1 Who would have thought, my dear Sam; that I should have had to date my letter from such a scene of desolation! Will you believe your own eyes when I tell you that London is in the condition of a beseiged town. If I open my window I see two fires before me at a view: one is the King's Bench Prison, the other is somewhere to the Eastward. How many more there may be God knows | When I wrote the above I thought to have given you a narrative — But there was no finding time for it.

2 Oars = Sweeps

It seems that Oars are used on board of our small ships of war. In the Whitehall Evening of 23 d Oct.1779 mention is made of their being used on board the Atalanta of 16 guns. They are called Sweeps. This I find upon looking over my Index — I forgot to mention it at the time. 3. Mirrors burning

An apparatus of proposed as a kind of pre-arms. Each Soldier to carry one Button to melt lead at 120 feet distance and 400. See Brydon's Travels in July & March . I. 284.

4. Mortars

Mortars at Malta made by hollowing out the Rock. The charge a barrel of gunpowder at a time ib. 330. You have no rocks I believe that would do any where in the Russ. dominions. Anderson says he has heard of such a thing being at Gibraltar.

5. Schule. Heat & Light — Inflam. Air.

The translation of Schule is not out yet, but will be soon. His positions according to Bergman are, to that the matter of heat is nothing but resperable in combined ( intwine) with a determinate portion of phlogiston: 2. that inflammable air is resp. air combined with a greater proportion of phlog: and 3. that light

again consists of the same elements only the proportion of phlogiston greater still. And that the hepatic air (of which Bergman ) consists of sulphur dissolved in the matter of by the intermediation of phlogiston. These positions Bergman says agree admirably with the phenomena hitherto known under Volume 2.201 June 20 Kit

I agree with you and Plesch. perfectly in some of your remarks, and do not disagree with you in any. It shall be new-doctored according to the best of my poor abilities in conformity to your good pleasure. Perhaps you may have it by next time I write. The letters to the other people whom you mention you shall likewise have time enough for me to have the benefit of your observations. You will find them fierce enough for you I imagine. After all, it is not a cursed thing that I must not say to that sermon what is true, because other people in whose mouths perhaps it might not be true might perhaps be for saying the same thing. Parcel for S.B.

Here's another plague has happen'd about your things. Mair was applied to about them by Wilson to give him notice when the fleet would sail. Mair chose not to say a syllable about the matter till Sunday on which day he called on W. and told him that the fleet was allready gone down to the Hove that it was uncertain whether a parcel could be sent after them, but that however he would try, if it was sent to his counting house in Cloak Lane Dowgate-hill. On that day there was no such thing as sending it. For you are to know that Q.S.P. an age ago had been making a roul about the , and nothing would serve him but he must have them unpacked for him to pore over and sit in judgement on. Being completely tumbled I did not choose to trust to any repackage I could give them, but determined to send them to M r Ramsden for that purpose. I thought the later this was done the better, in order that whatever other things there might be might go with