to diftinction by their virtues, are happy if others can be depreffed to a level with themselves, there are a number fufficient in every great town to maintain one of these courts by their fubfcription. A fhrewd obferver once faid, that in walking the ftreets of a flippery morning, one might fee where the good-natured people lived, by the afhes thrown on the ice before the doors: probably he would have formed a different conjecture of the temper of those whom he might find engaged in fuch fubscriptions.

Of the checks proper to be established against the abufes of power in thofe courts.

But fince fo much

Hitherto there are none. has been written and published on the federal conflitution; and the neceffity of checks, in all other parts of good government, has been fo clearly and learnedly explained, I find myself fo far enlightened as to fufpect fome check may be proper in this part alfo: but I have been at a lofs to imagine any that may not be conftrued an infringement of the facred liberty of the prefs. At length, however, I think I have found one, that, inftead of diminishing general liberty, fhall augment it; which is, by reftoring to the people a species of liberty of which they have been deprived by our laws, I mean the liberty of the cudgel! In the rude state of fociety prior to the existence of laws, if one man gave another ill-language, the affronted perfon might return it by a box on the ear; and if repeated, by a good drubbing; and this without offending against any law: but now the right of making fuch returns is denied, and they are punifhed as breaches of the peace, while the right of abufing feems to remain in full force; the laws made against it being rendered ineffectual by the liberty of the prefs.

My propofal then is, to leave the liberty of the prefs untouched, to be exercised in its full extent, force, and vigour, but to permit the liberty of the cudgel to go with it, pari passu. Thus, my fellow citizens, if an impudent writer attacks your reputation-dearer perhaps to you than your life, and puts his name to the charge you may go to him as openly, and break his head. If he conceals himself behind the printer, and you can nevertheless difcover who he is, you may, in like manner way-lay him in the night, attack him behind, and give him a good drubbing. If your adverfary hires better writers than himself, to abuse you more effectually, you may hire brawney porters, ftronger than yourself, to aflift you in giving him a more effectual drubbing. Thus far goes my project, as to private refentment and retribution. But if the public fhould ever happen to be affronted, as it ought to be, with the conduct of fuch writers, I would not advife proceeding immediately to thefe extremities, but that we fhould in moderation content ourselves with tarring and feathering, and toffing them in a blanket,

If, however, it fhould be thought that this propofal of mine may disturb the public peace, Ifhould then humbly recommend to our legiflators to take up the confideration of both liberties, that of the prefs, and that of the cudgel; and by an explicit law mark their extent and limits: and at the fame time that they fecure the perfon of a citizen from affaults, they would likewife provide for the fecurity of his reputation.

PAPER:

PAPER: A POEM.

SOME wit of old-fuch wits of old there were...

Whose hints fhow'd meaning, whofe allufions care,
By one brave stroke to mark all human-kind,
Call'd clear blank paper ev'ry infant mind;
When ftill, as opening fenfe 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 prefumption), I-
No wit, no genius, yet for once will try.

Various the papers various wants produce,
The wants of fafhion, elegance, and ufe,
Men are as various: and, if right I fcan,
Each fort of paper reprefents fome man.

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

Mechanics, fervants, farmers, and fo forth,
Are copy-paper, of inferior worth;

Lefs 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 coarfe brown paper; fuch as pedlars 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 finking-paper, past all doubt.

The

The retail politician's anxious thought

Deems this fide always right, and that fark nought;
He foams with cenfure; with applause he raves-
A dupe to rumours, and a tool of knaves;
He'll want no type his weakness to proclaim,
While fuch a thing as fools-cop has a name.

The hafty gentleman, whofe blood runs high,
Who picks a quarrel, if you ftep awry,
Who can't a jeft, or hint, or look endure:
What's he? What? Touch-paper to be fure.

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 fame class you'll find;
They are the mere wafle-paper of mankind.

Obferve the maiden, innocently fweet,
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 inftance more, and only one I'll bring; Tis the great man who fcorns a little thing,

Whose thoughts, whofe deeds, whofe maxims are his own,
Form'd on the feelings of his heart alone:

True genuine royal-paper is his breaft;
Of all the kinds most precious, purest, best.

ON

ON THE ART OF SWIMMING.

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

I AM apprehenfive that I fhall not be able to find leifure for making all the difquifitions and experiments which would be defirable on this. fubject. I muft, therefore, content myself with few remarks.

a

The fpecific gravity of fome human bodies, in comparison to that of water, has been examined. by M. Robinson, in our philofophical Tranfactions, volume 50, page 30, for the year 1757.. He afferts, that fat perfons with fmall bones float moft eafily upon water.

The diving bell is accurately defcribed in our Tranfactions.

When I was a boy, I made two oval pallets, each about ten inches long, and fix broad, with a hole for the thumb, in order to retain it faft in the palm of my hand. They much refemble a painter's pallets. In fwimming I pushed the edges of these forward, and I ftruck the water with their flat furfaces as I drew them back. I remember I fwam fafter by means of thefe pallets, but they fatigued my wrifts.-I also fitted to the foles of my feet a kind of fandals; but I was not fatisfied with them, because I observed that the ftroke is partly given by the infide of the feet and the ancles, and not entirely with the foles of the feet.

We have here waistcoats for fwimming, which are made of double fail-cloth, with fmall pieces of cork quilted in between them.

*Tranflator of Dr. Franklin's we into French.