ceffors, viz. that it was by the aid of the Holy Gholt with uniform agreement concluded and fet forth, &c. May their fuccelfors ever have the fame way of thinking and refolve to corroborate and invigorate thofe laws, which have been made to defend and fecure it! that no perfons whatsoever prefume, under the highest penalties, to preach, declare, or speak any thing in derogation, depraving, or despiling of the laid book, or any thing therein contained, or any part thereof. A&t for Unif. 1 Eliz.

We fhould be glad to know, in what manner Mr. Zachary Langton would have this claufe of the Act of Uniformity corroborated and invigorated. Surely, furely he does not mean to revive the religious perfecutions of the days of Mary and Elizabeth! Indeed, this avowed principle of intoleration, from a Proteflant Clergyman, would be alarming, had not the Writer dropt fome hints, of his not being really what he pretends; and that his opinion of the Romish church is full as favourable as that which he entertains of the church of England. Were not this the cafe, he would hardly juftify the practice of the latter by the example of the former, as he seems to do in the following words; fpeaking of one of our prayers, which, he fays, is accepted in a certain fenfe, for this great and good reason, viz. because this very prayer is directed by the catholic as well as our own church, particularly and perfonally to the eternal Son of God himfelf. In this paffage, the catholic church is diftinguifhed from the church of England; whofe Members, neverthelefs, profefs to believe in one catholic apoftolic church. Our Author, however, appears to believe in two, and in this place to put them both on a footing..

It is true he does, in other places, rank popery with atheism, idolatry, and deifm; fo that it is of very little confequence what church hath the honour of fo inconfiftent a Member; whofe notions of the Chriftian fyftem, and reasonings about divine revelation, are as chimerical and inconclufive, as those which he difplays of his politics and philofophy.

His encomiums on the univerfity of Oxford, on the famous Lord Ruffel, his Patron's ancestor, and on other distinguished perfonages, are to the highest degree extravagant, not to fay fometimes bordering on blafphemy. Thus, fpeaking of the late General Wolfe, he fays, the Saviour of the world was his guide, not only to the gates of Death, but beyond them, even to the gates of Heaven and the throne of God." In fpeaking of Oxford, he fays, When the moft RADIANT UNIVERSITY under the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS diftinguished herself, as SHE really did in the reign of CHARLES THE MARTYR, for

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ber loyalty, for her fuperior love of country, true religion, and vir tue.' We could not forbear fmiling alfo, at a farther inftance of our Author's fagacity, in his beftowing the title of Chriftian Hero, and the following eulogium on his prefent Majefty of Pruffia, viz. That he honoureth the Son, even as he honoureth the Father.' The expreffion, indeed, being here a little equivocal, the encomium may not be thought altogether void of propriety, by those who have had an opportunity of learning the religious fentiments of his P-n M-y from his writings. A Sceptic may, with no great impropriety, be faid to honour the Son as much as he honours the Father, tho' hẹ fhould have too little veneration for the name of either.

The Dedicator's compliment to Himself and Patron, at the latter end of his epiftle, is alfo fomething curious, being entirely of a piece with the rest of his performance. I prefume, my Lord, fays he, for it is high time, to lay this little pacific book, fo very well meant, aiming at domeftic, religious, as well as civil peace, at your Grace's feet, being fully perfuaded, that if it has the good fortune to meet with a favourable reception from your Grace, the true defcendent of the great and good Lord Ruffel, that faft, that never-to-be-forgotten friend to our moft excellent Church and State, it will then rife from its bed of obscurity, and fhine in the lettered, nay in the Chriftian, as your Grace's adminiftration now doth in the political world, and anfwer likewife, in fome measure, the fair-fpirited intent of the vain Author.'

Vain Author! indeed! but we have done with thee; for, as to thy Effay, we find nothing in it but a farrago of stale and trite arguments, moft inconclufively ftrung together, in a manner altogether worthy of thy dedication, and as unworthy of critical animadverfion.

