-
Articles/Ads
Article ANECDOTES OF PETER THE GREAT, ← Page 5 of 5 Article CURIOUS ACCOUNT OF THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER. Page 1 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anecdotes Of Peter The Great,
The day after Moens suffered , the Czar had the cruelty to conduct Catharine , in an open carriage , to the pole upon which " the wretch ' s head was fixed . The Empress had sufficient command over herself not to change countenance at this horrid spectacle ; but with deep anguish she cried out , ' What a pity it is that among courtiers there should be so much corruption 1 '
Curious Account Of The Dumb Philosopher.
CURIOUS ACCOUNT OF THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER .
fco . vTiNUF . D rno > i oun IAST . J
I HAD hardly finished my letter of the when Morpheus closed my eyes , and obliged me to hasten to rest ; but curiosity opened them again with the rising of the sun , to make some farther remarks on my thermometers , for so I conceived the one instrument I had not yet seen must likewise be . I made a beginning-, by trying some experiments on that I already knew the use of , with some books I had in my trunk : and as I am never without plays of all sortsI resolved
, njy first trial should be with them ; I therefore fetched my whole stock and laid them on the table , and , after many experiments , made the following observations : an Italian opera sinks it to its lowest ebb , and on the other hand , a pantomime , or ballet-entertainment , swells it with such impetuosity , that I was cautions of repeating the experiment too often , for fear of bursting the tube . I tried it with
several of Shakespear ' s plays , and found it to deviate but very seldom from its centre , for any long time , with any of them ; and though it did , indeed , frequently take a short trip above the middle region , Iplainly perceived my author had never lost view of that point . It was just the same , when , upon reading some of those puns , or what the French ca \ l jeu de mots ( or play with word ) , of which this great author is but too full ; whenI say 1 read some of these passages ,
, , and the spirits in my tube thereupon sunk below tlie centre , they soon mounted again , and , with my author , returned to their proper situation . By most of our modern plays they were very busy towards the two extremities , frequently rising and falling several times , during the reading of a single scene , but rarely continuing , for any time , within the five middlemost degrees : but I had the satisfactionat
, reading Mr . Addison ' s Cato , to find , that notwithstanding they often rose two degrees above the centre , they never , though a tragedy , went more than a full degree below it . I resolved next to make a trial with some other books , and fetched
an armful , without examining into them . The first I opened was Eachard's Gazetteer , which sunk the spirits of my tube at least three degrees below the middle point , but they rose near as much above it on laying that down and taking up the Tale of a Tub . With the Atlantis , I observed , they always rose to sprig htliness , and sometimes to fire . I tried my thermometer with several of the Spectators
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anecdotes Of Peter The Great,
The day after Moens suffered , the Czar had the cruelty to conduct Catharine , in an open carriage , to the pole upon which " the wretch ' s head was fixed . The Empress had sufficient command over herself not to change countenance at this horrid spectacle ; but with deep anguish she cried out , ' What a pity it is that among courtiers there should be so much corruption 1 '
Curious Account Of The Dumb Philosopher.
CURIOUS ACCOUNT OF THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER .
fco . vTiNUF . D rno > i oun IAST . J
I HAD hardly finished my letter of the when Morpheus closed my eyes , and obliged me to hasten to rest ; but curiosity opened them again with the rising of the sun , to make some farther remarks on my thermometers , for so I conceived the one instrument I had not yet seen must likewise be . I made a beginning-, by trying some experiments on that I already knew the use of , with some books I had in my trunk : and as I am never without plays of all sortsI resolved
, njy first trial should be with them ; I therefore fetched my whole stock and laid them on the table , and , after many experiments , made the following observations : an Italian opera sinks it to its lowest ebb , and on the other hand , a pantomime , or ballet-entertainment , swells it with such impetuosity , that I was cautions of repeating the experiment too often , for fear of bursting the tube . I tried it with
several of Shakespear ' s plays , and found it to deviate but very seldom from its centre , for any long time , with any of them ; and though it did , indeed , frequently take a short trip above the middle region , Iplainly perceived my author had never lost view of that point . It was just the same , when , upon reading some of those puns , or what the French ca \ l jeu de mots ( or play with word ) , of which this great author is but too full ; whenI say 1 read some of these passages ,
, , and the spirits in my tube thereupon sunk below tlie centre , they soon mounted again , and , with my author , returned to their proper situation . By most of our modern plays they were very busy towards the two extremities , frequently rising and falling several times , during the reading of a single scene , but rarely continuing , for any time , within the five middlemost degrees : but I had the satisfactionat
, reading Mr . Addison ' s Cato , to find , that notwithstanding they often rose two degrees above the centre , they never , though a tragedy , went more than a full degree below it . I resolved next to make a trial with some other books , and fetched
an armful , without examining into them . The first I opened was Eachard's Gazetteer , which sunk the spirits of my tube at least three degrees below the middle point , but they rose near as much above it on laying that down and taking up the Tale of a Tub . With the Atlantis , I observed , they always rose to sprig htliness , and sometimes to fire . I tried my thermometer with several of the Spectators