that being then not very well with the court, and preffed by many of his friends, he complied with the proposal; and after employing an hundred men for two years, the work mifcarried, the projectors went off, laying the blame entirely upon him, railing at him ever fince, and putting others upon the fame experiment, with equal affurance of fuccefs, as well as equal difappointment. In a few days we came back to town; and his Excellency confidering the bad character he had in the academy, would not go with me himself, but recommended me to a friend of his to bear me company thither. My Lord was pleased to represent me as a great admirer of projects, and a perfon perfon of much curiofity, and eafy belief; which indeed was not without truth, for I had myself been a fort of projector in my younger days. The author permitted to fee the grand academy of Lagado. The academy largely described. The arts wherein the professors employ themselves. TH HIS academy is not an entire fingle building, but a continuation of feveral houses on both fides of a ftreet, which growing wafte, was purchased, and applied to that use. Ι • However wild the defcription of the flying island, and the manners and various projects of the philosophers of Lagado may appear, yet it is a real picture, embellished with much latent wit and humour. It is a fatire upon those astronomers and mathematicians who have fo entirely dedicated their time to the planets, that they have been careless of their family and country, and have been chiefly anxious about the economy and welfare of the upper worlds. But if we consider Swift's romance in a ferious light, we shall find him of opinion, that those determinations in philosophy, which at present seem to the most knowing men to be perfectly well founded and understood, are in reality unfettled, or uncertain, and may perhaps, fome ages hence, be as much decried as the axioms of Ariftotle are at this day. Sir Ifaac Newton and his notions may hereafter be out of fa fhion. There is a kind of mode in philofophy, as well as in other things: And fuch modes often change more from the humour and caprice of men, than either from the unreasonable or the ill-founded conclufions of the philofophy itself. The reafonings of fome philofophers have undoubtedly better founda I was recived very kindly by the warden, and went for many days to the academy. Every room hath in it one or more projectors; and. I believe I could not be in fewer than five hundred rooms.. The first man I faw was of a meagre aspect,. with footy hands and face, his hair and beard long, ragged, and finged in feveral places. His cloaths, fhirt, and fkin, were all of the fame co Jour. He had been eight years upon a project for extracting fun-beams out of cucumbers, which were to be put into vials hermetically fealed, and let out to warm the air in raw inclement fummers. He told me, he did not doubt, that in eight years more he should be able to fupply the governor's gardens with sunshine at a reasonable rate; but he complained, that his stock was low; and entreated me to give him something as an en couragement tion than those of others: But I am of opinion, (and Swift feems to be in the fame way of thinking), that the most applauded philosophy hitherto extant, has not fully, clearly, and certainly explained many difficulties in the phænomena of na ture. I am induced to believe, that God may have abfolutely denied us the perfect knowledge of many points in philosophy ; fo that we shall never arrive at that perfection, however certain we may fuppofe ourselves of having attained to it already. Upon the whole we may say with Tully, Omnibus fere in rebus, et maxime in phyficis, quid non fit citius quam quid fit, dixerim. Orrery. This note in general feems to be a teftimony of his Lordship's approbation, but it is not eafy to discover what in particular is meant by the word real, fince every picture is a real picture, whether it be copied from nature or fancy; and indeed it is equally difficult to conceive how a picture of any kind can be embellished with that which is hidden. Hawkef. couragement to ingenuity, efpecially fince this had been a very dear feafon for cucumbers. I made him a fmall prefent; for my Lord had furnished me with money on purpose, because he knew their practice of begging from all who go to see them. I went into another chamber, but was ready to haften back, being almoft overcome with a horrible ftink. My conductor preffed me forward, conjuring me in a whisper to give no offence, which would be highly refented, and therefore I durft not fo much as ftop my nofe. The projector of this cell was the most ancient ftudent of the academy; his face and beard were of a pale yellow; his hands and cloaths dawbed over with filth. When I was prefented to him, he gave me a clofe embrace (a compliment I could well have excufed). His employment from his firft coming into the academy, was an operation to reduce human excrement to its original food, by feparating the feveral parts, removing the tincture which it receives from the gall, making the odour exhale, and scumming off the faliva. He had a weekly allowance from the fociety, of a veffel filled with human ordure, about the bigness of a Bristol barrel. I faw another at work, to calcine ice into gunpowder, who likewife fhewed me a treatise he had written concerning the malleability of fire, which he intended to publish. There was a moft ingenious architect, who had contrived a new method for building houfes, by beginning |