'50 NARRATIVE OF THE PHANTASMAGORIA. 



clouds. This fimple inflrument is very manageable, fo that 

 the operator loon feels his power of producing whatever cha- 

 racter of found he may deiire ; and notwithftanding this dc- 

 fcription may feem extravagant, whoever tries it for ihe fir ft 

 time will be furprized at the refemblance. If the plate be 

 too fmall, the found will be (hort, acute, and metallic. 



To eorreipon- The pre font feems to be no unfit place to notice fome cor- 

 refpondents which my late paper on (having has induced to 

 favour me with a few letters. To thofe who find themfelves 

 inftrucled and gratified by a fmall addition to their daily com- 

 forts, I can only give my congratulation ; but to that friend 

 who calls himfelf a Shaver, but who I fear is no true fhaver, 

 from the little veneration he feems to have for the art, I am 

 Ludicrous E%, to return my thanks for his Effay on the Art of cutting Bread 

 and Butter, and muft fay, that if it had abounded with inftruc- 

 tion equal to its merriment, I mould have been glad to have 

 given it to my readers. He who (hall invent a machine to per*> 

 form even this operation, will, I think, deferve well of fociety, 

 I would humbly propofe it as my opinion, not without ex- 

 pectation that many others may think with me, that no fubject 

 Our beft philo- is beneath the confideration of a philofopher. Our beft phi- 

 profited mo ft lofophers have been mod ftudious of the daily occurrences of 

 from common life. Newton's attention was attracted by the fall of an apple 

 occurrences* before he extended the theory of gravitation to the moon* 

 Soap bubbles and the prifm were play-things before he felected 

 them as inftruments to analyfe the rays of light. Franklin by 

 the kite of a child conducted lightning from the clouds to the 

 earth : and in a word, it appears that the greateft difcoveries 

 have been made, not by thofe who could command the expen- 

 five and ornamental apparatus of fliowy experiment, but by 

 fuch as were in the habit of clofe attention to the means, the 

 agents, and the operations which are conftantly performed 

 around us, and frequently ill underftood becaufe habitually 

 neglected. 

 Ridicule not in- But laughter is faid to be one of the diftindtive characters 

 irowefs^f^h' °f ^ c human fpecies, and. our pleafures are not fo many that 

 lofophy, we fh6uld reject any innocent fource of amufement. No fe- 



rious evil is to be apprehended from raillery, efpecially if at- 

 4 tended 



