} 
S86 
fameas your's, Theappearances are undoubts. 
edly of the fame nature with thofe which 
have been obferved from our Jaurel-mount; 
but more remarkable in their degree, as well 
as more frequent, on account of the different 
conftitution of the atmofphere in Greenland, 
and probably the greater diftance of the ob- 
jects obferved, &c. The whole feems eafy 
to be accounted for on optical principles; and 
may be illuftrated by comparing the qualities 
of the atmofphere with thofe of glafs. The 
opticians, I apprehend, find it difficult to pro. 
cure glafs free from weizs3, which are parts 
of its fubftance of a different degree of den-' 
fity (and confequently of refractive power) 
irom the ret. The whole mafs, however, 
being equally transparent, the veins aré un- 
Gifcernible by a common eye; but the irre-. 
gularity which they occafionin the refraction 
of the rays is a material impediment to the 
perfection of refracting telefcopes. Juft fo 
the atmofphere, being fubje&t to continual 
changes, and having vapours and fluids of dif- 
ferent qualities and confiftences always rifing 
or gathering in different parts, may fometimes 
have in it what may be. called weins, of a 
greater denfity than the reft of it’s general 
fubftance. If then any fuch vein, of a globue 
ler, or convex form, and fufficiently tranfpa- 
rent, prefents itfelf fuitably between the eye 
and‘a diftant obje&t, that obje& will appear 
magnified and brought nearer ; and if. the vein 
be of a prifmatical form, the obje& wilh ap- 
pear fifted from it’s place, without being mag= 
nified, &c. Appearances of this kind are, I 
believe, only feenin calm ftill weather; and 
fuch alone is favourable to the undifturbed 
colle@tion of thefe heterogeneous maffes of 
aerial fluid. They will not, however, re- 
main long in the fame form and fituation ; 
but wiil (efpecially on being rarified by the 
heat of the rifing fun, or agitated by a wind) 
begin to diflolve and diffipate into the fur- 
rounding rarer atmofphere, till an equilibri- 
ums take place. This accounts for the gra- 
dual variation, and final difappearance, of the 
phenomena : and, that rain fhould ufually fol- 
low foon after a folution of this kind, feems 
very probable, and appears to be confiftent 
with experiences JOHN ANDREWS, 
seat - 
To the Editor of ‘the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR5 
N common, Iam perfuaded, with many 
other of your readers, I was much 
difappointed at not finding in your laft 
Number, the further account you had fo- 
licited of the late ingenious Mr. Bage. 
When I firft read his admirable ** Herm- 
{prong,” I naturally felt defirous of learn- 
ing {ome particulars of its anonymous 
author; and your late brief but impreffive 
annuneiation of his death hasjmade me. 
7 
Enquiry concerning Mr. Bage—Portfmouth. 
[ Dee. qT, 
truly anxious for a fpirited: fketch of his 
charaéter. Permit me therefore, Mr. Edi- 
tor, tojoin you inthe intreaty, that fome one 
of his furviving friends would favourtyou 
with fuch a communieation,, as an act of 
juftice to his memory and of gratification 
to the world. . 
Malton, 
Your’s; &c. 
November 9, 18013 : 
w.W. 
\ 
Ta the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR; NE 
I HAVE read with pleafure and im- 
provement your Correfpondent, W. 
N’s Account of Portfmouth, é&¢.—in 
which he fhews-a laudable defire to defend 
his town’s people againft the charaéter - 
which [have given them, in my Shetch of. . 
a Journey from Copenhagen to Hamburg. 
I vifited Port/mouth feveral times before’ 
the war, and what I'wrote was in confe-- 
quence of actual obfervation ; how far a 
nine year’s war may have improved the 
morals of the lower claffes, and with then 
their cleanlinefs of drefs, and decorum of 
manners, I will not prefume to determine. 
But, Sir, when I was in Portfmouth, there 
were two places of infamous notoriety, 
called the Back of the Point and the Sally. Port, 
the enormities nightly committed in which » 
were connived at by the police: I thould: 
have thought this cireumftance fufficient to 
have produced amongft the lower clafles’ 
debauchery, with its conftant attendants, 
poverty, filth, and wretchedneis; and in- 
deed this appeared to me to be the cafe 3 
but I am extremely glad to learn from W. 
N’s Account, that the war, which has in 
other places been fo difaftrous in its confe~ 
quences, has not affeéted the morals of 
the lower claffes of Portfmouth, and that — 
they have efcaped the contagion of the 
above-mentioned fink-holes of proftitution, ° 
of robbery, and of murder. 
Hackney, Yours, &c. 
November 5, 18017 R, STEVENS. 
—= 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, rk 
" AM forry toremark, that your Cor- 
refpondent who furnifhed the Account 
of the State of Manners, &c. at Vienna, 
which T read in your laft number, has ap- 
parently fallen into a very glaring error _ 
refpecting the population of that city. ~ 
He firft informs us, that in the year 
1796, the city contained 1397 houfes and. 
the fuburbs 5102, amounting jointly to 
6499 and afterwards that in 1795 the in- 
habitants were computed at 231,105 
ee 
