TOL. XII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 411 



their own; all of that weight and above it to be his, for the king's use. But 

 although this agreement be signed and sealed, he minds not at all the perform- 

 ance thereof, but endeavours to engross all the profit to himself by tyrannically 

 squeezing both merchants and miners. Both merchant and miner go generally 

 naked, only a poor rag about their middle, and a sash on their heads ; they 

 dare not wear a coat, lest the governor should say they have thriven much, 

 are rich, and so enlarge his demands on them. The wisest, when they find a 

 great stone, conceal it till they have an opportunity, and then with wife and 

 children run all away into the Visiapore country, where they are secure. ' 



The government in the Visiapore country is better, their agreement observed,' 

 taxes easier, and no such impositions on provisions; the merchants go hand- 

 somely clad, amongst whom are several persons of considerable estates, which 

 they are permitted to enjoy peaceably, by reason whereof their mines are much 

 more populous and better employed than those of Golconda. 



It is observable, that notwithstanding the agreement with the adventurers 

 of the mines, that all stones above a certain weight shall be for the king's use; 

 yet in the metropolis of either kingdom, as the cities of Golconda and Visia- 

 pore are, there is no seizure, all stones being free. ^ 



An Account of some Books. N" 136, p. 917. 



I. The Primitive Origination of Mankind, considered and examined according to 

 the Light of Nature \ by the Honourable Sir Mattheiu Hale,^ Knight, late Lord 

 Chief Justice of his Majesty's Court of King's Bench, London, 1 677) infoL 



The worthy and learned author of this book principally considers these 

 particulars : 



I. That according to the light of nature and right reason the world was not 

 eternal, but had a beginning. U. That, if there could be any imaginable 

 doubt of the world's having a beginning, yet by the necessary evidence of 



* Sir Matthew Hale, a learned writer and judge, in the times of Charles I. Cromwell, and 

 Charles II. was bom 1609, at Aldersley in Gloucestershire, and educated at Magdalen Hall, 

 Oxford. He conducted himself with so much prudence during the civil wars, and after, that he 

 was esteemed by both parties, and enjoyed honourable employments under them. In l675 he 

 resigned his office of Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and died a few months afterwards. 

 Sir Matthew was a very learned man, a sound lawyer, an upright judge, and an exemplary christian. 

 His writings are numerous, on theology, philosophy, and on law. The principal of which, besides 

 the work above noticed, were, 1. Contemplations, moral and divine, 8vo. 2. Observations on the 

 Experiments of Torricelli, 8vo. 3. Essay on the Gravitation of Fluids. 4. Observations on the 

 principal Natural Motions, particularly Rarefaction and Condensation. 5. The Life and Death of 

 Pomponius Atticus. 6. Pleas of the Crown. 7. History of the Royal Statutes, &c. All of which 

 are much esteemed. '.yWuOfa mrmf^msm 



3 G 2 



