198 OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING 



which, it is probable, we fliall never be able to folvc. 

 Time is continually dropping, before our eyes, veils which 

 the hand can never remove. In the moll interefting in- 

 quiries, whether hiftorical, philofophical, or moral, how 

 often are we obliged to paufe, to meet the clouds before 

 us 1 Nor fliould we paufe without reverence ; fmce we 

 have numerous, and thofe the moft impreflive, reafons 

 for fuppoiing, that thefe clouds vi^ill be difperfed in a 

 future, and an happier, ftate. 



SECONDLY. 



I AM now, Dear Sir, in the fecond place, to offer my 

 opinions concerning the ufes, or intentions, of the feveral 

 articles, which are the fubjed: of my letter. And here, 

 I may obferve, that although on this fubjed there may be 

 fome uncertainty, yet I think that the articles may, with 

 propriety, be confidered under the two heads of orna- 

 mental, and fuperflitious ; with the exception, perhaps, of 

 the mica, or ifinglafs, and the lead-ore, of which I ihall 

 afterwards give my opinion. 



I fhall firft fpeak of the articles which I take to be or- 

 namental, and in the next place of thofe which 1 fup- 

 pofe to have been defigned for fomc fuperflitious pur- 

 pofes. 



The ornamental articles are thofe which Mr. Sargent 

 has numbered fig. i, 2, 3, 4, 5 5, 7 7, 8, 9, and 10 10 

 (See the plates, with explanations). Of thefe articles it 

 is not neceffary that I fliould give any defcription, as 

 this has already been done by Colonel Sargent, in the 

 accompanying plate. I fhall only obferve, that the five 

 flones (fig. 1 , 2, 3, 4, and 5 5,) are each furniflied with 

 a groove, reprefented in the plate, by which groove, it is 



probable, 