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K-n-k.

Philofophical Transactions, &c. Vol. LIII. Concluded. See
Reviews for September and October.

Containing the Mathematical and Aftronomical Papers.

Art. 1. An Account of the Sun's Distance from the Earth; deduced from Mr. Short's Obfervations relating to the horizontal Parallax of the Sun. In a Letter from Peter Daval, Efq; V. P. of R. S. to James Barrow, Efq; V. P. of R. S.

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HIS Gentleman obferves, that the mean horizontal parallax of the fun, or the angle which the femidiameter of the earth fubtends, when feen from that luminary, is 8",65. REV. Dec. 1764. Alfe,

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Alfo, that the mean femidiameter of the earth, according to the latest obfervations, is 3958 English miles. Then, as 8,65 to 360, the whole periphery of a circle, fo is the femidiameter of the earth 3958, to the periphery of the orbit of the earth round the fun, 593,011,,08 miles, the circumference of the orbit of the earth, the femidiameter of which is the earth's diftance from the fun. But the periphery of a circle to its femidiameter, is very nearly as 6,283185 to one. Confequently, 593,011,308 divided by 6,28318594,380,685, will be the mean diftance of the earth from the fun in English miles.

Art. 2. Obfervatio Cometa, qui Menfe Maio, A. 1759, apparuit facta Haga-Comit. à Petro Gabry, J. V. D. Societatis Reg. Scientiar. Socio, & Commercio Literar. cum Academ. Scientiar. Parifienfi & Reg. So.iet. Gotting. junɛlo.

In this paper there are four obfervations on the comet which appeared in May 1759. On the 2d at nine in the evening, its longitude was 19° 12′ 24 m, and its latitude 28° 40′ 5′′ fouth. On the 3d, was 17° 11′ 40′′ m, and its latitude 27° 20′ 20′′ fouth. On the 6th, its longitude 12° 51′ 7′′ m, lat. 22° 37′ 24′′ fouth. And on the 11th, 11° 59′ 14′′ m, lat. 21° 1′ 44 fouth.

A Delineation of the Tranfit of Venus expected in the Year 1769. By James Fergufon.

Mr. Ferguson has here given a very large projection of the expected tranfit of Venus on the 3d of June 1769, when Aftronomers will have a much better opportunity of determining the fun's parallax than they had in the laft tranfit. It is well known, that the degree of accuracy to which the fun's parallax may be obtained from thefe tranfits, will, in a great measure, depend upon obfervations being made by able Artifts at proper places: fituated for this tranfit, Mr. Ferguson obferves, are Wardhuys in Norwegian Lapland, or any other place near the North Cape, and the ifles of Solomon, that of Tuberon, St. Bernard, or the Fly iflands in the South Sea; because in thefe places the whole tranfit will be feen from the beginning to the end. At the fame time the line of the vifible tranfit in Lapland will be longer than that supposed to be feen from the earth's center; and the time of the planet's defcribing it, will be yet longer, on account of its apparent motion being flower by Lapland's moving the fame way. But at the Solomon ifles, the vifible line of the tranfit will be shorter than that fuppofed to be feen from the center of the earth, and the time of Venus's defcribing it will be ftill more fhortened, on account of the apparent quickness of her motion, arifing from its being in a contrary direction to the motion of the Solomon iflands.

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The fun's parallax is in this projection fuppofed to be 8",5. But if the parallax be found to be either greater or less than that affumed by Mr. Ferguson, the difference of the vifible durations of the tranfit will alfo be either greater or lefs. So that if these differences be well afcertained by obfervation, the fun's parallax will be found, and confequently his distance from the earth, and that of every other planet in the folar fyftem, will be determined. The total ingrefs will happen at London, according to Mr. Ferguson's calculation, at 37 min. 30 fec. after seven in the evening.

Art. 9. An Account of the Appulfe of the Moon to the Planet Jupiter; obferved at Cheljea. By Mr. Samuel Dunn.

