Chap. I. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 6i 



* or how he fupported himfelf in that uncomfortable folltude, is at 

 ' prefent what takes up the converfation of the learned.' 



No. VIII. 



From Wyes Letter^ printed in the Edinburgh Evening Courant of No- 

 u ember 14. 1726. 



' We are told that Dr Arbuthnot has not yet been able, notwith- 

 ' ftanding all the pauis he has taken, to bring the wild youth, either 



* to the ufe of fpeech, or pronunciation of any words, which fome 



* impute to his want of underftanding, becaufe he ftill retains the 



* natural wildnefs in all his ad:ions and behaviour.' 



No. IX, 



The laft thing I find printed concerning Peter is avery witty and ludi- 

 crous thing of Dean Swift, entitled, ' // cannot rain, but it pours * ;' 

 where he gives an account of the luonderful Wild Man, as he calls 

 him, full of fatire and ridicule, in which he excels every writer, but 

 containing feveral fadls concerning him, that are certainly true ; 

 and therefore I prefume that the other fads that he mentions, 

 though they are no where clfe to be found, are likewife true, 

 whatever we may think of the ufe and application he makes of 

 them. He fays, what is undoubtedly true, * That he was taken in the 



* woods of Germany ; — that he vv-as brought to court in 1726; — that 

 ' he fecmed then to be about twelve or thirteen years of age ; — and 

 ^ that he was put under the care of an ingenious phyfician,' mean- 

 ing Dr Arbuthnot. He furtlier fays, ' That it was evident, by fe- 

 ' vcral tokens, that he had a father and mother like one of us.' This 

 I believe alfo to be true ; bccaufc I was told by a perfon yet living, 

 that, when he vv'as catchcd, he had a collar about his neck, wiih 

 fomething written upon it. So far, tlierefore, I think we may 



depend 



* Vcl. iii. (.f die 4to edition of his works, p. 132. 



