the air, which will foon become tranfparent. When vapour is made to expand more than it would otherwife do, a certain quantity of abfolute heat is neceflary to keep it in the form of vapour; therefore, when the receiver of an air-pump is exhaufting, it appears muddy, and a number of drops are found within it; the moisture contained in the air, in the form of vapour, being made to occupy a greater fpace than what is natural to it, and receiving no addition of heat, a part of it is condensed. "If, therefore, the air is fuddenly rarified, a few drops of rain will defcend, as may often be ob ferved in the summer season. "I have repeatedly obferved, efpecially during the fummer, when the wind is at north-east, that the weather is, in general, cold and dry, with a clear atmosphere. Should the wind fuddenly change to fouth-west, in a few hours, black clouds begin to gather, vegetables look fickly, and droop their leaves; and, foon after, comes on a violent ftorm of thunder, with heavy rain. "This change, I imagine, is not fo much owing to the fouth-west wind bringing rain, as to the atmofphere's being changed from an electric ftate, capable of fufpending vapour, to a ftate of parting with its moisture. As foon as the ftorm is going off, vegetables revive from their languid ftate, and the air recovers its ufual afpect. From this we may conclude, that no inftrument can be made to afcertain the quantity of moisture in the air: all that is, or ought to be expected from a hygrometer, is to fhew, whether the air be in a state to retain or part with its moisture. In apparent dry weather it may point to rain; and when it rains, it may point to fair. For this reafon, the ftones of halls, and smooth fubftances, are often bedewed with wet, in dry warm weather (that is, the air is in a state to part with its moifture), and, vite verfa, they will dry in the time of rain. "Left this paper fhould exceed the common limits of time in reading, I fhall pass over thofe obfervations, which might be made on fogs or mifts; a few excepted, which I fhall here fubjoin. "Fogs are produced by two caufes as different as their effects are oppofite. A fog may be produced by a precipitation of rain, in very fmall particles, like a cloud floating on the furface of the earth. In this cafe the air is moist and damp, and never fails to wet a traveller's cloaths; the ftones of the street, painted doors, and hard, cool, fmooth bodies, are generally covered with moisture, which often runs in large drops: this, I dare say, has been obferved by every perfon. Secondly, a fog may be produced by the abforption of moisture, when the air is too dry, and differs from the other juft defcribed; for it will not impart any of its moisture even to dry bodies; no damp is to be met with on ftones, polifhed marble, &c. This fact is well known to the inhabitants on the fea-coaft of Fifefhire, who, during their fummer months, have frequent opportunities of obferving a fog in the afternoon, driving up the Firth of Forth, with a drying eaft wind, which of ten blafts the trees and young vegetables, and, therefore, in a small degree, resembles the Harmattan in drying up the ground, and robbing vegetables of their moisture. "I fhall now conclude with a fhort fummary of the whole. "1. That heat is the great caufe, by Company, by which the powers they had received from Henry the Eighth were confiderably extended. Charles the First feems, from the dedication of a treatise, entitled, "The Bowman's Glory," to have been himself an archer; and in the eighth year of his reign he iffued a commiffion to the chancel lor, lord mayor, and feveral of the privy-council, to prevent the fields near London being fo inclofed, as to interrupt the neceffary and profitable exercife of fhooting," as alfo to lower the mounds where they prevented the view from one mark to another. "The fame commiffion directs that bridges fhould be thrown over the dykes, and that all fhooting marks which had been removed, fhould be restored. "Charles the First likewife iffued two proclamations for the promotion of archery, the last of which recommends the ufe of the bow and pike together. "Catherine of Portugal (queen to Charles the Second) feems to have been much pleafed with the fight at leaft of this exercife; for in 1676, by the contributions of fir Edward Hungerford and others, a filver badge for the marshal of the fraternity was made, weighing twenty-five ounces, and reprefenting an archer drawing the long-bow (in the proper manner) to his ear, with the following infcription: Regina Catherina Sagittarii. The fupporters are two bowmen with the arms of England and Portugal. "In 1682 there was a moit magnificent cavalcade and entertainment given by the Finfbury ar chers, when they bestowed the titles of duke of Shoreditch, marquis of Iflington, &c. upon the moft deferving. Charles the Sccond was prefent upon this occafion, but the day being rainy, he was obliged foon to leave the field. "I do not find any thing rela tive to the fate of archery during the fhort reign of James the Se cond; but it continued after this to be used for a manly exercife, as appears by the following epitaph on the fouth fide of Clerkenwell church, which is ftill very legible. Sir William Wood lies very near this stone, Long did he live the honour of the bow, Obiit Sept. 4. A. D. 1691. æt. 82. There is a very good portrait of this famous archer, belonging to the Artillery Company, at a public-houfe which looks into the Artillery Ground. "Archery, however, did not entirely die with fir William Wood; for in 1696, a widow (named Mrs. Elizabeth Shakerley) left by her will thirty-five pounds to be diftri buted well as the art itself? To what purpose the trouble of inventing another fyftem of characters?" "Various anfwers may be returned to this objection. 