them, however, and, having no room in my pockets, I walked on with a roll under each arm, eating the third. In this manner I went through Market Street to Fourth Street, and passed the house of Mr. Read, the father of my future wife. She was standing at the door, observed me, and thought, with reason, that I made a very singular and grotesque appearance.

I then turned the corner and went through Chestnut Street, eating my roll all the way; and, having made this round, I found myself again on Market Street wharf, near the boat in which I arrived. I stepped into it to take a draught of the river-water, and, finding myself satisfied with my first roll, I gave the other two to a woman and her child who had come down the river with us in the boat and was waiting to continue her journey. Thus refreshed, I regained the street, which was now full of well-dressed people all going the same way. I joined them, and was thus led to a large Quakers' meeting-house near the market-place. I sat down with the rest, and after looking round me for some time, hearing nothing said and being drowsy from my last night's labor and want of rest, I fell into a sound sleep. In this state I continued till the assembly dispersed, when one of the congregation had the goodness to wake

He conducted me to the Crooked Billet, in Water Street. There I ordered something for dinner, and during my meal a number of curious questions were put to me, my youth and appearance exciting the suspicion of my being a runaway. After dinner my drowsiness returned, and I threw myself upon a bed without taking off my clothes and slept till six o'clock in the evening, when I was called to supper. I afterward went to bed at a very early hour, and did not awake till the next morning.

As soon as I got up I put myself in as decent a trim as I could and went to the house of Andrew Bradford, the printer. I found his father in the shop, whom I had seen at New York. Having travelled on horseback, he had arrived at Philadelphia before me. He introduced me to his son, who received me with civility and gave me some breakfast, but told me he had no occasion at present for a journeyman, having lately procured one. He added that there was another printer newly settled in the town, of the name of Keimer, who might perhaps employ me, and that in case of refusal I should be welcome to lodge at his house, and he would give me a little work now and then till something better should offer.

The old man offered to introduce me to the new printer. When we were at his house, "Neighbor," said he, "I bring you a young man in the printing business; perhaps you may have need of his services."

Keimer asked me some questions, put a composing-stick in my hand to see how I could work, and then said that at present he had nothing for me to do, but that he should soon be able to employ me. At the same time, taking old Bradford for an inhabitant of the town well disposed toward him, he communicated his project to him, and the prospect he had of success. Bradford was careful not to discover that he was the father of the other printer, and from what Keimer had said that he hoped shortly to be in possession of the greater part of the business of the town-led him, by artful questions and by starting some difficulties, to disclose all his views, what his hopes were founded upon and how he intended to proceed. I was present, and heard it all. I instantly saw that one of the two was a cunning old fox and the other a perfect novice. Bradford left me with Keimer, who was strangely surprised when I informed him who the old man was.

I found Keimer's printing-materials to consist of an old, deranged press and a small fount of worn-out English letters, with which he himself was at work upon an elegy upon Aquila Rose, an ingenious young man and of an excellent character, highly esteemed in the town, secretary to the Assembly and a very tolerable poet. Keimer also made verses, but they were indifferent ones. He could not be said to write in verse, for his method was to set the lines as they flowed from his Muse; and, as he worked without copy, had but one set of letter-cases and the elegy would occupy all his types, it was impossible for any one to assist him. I endeavored to put his press in order, which he had not yet

used, and of which, indeed, he understood nothing; and, having promised to come and work off his elegy as soon as it should be ready, I returned to the house of Bradford, who gave me some trifles to do for the present, for which I had my board and lodging.

In a few days Keimer sent for me to print off his elegy. He had now procured another set of letter-cases, and had a pamphlet to reprint, upon which he set me to work.

The two Philadelphia printers appeared destitute of every qualification necessary in their profession. Bradford had not been brought up to it, and was very illiterate. Keimer, though he understood a little of the business, was merely a compositor and wholly incapable of working at press. He had been one of the French prophets, and knew how to imitate their supernatural agitations. At the time of our first aquaintance he professed no particular religion, but a little of all upon occasions. He was totally ignorant of the world and a great knave at heart, as I had afterward an opportunity of experiencing.

