1799] 
perfons, perhaps, of coincident opinion 
with the journalift of Dr. Johnfon, Mr. 
Bofwell, who, after relating that when 
the prefent lord Loughborough firft croffed 
the Tweed he was taught Englith pronun- 
ciation by Macklin and Sheridan, fays, 
(though I do not remember the exac& 
words) that it may be all] very well to rub 
off the coarfene{s of the Scotch accent, but 
as to thoie ‘“nativewood-notes wild’’ which 
ferve to diftinguifh his country, he could 
heartily defpife any S¢otchmen who fhould 
affeét to forget them. Bofwell dared not 
have talked thus to Johnion. For my own 
part, I do not think there is any thing 
very mufical in our ‘* native wood-notes:”” 
I like them well enough at a fheep-fhear- 
ing or a harvett frolic; they proceed in 
character from the wide open mouth 
of a great brawny countryman, but from 
the lips of a fafhionable fair one, the 
found of thefe wood-notes are tco wild 
and immelodious to pleafe my ear. 
As it was no part of my plan, Mr. 
Editor, to trouble either you or myfelf 
with the topographical minutiz of Nor- 
wich, I fhall fay nothing about our 
churches, and our chapels, our prifons, 
our-halls, and our hofpitals ; we take as 
much care of the fouls and bodies of our 
citizens as other people. Our places of 
worfhip are very numerous, our prifons are 
ftrong enough to hold the hardiett high- 
wayman, and we have hofpitals to relieve 
the decrepitude of age and employ the 
activity of youth: we have, moreover, 
a noble inftitution for the cure of fick 
perfons and thofe who fuffer from acci- 
dents, which receives fupport by the gra- 
tuitous attendance of our beft medical 
practitioners. 
You will recollegt, Sir, that I profef- 
fed only to give a fketch of fociety in Nor- 
wich; the outlines are rongh, but they 
are taken from life: any body that pleafes 
may complete the picture. 
6a es Nia) 

To tie Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
DERHAPS the following method of 
affilting a weak fight may not be 
commonly known. I tranflate it from 
La Nouvelle Bigarure for February 1754. 
«© The author of this difcovery was, 
about fixty years of age ; he had almoft 
entirely loft his fight, feeing nothing but 
a kind of thick mift, with little black 
fpecks which appeared to float in the air. 
He knew not any of his friends, he could 
not even diftinguifh a man from a woman, 
~ 
Help for weak Sight....On Witchcraft, Se. 
233 
nor could he walk in the ftreets without 
being led, Glafles were of no ule to him; 
the beft print, feen through the beft {pec- 
tacles, feemed to him like a daubed pa- 
per. Wearied with this melancholy ftate, 
he thought of the following expedient. 
«¢ He procured fome {pectacles with very 
large rings, and taking out the glafles _ 
fubitituted in each circle a conic tube of 
black Spanifh copper. Looking through 
the large end of the cone he could read 
the fmalleft print placed at its other ex- 
tremity. Thefe tubes were of different 
leneths, and the openings at the end were 
alfo of different fizes ; the fmaller the 
aperture the better could he diftinguith 
the fimalleft letters; the larger the aper- 
ture the more words or lines it commanded, 
and confequently the lefs occafion was 
there for moving the head and the hand 
in reading. Sometimes he ufed one eye, 
fometimes the other, alternately relieving 
each, for the rays of the two eyes could 
not unite upon the fame objeét when thus 
feparated by two opaque tubes. ‘The 
thinner thefe tubes, the lefs troublefome 
arethey. They mutt be totally blackened 
within fo as to prevent all fhining, and 
they fhould be made to lengthen or con- 
traét, and enlarge or reduce the aperture 
at pleafure. : 
“«Whenhe placed convex claffes in thefe 
tubes, the letters indeed appeared larger, 
but not fo clear and diftinct as through 
the empty tube: he alfo found the tubes 
more convenient when not fixed in the 
fpectacle-rings ; for when they hung 
loofely they couid be raifed or lowered 
with the hand, and ene or both might be 
ufed as occafion required.”’ 
Briftol, February 21. 2 NG, 
Ee 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HE times are paft, in which a perfon 
might have been liable to perifh in 
the flames, for not worfhipping God ac- 
cording to the cuftom of the country; or 
for worfhipping the devil, and fora fuf- 
pected participation in his confpiracy 
again{t the peace and welfare of mankind. 
But, the hiftory of the intercourie, fan- 
_cied or real, between men and evil {pirits, 
fill remains one of the moft curious and 
the moft obfeure fubjects of human invef. 
tigation. It is horrible to reflect, how 
many poor wretches were, in the cour{2 of 
the laft century, facrificed, in both Scot- 
land and England, by puritanical zeal, to 
the {ufpicion of witchcraft! it is inex- 
prefibly painful to think how many 
murders 
