1]2 O^ LIVES IN A CIRCLE. 



XIY. 



Replif to Mr. Bof^cell. By An Old CoiirespondeniU 



To Mr. NICHOLSON. 

 SIR, 



Explanatory VV HEN I began to read your correfpondent, Mr. BofwelPs 

 gmarks on Mr. anfwer to my obfervations on his geometrical propofuions, and 

 found myfelf accufed of iiaving; ** thrown fome very undeferved 

 reflexions" on his comiimnication, I could not help feeling 

 a degree of apprehenfioti left I (hould inadvertently have made 

 fome miftake or other, for which I mult have been obliged to 

 apologize to him and to the public; but on perufing the letter 

 through, I was not a little furprifed to have found but one re- 

 fleclion pointed out, and that applying not to the matter but 

 manner of my obfervations; it feems I have accufed him of 

 being too confident in one of his aflertions ; a literary crime, of 

 ■which he exculpates hirafelf by proving from a quotation, cer- 

 tainly very much to the purpofe if we make no diftinftion be- 

 tween doubt and diffidence, that he is, on the contrary, a very 

 diffident writer, which quotation, to be fure, contrafted with 

 an expreffion that fell from my pen, might beconclufive, if the 

 tvvo paflTages were applicable to the fame thing; but unfortu- 

 nately it turns out, on clofer examination, that the accufation 

 applies exclujively to Mr. B's fecond propofition, and his ex- 

 culpatory quotation exclufively to his^r^. 



Had I committed myfelf fo far as to fay that he announced 

 hisiirft propofition with confidence, I muft have flood clearly 

 convi<5led of having done him injuftice ; but as it was his fe- 

 cond propofition, or, in other words, his other fact in geometry, 

 to which my objedlionable obfervations folely applied, he 

 ought to have quoted wliat he has faid about it, and about it 

 only J as evidence againft me; lie has, however, direfted his 

 arrow at a wrong mark, on which account I claim the reader's 

 indulgence to repeat the pafl'age alluded to, which is the only 

 paflfage in Mr. B's paper that relates to his fecond propofition : 

 •' The difcovery of a fad in geometry often leads to another; 

 one of this kind / have here to add, lohich is, that a right line 

 (BE) drawn from the extremity B of the line I B, alright 

 •ngles through the oppofite diameter (IF) to the circumfer- 

 ence. 



