readily yielded up their money; but she, not contented with that, severely disciplin'd them with a cudgel she carried in the other hand, all which they bore with a philosophical resignation. Thus, eight not being able to deal with one woman, by consequence could not make a man, on which account a ninth is added. 'Tis the opinion of our curious Virtuosos, that this want of courage ariseth from their immoderate eating of cucumbers, which too much refrigerates their blood. However, to their eternal honour be it spoke, they have been often known to encounter a sort of cannibals, to whose assaults they are often subject, not fictitious, but real man-eaters, and that with a lance but two inches long; nay, and although they go armed no farther than their middle finger."

"Q. Whether the story of Circe's transforming the companions of Ulysses into swine is fabulous or real?

"A. As real as Ulysses stopping his sailors' ears to frustrate the temptations of the Syrens."

"Q. Is there any such thing as the Philosopher's Stone; if there be, what is it?

"A. To answer your last question first, it is a mere chimerical notion; never any, who pretended to it, offered a reason for it, and what has no

foundation in Reason or Nature, is not worthy a

controversy."

"Q. Pray resolve me, if there be, or ever were such creatures as Fairies, and you will oblige your humble servant, S. M. ?

"A. The opinion of Fairies has been asserted by Pliny and several historians, and Aristotle himself gave some countenance to it, whose words are :— Hic locus est quem incolunt Pygmei—non est fabula, sed pusillum genus ut aiunt, wherein Aristotle plays the sophist: For tho' by non est fabula, he seems at first to confirm it, yet coming in at last with his ut aiunt, he shakes the belief he had before put upon it. Our Society therefore are of opinion, that Homer was the first author of this conceit, who often used similies, as well to delight the ear, as to illustrate his matter; and in his third Iliad compares the Trojans to cranes, when they descend against Fairies. So that when that which was only a pleasant fiction in the fountain, became a solemn story in the stream and current still among us."

"Q. Pray resolve me, if there are, or ever were, such creatures as pigmies?

"A. Some skeletons, which a little resemble a man's, of small monkeys, have been shown for such,

which perhaps gave occasion for this opinion. Many small dwarfs there be also in the Turkish Seraglio, and formerly in the courts of England : but that there is, or ever was such a distinct nation of people is as false as Pliny's people, who had no mouths, but lived only by the smell of flowers and fruits."

"Q. Pray, gentlemen, your opinion whether the howling of a dog under the chamber of a sick person is any prognostick of the mortality of the patient's disease? If so, how you imagine those creatures should be sensible of it? The querist was induced to give you this trouble by some very particular observations.

"A. Whether the dog's howling may be a fatal prognostick or no, we cannot determine; but 'tis probable that a sense of sorrow for the sickness or absence of the master, or the like, that creature may be so disturbed; an eminent instance whereof may be found in Dr. Lee's Nat. Hist. of a dog, that during his master's illness constantly attended him, and after the gentleman was expired, and his corps moved, the dog every moment entered the room making a mournful and whining noise, and prosecuted his researches for several days, thro' all the rooms in the house, but in vain; then he retired

into his kennel, where, refusing all manner of sustenance, he dy'd; a greater sense of sorrow could not be shewn by any creature whatever."

"Q. How has the royal touch such a peculiar effect on Chaerades?

"A. The first account we have of this wonderful manner of curing this disease is, that it was performed by Edward the Confessor, and has been esteemed to have continued, (as a gift from heaven) in the royal family ever since."

"Q. Gentlemen, I doubt not but you have either seen or heard of an old fellow, who carries several monstrous fœtus's in spirits, which he exposes to sight for a small matter, and not only affirms, but produces a certificate, signed by many persons, that the said monsters were vomited out of his He further affirms,

body at several distant times.

that he has now one in his body, which gnaws him continually, and causes him to eat as much as would suffice three or four good stomachs.

"A. Without seeing the old fellow you speak of, or his monstrous foetus's, which we suppose to be human, we may be positive that, notwithstanding his affirmations and certificates, he is a cheat and an impostor, and that he is not like to find any credit, but with the most credulous and ignorant

part of mankind: for as it is certain that no such monstrous productions can happen but where natural ones do, it is no less certain that no human fœtus can be generated in a man's stomach, where neither the material nor the efficient cause can be found. Some other small living creatures, indeed, may perhaps be hatched there, when we happen to swallow their eggs in our meat and drink; but we suppose no reasonable body will think that the eggs out of which the human fœtus's are produced are liable to be so swallowed up."

"Q. There was a certain doctor in Paris who dy'd about the year 1060, at the interring of whom when the priest in the form then used came to the words, Responde mihi, the corps sat upright upon the bier, and cryed out, Justo Dei Judicio accusatus sum, lying presently down again; the attendants being astonished, deferred the funeral till next day, which being come, they went again to officiate the duty of the dead, which at the same words rose again, and more hideous than before cryed, Justo Dei, &c., judicatus. They then deferred this strange burial till next day, and still at the same words the third time rose up and cryed, Justo Dei Judicio condemnatus sum. Whether this was the real man that spoke or some infernal spirit through