"Worthy and illustrious sons of resplendent Phoebus, from a just consideration of the mean and low conceptions of us poor groveling mortals, and the powerful and illuminating rays of your divine genius, by whom are dispel'd and scattered all the dark clouds and thick mists of human imperfections and weakness, I at last, amidst the numerous throng of votaries, approach your altar, but with this previous postulation that your godships would be more extensive and particular ın the explication of the subsequent problem, which will be a singular instance of the favour conferred on your devoted admirer.

"Q. Why do frogs, toads, serpents, and other more poisonous reptiles, immediately upon being transferred to Crete or Ireland, die, notwithstanding all the care and precaution imaginable to the contrary (the two fore-cited islands being the only places we read of exempt from those kind of creatures): whether we may look upon it as a blessing or curse to those countries, and consequently whether better or worse for the health of the inhabitants ?

"A. Through the benignity of our largifical essence always inclined to succour the eyestuosity of our votaries' conceptions and to enlighten their

offuscated intellects upon the least petitionary susurration, we will now descend from our innubilous empireum to infuse some rays of knowledge for solving the problem of our obsequious querist, so far as is fit to be communicated to the humble spawn of earth; nor presume at further inquisition, altho' you come at the head of an army of frogs, toads, and serpents, since the mere privation of our rays is sufficient to reduce you and them to your first contemptible principles. In the first place, know that your assertion is not true in all its points, for your geographers will acquaint you that there is a sort of spider in Crete, called Phalangium, whose biting is mortal. And as for Ireland, frogs have been carried thither lately by one of that country, which have considerably increased and multiplied; whether other of the fore-mentioned creatures will live in those places, we leave in suspense, to tempt man's industry to make more exact experiments than yet have been tryed; if after all you find they will not, reason will direct you to conclude it is either from want of proper nourishment or from some particular constitution of the air contrary to their natures; but not the least affecting the health of human kind, therefore not to be looked upon as a blessing or a curse."

"Q. Have stones a natural growth and decay as vegetables have?

"A. It is much disputed amongst philosophers concerning the generation of stones, but most of them hold that they [there?] are liquors concreted in the earth, supposing several mixtures to be there excreted by subterraneous fires, which are dissipated through the inward passages of the earth, and are there consolidated as them."

we find

"Q. Apollo's famous sons, make me so wise, To know whence furious earthquakes do

arise?

"A. Winds long imprisoned in the gloomy earth,

Gain force at last, and rend themselves a birth."

"Q. Great Smimtheus, who encompass'd all with day,

Dost rule thy throne, and fervent beams

display;

On whose right hand sits Virtue in her

pride,

And Wit stands sentinel on t'other side:

Tell, for 'tis you the depth of secrets know,
From whence does odorif'rous amber flow?
Why some does cloudy, some refin'd appear,
What greater virtues issue from the clear
Than from the dark condensed amber flow,
Tell, and oblige your friend, Cornelio?

"A. Bitumen-like the fragrant amber breeds, And from the caverns of the earth pro

ceeds:

Thence in the ocean's bounds its progress

takes,

Whose saltness there its condensation

makes :

But only some cloudy, and some clear is

seen

Is plain, since one's impure, the other clean,
Their virtues only differ in degree,

As this to that may preferable be."

CHAPTER VI.

MEDICAL ADVICE.

"A learned man whom once a week

A hundred virtuosos seek,

And like an oracle apply to,

T' ask questions, and admire, and lie to."

-Samuel Butler.

THE British Apollo made some pretence to a knowledge of medicine, as already mentioned in the Chapter on "The Authorship of the British Apollo," and from what follows, the reader may see how far this was justified. The motto chosen by its Society of Authors from the first book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, and printed on the title-page, may be rendered thus: "By me what shall be, what has been, and what is, is disclosed; through me songs are sung to the accompaniment of the lute. The healing art is my discovery, and throughout the world I am honoured as the bearer of help, and the properties of simples are subjected to me."

The latter portion of this motto might be very