Keimer could not endure that, working with him, I should lodge at Bradford's. He had, indeed, a house, but it was unfurnished; so that he could not take me in. He procured me a lodging at Mr. Read's, his landlord, whom I have already mentioned. My trunk and effects being now arrived, I thought of making in the eyes of Miss Read a more respectable appearance than when chance exhibited me to her view eating my roll and wandering in the streets.

From this period I began to contract acquaintance with such young people as were fond of reading, and spent my evenings with

them agreeably, while at the same time I gained money by my industry, and, thanks to my frugality, lived contentedly.

IT

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

THE ANCIENTS' THEORIES OF

"

ASTRONOMY.

FROM THE SYSTEM OF THE WORLD."

was the ancient opinion of not a few in the earliest ages of philosophy that the fixed stars stood immovable in the highest parts of the world; that under the fixed stars the planets were carried about the sun; that the earth, as one of the planets, described an annual course about the sun, while by a diurnal motion it was in the mean time revolved about its own axis; and that the sun, as the common fire which served to warm the whole, was fixed in the centre of the universe. This was the philosophy taught of old by Philolaus, Aristarchus of Samos, Plato in his riper years, and the whole sect of the Pythagoreans, and this was the judgment of Anaximander, more ancient than any of them, and of that wise king of the Romans, Numa Pompilius, who as a symbol of the figure of the world with. the sun in the centre erected a temple in honor of Vesta of a round form, and ordained perpetual fire to be kept in the middle of it.

The Egyptians were early observers of the heavens, and from them, probably, this philosophy was spread abroad among other nations, for from them it was, and the nations about them, that the Greeks, a people of themselves more addicted to the study of philology than of nature, derived their first as well as soundest notions of philosophy; and in the vestal ceremonies we may yet trace

the ancient spirit of the Egyptians, for it was their way to deliver their mysteriesthat is, their philosophy of things above the vulgar way of thinking-under the veil of religious rites and hieroglyphic symbols.

It is not to be denied but that Anaxagoras, Democritus and others did now and then start up who would have it that the earth possessed the centre of the world, and that the stars of all sorts were revolved toward the west about the earth quiescent in the centre, some at a swifter, others at a slower, rate. However, it was agreed on both sides that the motions of the celestial bodies were performed in spaces altogether free and void of resistance. The whim of solid orbs was of a later date, introduced by Eudoxus, Calippus and Aristotle when the ancient philosophy began to decline and to give place to the new prevailing fictions of the Greeks.

But, above all things, the phenomena of comets can by no means consist with the notion of solid orbs. The Chaldeans, the most learned astronomers of their time, looked upon the comets (which of ancient times before had been numbered among the celestial bodies) as a particular sort of planets which, describing very eccentric orbits, presented themselves to our view only by turns-viz., once in a revolution, when they descended into the lower parts of their orbits. And as it was the unavoidable consequence of the hypothesis of solid orbs, while it prevailed, that the comets should be thrust down below the moon, so no sooner had the late observations of astronomers restored the comets to their ancient places in the higher heavens but these celestial spaces were at once cleared of the encumbrance of solid orbs, which by these observations were broke into pieces and dis

carded for ever. Whence it was that the planets came to be retained within any certain bounds in these free spaces, and to be drawn off from the rectilinear courses which, left to themselves, they should have pursued, into regular revolutions in curvilinear orbits, are questions which we do not know how the ancients explained, and probably it was to give some sort of satisfaction to this difficulty that solid orbs were introduced. The later philosophers pretend to account for it either by the action of certain vortices, as Kepler and Des Cartes, or by some other principle of impulse or attraction, as Borelli, Hooke and others of our nation; for, from the laws of motion, it is most certain that these effects must proceed from the action of some force or other.

SIR ISAAC NEWTON.

THE DEATH OF AGRIPPINA, THE MOTHER OF NERO.

FROM THE LATIN OF CAIUS CORNELIUS TACITUS.

