PHY'SICAL AND LITERARY. 193 



I HAVE formerly feen a piece that was 

 printed many years ago, but never, 1 

 think, publiOied ; containing a fyflem and 

 a kind of liturgy for the Pantheifts or Spi- 

 nofifts ; wherein the author warmly e- 

 fpoufed this notion, concerning the varia- 

 tion of the obliquity of the ecliptic, an4 

 endeavoured to improve ir, for fupporting 

 his favourite principle of equality ; ima- 

 gining, that, in the compafs of this pe- 

 riod, the ftate and pha;nomena of all pla- 

 ces on the earth would be upon the whole 

 equal ; an opinion that feems to fuit the 

 patrons of a blind and abfolute necefficy: 

 But, whatever be thought of this continu- 

 al and regular diminution of the angle in 

 which the ecliptic and equator interfecl 

 each other, it is certain that fuch an equa- 

 lity would not be the confequence of ir. 

 Places of the earth would flili have their 

 peculiarities : The people at the equator 

 would have their days and nights con- 

 ftantly equal, how great or fmall foever 

 the obliquity of the ecliptic were ; for this 

 is a necefTary confequence of their defcri- 

 VoL.I. Bb bing 