1.We know, from the inftance of our own language, what diversities may be introduced in this refpect merely by length of time, and an intercourfe with neighbouring nations. And fuch an effect would be much more likely to take place be fore the art of printing had contributed to establish an uniformity of character. For, when every work was tranfcribed by the hand, we may cafily imagine how many variations would arife from the fancy of the fcribe, and the mode of writing fo conftantly different in individuals. What two perfons write without the plainett fymptoms of peculiarity? 2. Vanity might fometimes give occafion to this diverfity. When an individual of another community had become acquainted with this wonderful artifice, he might endeavour to recommend himself to his own people, as the devifer of it: and, to evade detection, might have recourfe to the fubftitution of new fymbols. But let no more credit be given to this conjecture than it deferves. 3. The characters of the alphabet might, fometimes, be accommodated, as much as poffible, to the fymbolical marks already in, ufe amongst a particular people. Thefe having acquired a high degree of fanctity, by the ufe of many generations, would not be eafily fuperfeded, without the aid of fome fuch contrivance, by an adventitious practice. 66 4. But I have more than conjecture to offer in fupport of this argument; even the testimony of an ancient historian; whofe account will ferve as a general evidence in this cafe, and may lead us to con clude, that fimilar deviations may have taken place amongst other claffes of men, as well as in that inftance, which he particularly fpecifies from his own knowledge. "Herodotus, in one part of his history, has the following relation. "Thofe Phoenicians, who came with Cadmus, introduced many improvements among the Greeks, and alphabetical writing too, not known in my opinion to the Greeks before that period. At first they used the Phoenician character: but in process of time, as the pronunciation altered, the ftandard of the letters was alfo changed. The Ionian Greeks inhabited at that time the parts adjacent to Phoenicia: who, having received the art of alphabetical writing from the Phoenicians, ufed it, with an alteration of fome few characters: and confeffed ingenuously, that it was called Phoenician, from the introducers of it. And I have feen myself the characters of Cadmus in the temple of Ifinenian Apollo at Thebes in Baotia, engraven upon tripods, and very much refembling the Ionian characters." 66 5. The old Samaritan is precifely the fame as the Hebrew language and the Samaritan Pentateuch does not vary by a single letter in twenty words from the Hebrew. But the characters are widely different: for the Jews adopted the Chaldaic letters, during their captivity at Babylon, instead of the characters of their forefathers. This difficulty then feems to have been fufficiently confidered. "III. What we know of those nations, who have continued for many centuries unconnected with the reft of the world, strongly mie litates against the hypothefis of the human invention of alphabetical "On the other hand, the Englih archers were obliged by acts of parliament, even in time of peace, to erect butts in every parifli, and to fhoot on every Sunday and holiday, after repairing perhaps to thefe butts from a confiderable diftance, whilst the expence of at leaft a yew-bow, is reprefented as being a charge, which they were fcarcely equal to. "The king and parliaments of this country having thus compelled the inhabitants to fuch training, the English armies had (it fhould feem) the fame advantage over our enemies, as the exclufive ufe of fire. arms would give us at prefent. "It appears alfo by what hath been already ftated, that the longbow continued to be in eftimation for more than two centuries after gunpowder was introduced, which probably arofe from mufquets be ing very cumberfome and unwieldy. It is well known that rapid movements are generally decifive of the campaign, and for fuch the archers were particularly adapted, because, as they could not be annoyed at the fame diftance by the weapons of the enemy, they had fcarcely any occafion for armour. The flower of ancient armies likewife was the cavalry, against which the long-bow never failed to prevail, as man and horfe were too large objects to be miffed; and hence the great number of French nobility who were prifoners at Creffy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, for being difimounted (if not wounded) whilft they were allo clad in heavy armour, they could not make their escape. "The fame reafon accounts for our obtaining thefe fignal victories with fo inferior numbers; for the nobility and gentry thus becoming prifoners, the other parts of the French army made little or no refistance. Having mentioned fo many advantages on the fide of the English archers, I cannot but obferve, that if the enemy gained the wind against them, it must have been almost as decifive in favour of our opponents, as when it is obtained in a fea-fight: I conclude, however, that our generals avoided engagements, if poffible, when the wind was not favourable. "I fhall now conclude this effay by a few anecdotes and general obfervations relative to the fubject. "Though we hear of arrows at Cheviot Chafe which were a yard long, yet it is by no means to be fuppofed that the whole band made ufe of fuch, or could draw them to the head. "The regulation of the Irish ftatute of Edward the Fourth, viz. that the bow fhall not exceed the |