This Gentleman obferves, that the alteration of the angles of position made by the cufps of the moon, and a planet to which the moon makes a near appulfe, will always enable those who are aftronomically inclined, to determine from obfervation, the longitudes of places, by the naked eye, and a clock or watch fet to apparent or equal time. And gives an inftance of an obfervation of this kind made at Chelfea, on the 25th of De-: cember, 1762, at 11 h. o min. 30 fec. apparent time; when the distance of the planet from the moon, was half a degree.

Art. 17. A Letter from Monfieur Wargentin, Secretary to the Roya Academy of Sciences in Sweden, to Mr. John Ellicot, F. R. S. concerning the Tranfit of Venus.

M. Wargentin, from comparing the obfervations on the tranfit of Venus, made in Europe and at the Cape of Good Hope, determines the fun's horizontal parallax to be not lefs than 8",1, nor more than 8",3. He alfo very juftly obferves, that as it is of the last importance to be affured of the longitude of places where the observations were made; he therefore endeavoured to determine them in the best manner he was able, from obfervations made at the fame places, on the eclipfes of Jupiter's fatellites; a very confiderable number of which are annexed to this paper..

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Art. 18. Remarks on the Cenfure of Mercator's Chart, in a posthumous Work of Mr. Weft of Exeter. In a Letter to Thomas Birch, D.D. Secretary to the Royal Society, from Mr. Samuel Dunn.

This letter contains a request to Dr. Birch, that he would fearch the Philofophical Tranfactións, to fee if any paper has been printed there, concerning a fphere infcribed in a hollow cylinder, and fwelling its furface to the fides of the cylinder, in order to conftruct a more accurate chart, for the purposes of Navigation, than that invented by Mr. Edward Wright, and generally known among Navigators by the name of Mercator;

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it having been lately infinuated, that a paper of this kind was. printed in the Traníactions.

Mr. Dunn alfo obferves, that Mr. Weft has cenfured Mr. Wright's projection as erroneous, and given another, in which the meridian line is a fcale of natural tangents from the Equinoctial to the Pole; whereas thofe of Mr. Wright are a scale of fecants. He adds, That both Wright and Weft fay exprefsly, the fphere being infcribed in the hollow cylinder, and the Equinoctial being fixed without fwelling, while the other parts fwell towards the Poles, the chart will be formed. But in this, Wright has badly expreffed his own thoughts; for his tables make it, that the Equinoctial muft either fwell or contract itself.”. And that Mr. Weft has therefore taken his words, but not his fense.

The propofed demonftration of this tangental property, atpage 58 of Mr. Weft's book, is no demonftration at all; there is nothing more plain, than that in order to have the Meridians at equal distances, the degrees of latitude must be enlarged to the fame proportion in every part, as the circular Meridians are nearer towards the Poles, which proportion is as the Co-fine of the latitude to Radius.' .

This affertion is undoubtedly true; and Mr. Dunn might have added, that as in Mr. Wright's projection, the degrees of longitude are all equal, that is, the Co-fine of the -latitude is every where equal to the Radius, it will follow, that the degrees of latitude must be enlarged in the proportion of the Radius to the fecant: for as the Co-fine of any parallel of latitude is to Radius, fo is Radius to the Secant of that parallel. But if the degrees of latitude increase in the proportion of the Radius to the Secant, it follows, that the diftance of any parallel of latitude from the Equator, will be equal to the fum of the Secants of all the arches contained between the Equator and that parallel; and confequently, that the meridional line in a true fea chart, where the degrees of longitude are all equal, is nothing more than a scale formed by the addition of the natural Secants, fuppofed to flow with an uniform and uninterrupted motion.

Hence we fee the reafon why the common tables of meridional parts, which are formed by the continual addition of the tabular Secants, are not ftrictly true; being increments of latitude formed from tables calculated to minutes only, inftead of the Secants flowing with an equal velocity. It is well known, that if a be made equal to the length of any arch, whofe radius is unity,

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