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PRECAUTIONS.

TO BE USED BY THOSE WHO ARE ABOUT TÒ
UNDERTAKE A SEA VOYAGE.

WHEN you intend to take a long voyage, nothing is better than to keep it a secret till the moment of your departure. Without this, you will be continually interrupted and tormented by visits from friends and acquaintances, who not only make you lose your valuable time, but make you forget a thousand things which you wish to remember; so that when you are embarked and fairly at sea, you recollect, with much uneasiness, affairs, which you have not terminated, accounts that you have not settled, and a number of things which you proposed to carry with you, and which you find the want of every moment.

Would it not be attended with the best consequences to reform such a custom, and to suffer a traveller, without deranging him, to make his preparations in quietness, to set apart a few days, when these are finished, to take leave of his friends, and to receive their good wishes for his happy return.

It is not always in one's power to choose a captain; though great part of the pleasure and happiness of the passage depends upon this choice, and though one must for a time be confined to his company, and be in some measure under his command. If he is a social sensible man, obliging and of a good disposition, you will be so much the happier. One sometimes meets with people of this description, but they are not common; however, if your's be not of "his number, if he be a good seaman, attentive, care. ul, and active in the management of his vessel, you nust dispense with the rest, for these are the most essential qualities.

Whatever right you may have by your agreement with him to the provisions he has taken on board for the use of the passengers, it is always proper to have some private store, which you may make use of occasionally. You ought therefore to provide good water, that of the ship being often had; but you must

but it into bottles, without which you cannot expect to preserve it sweet. You ought also to carry with you good tea, ground coffee, chocolate, wine of that sort which you like best, cider, dried raisins, almonds, sugar, capilaire, citrons, rum, eggs dipped in oil, portable soup, bread twice baked. With regard to poultry, it is almost useless to carry any with you, unless you resolve to undertake the office of feeding and fattening them yourself. With the little care which is taken of them on board a ship, they are almost all sickly, and their flesh is as tough as leather.

All sailors entertain an opinion, which undoubtedly originated formerly from a want of water, and when it has been found necessary to be sparing of it, that poultry never knew when they had drank enough, and that when water is given them at discretion, they generally kill themselves by drinking beyond measure. In consequence of this opinion, they give them water only once in two days, and even then in small quantities: but as they pour this water into troughs inclining on one side, which occasions it to run to the lower part, it thence happens that they are obliged to mount one upon the back of another in order to reach it; and there are some which cannot even dip their beaks in it. Thus continually tantalized and tormented by thirst, they are unable to digest their food, which is very dry, and they soon fall sick and die. Some of them are found thus every morning, and are thrown into the sea; while those which are killed for the table are scarcely fit to be eaten. To remedy this inconvenience, it will be necessary to divide their troughs into small compartments, in such a manner that each of tliem may be capable of containing water; but this is seldom or never done. On this account, sheep and hogs are to be considered as the best fresh provisions that one can have at sea; mutton there, being in general very good, and pork excellent.

It may happen that some of the provisions and stores, which I have recommended, may become almost useless, by the care which the captain has taken to lay in a proper stock: but in such a case you may dispose of it to relieve the poor passengers,

affronted, as it ought to be, with the conduct of such writers, I would not advise proceeding immediately to these extremities, but that we should in moderation content ourselves with tarring and feathering, and tossing in a blanket.

If, however, it should be thought, that this proposal of mine may disturb the public peace, I would then humbly recommend to our legislators to take up the consideration of both liberties, that of the press, and that of the cudgel; and by an explicit law mark their extent and limits: and at the same time that they secure the person of a citizen from assaults, they would likewise provide for the security of his reputation.

PAPER

A POEM.

SOME wit of old-such wits of old there were-
Whose hints show'd meaning, whose allusions care
By one brave stroke to mark all hunan kind
Call'd clear blank paper ev'ry infant mind;
When still, as opening sense her dictates wrote,
Fair virtue put a seal, or vice a blot.

The thought was happy, pertinent and true;
Methinks a genius might the plan pursue.
I (can you pardon my presumption), I—
No wit, no genius, yet for once will try,

Various the papers various wants produce,
The wants of fashion, elegance, and use.
Men are as various; and if right I scan,
Each sort of paper represents some man.

Pray note the fop--half powder and half lace-
Nice as a band-box were his dwelling-place:
He's the gill-paper, which apart you store,
And lock from vulgar hands in the 'scrutoire.

Mechanics, servants, farmers, and so forth,
Are copy-paper, of inferior worth;

Less priz'd, more useful, for your desk decreed,
Free to all pens, and prompt at ev'ry need.

The wretch whom av'rice bids to pinch and spare, Starve, cheat, and pilfer, to enrich an heir, Is coarse brown-paper; such as pedlers choose To wrap up wares, which better men will use.

Take next the miser's contrast, who destroys Health, fame, and fortune, in a round of joys. Will any paper match him? Yes, throughout, He's a true sinking-paper, past all doubt.

The retail politician's anxious thought
Deems this side always right, and that stark nought;
He foams with censure; with applause he raves-
A dupe to rumours, and a tool of knaves;
He'll want no type his weakness to proclaim,
While such a thing as fools-cap has a name.

The hasty gentleman, whose blood runs high,
Who picks a quarrel, if you step awry,
Who can't a jest, or hint, or look endure:
What's he? What? Touch-paper to be sure.

What are our poets, take them as they fall
Good, bad, rich, poor, much read, not read at all?
Them and their works in the same class you'll find;
They are the mere waste-paper of mankind.

Observe the maiden, innocently sweet,
She's fair white-paper, an unsullied sheet;
On which the happy man, whom fate ordains,
May write his name, and take her for his pains.

One instance more, and only one I'll bring;
Tis the great man who scorns a little thing,
Whose thoughts, whose deeds, whose maxims are
his own,

Form'd on the feelings of his heart alone :
True genuine royal-paper is his breast:
Of all the kinds most precious, purest, best.

ON THE ART OF SWIMMING.

IN ANSWER TO SOME INQUIRIES OF M. DUBOURG
ON THE SUBJECT.

I AM apprehensive that I shall not be able to find leisure for making all the disquisitions and experi inents which would be desirable on this subject. I must, therefore, content myself with a few remarks.

The specific gravity of some human bodies, in comparison to that of water, has been examined by M. Robinson, in our Philosophical Transactions, volume 50, page 30, for the year 1757. He asserts, that fat persons with small bones float most easily upon water.

The diving bell is accurately described in our Transactions.

When I was a boy, I made two oval pallets, each about ten inches long, and six broad, with a hole for the thumb, in order to retain it fast in the palm of my hand. They much resemble a painter's pallets. In swimming, I pushed the edges of these forward, and I struck the water with their flat surfaces as I drew them back: I remember I swam faster by means of these pallets, but they fatigued my wrists. I also fitted to the soles of my feet a kind of sandals; but I was not satisfied with them, because I observed that the stroke is partly given by the ir.side of the feet and the ancles, and not entirely with the soles of the feet.

We have here waistcoats for swimming, which are made of double sail-cloth, with small pieces of cork quilted in between them.

I know nothing of the scaphandre of M. de la Chapelle.

I know by experience, that it is a great comfort to a swimmer, who has a considerable distance to go, to turn himself sometimes on his back, and to vary in other respects the means of procuring a progressive motion.

*Translator of Dr. Franklin's Works into French.

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