224 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



cise, like the appetite of an alderman at the sound oi' 

 the dinner-bell ! Mr. Smith, himself, does not lean to 

 such an opinion. I will not ask, whether it may, or 

 may not, be probable that some packs are, at such a 

 time, so much more tired than the fox, that they are 

 inclining towards their natural rest ; neither will I split 

 straws in considering whether the " W conjoined to the 

 parenthesis, has reference to the dew, or the gate top ; 

 for the present, my purpose, like that of the Hosicrucian, 

 is principally with the dew. 



The Encyclopcedia Britannica, which is, I believe, 

 generally taken as tolerable authority on such matters, 

 after relating the most remarkable experiments of pro- 

 fessors of the Ptoyal Academy of Science, at Paris — 

 Doctor Dufay and M. Muschenbrock, the former of 

 whom vigorously maintained the ascent, and the latter 

 offered some show of contention for the descent of the 

 dew — concludes, that " it must still remain dubious, whe- 

 ther the dew rises or falls." How unlucky for the En- 

 cyclopaedia, that it should have been published in a day 

 when no Mr. Smith existed, who could for ever have 

 determined the question ; then would it have had no 

 need of committing itself to the theories of these 

 " learned Thebans." The Diarij would have afforded 

 a ready and concise solution of the difficulty. Con- 

 sidering, however, that I am one of the great majority 

 of those who do certainly "suppose" that the dew 

 rises ; moreover, remaining firmly convinced that such 

 is the fact ; the only apology I can offer for not yielding 