ERO now began to shun all private interviews with his mother; whenever she withdrew to her gardens or her villa at Tusculum or to the neighborhood❘ of Antium, he would commend her for seeking retirement. At last, feeling her existence a heavy burden to him wherever she might be, he resolved to put her to death, the only matter of deliberation with him being whether he should get rid of her by poison, by the dagger, or by some other violent means. His first resolve was to take her off by poison. But if poison should be given to her at the emperor's table, it could not be imputed to accident, for Britannicus had already perished by the same means; to tamper with the attendants

of Agrippina appeared hazardous, for her experience in crime had made her vigilant against treachery, and she had fortified herself against poisons by the habit of taking antidotes. If the dagger was employed, nobody could suggest how the murder should be concealed; and Nero feared that, whoever was selected to commit so great a crime, he might refuse to obey the emperor's commands.

Anicetus, a freedman, offered the resources of his invention. He was the commander of the fleet at Misenum, had been engaged in the education of Nero, and he and Agrippina hated one another. He told Nero that a vessel might be so constructed that part of it could be detached when the vessel was afloat and Agrippina thrown into the water before she was aware of it; that nothing gave so many chances of accident as the sea; and if Agrippina should perish in the wreck, who could be so unreasonable as to impute to crime what was the fault of the wind and waves? that when Agrippina was dead the emperor could build a temple and erect altars to her memory, and make other demonstrations of filial affection. The device was approved, and was favored by the time, for Agrippina was in the habit of attending the festival of the Quinquatrus at Baiæ. To that place Nero lured his mother, often declaring that sons ought to bear with the angry passions of their parents and try to pacify them, in order that he might give rise to reports of a reconciliation, and that Agrippina might believe it; for women are easily disposed to credit anything that pleases them. On her arrival he went to meet her on the shore, for she came from Antium; he took her by the hand, embraced her and con

ducted her to Bauli. That was the name of a villa which was situated between the promontory Misenum and the lake of Baix, and washed by the waves of the sea, which there forms a kind of bay. Among the rest of the vessels one more highly ornamented than the others was lying there, as if this also were designed to do honor to his mother; for she had been accustomed to sail in a trireme and have a body of rowers belonging to the fleet. She was also invited to a banquet, that advantage might be taken of the night to conceal the crime.

It is well ascertained that some one betrayed the treacherous design of Nero, and Agrippina, being informed of it, and doubtful whether to give credit to it or not, was carried to Baiæ in a litter. The blandishments of her son removed her fears. She was kindly received and had a place at table assigned to her above Nero. Sometimes adopting the ordinary familiarity of youth, and then assuming a more serious air, as if his purpose was to mingle business and pleasure, Nero prolonged the entertainment by varied conversation; and when Agrippina rose to go away, he accompanied her to the seashore, keeping his eyes steadily fixed upon her and pressing to her bosom, either to fill up the measure of his simulations, or it may be that the last sight of a mother who was going to her death absorbed all the thoughts of his mind, brutal though he was.

The gods had given a starlight night and a tranquil sea, as if to furnish evidence of the crime. The ship had not advanced far --with two of the intimate friends of Agrippina who accompanied her, Crepereius Gallus, who was standing not far from the helm,

❘ and Acerronia, who was lying at the feet of her mistress, and joyfully speaking of the change in Nero's temper and his reconciliation with his mother-when, on a signal being given, the roof of the place, which was loaded with lead, tumbled down, and Crepereius was immediately crushed to death. Agrippina and Acerronia were protected by the sides of the chamber, which happened to be strong enough to resist the weight; nor did the vessel fall in pieces, for most of the men on board were in a state of alarm, and those who were unacquainted with the design (and they were the greater part) impeded the movements of those who were privy to it. The rowers advised that the vessel should be thrown on one side and thus sunk. But neither could the rowers promptly come to an agreement about such a measure at the moment, and the rest, by resisting it, allowed Agrippina and her attendant to fall more gently into the sea. While Acerronia, who lost her presence of mind, was calling out that she was Agrippina and imploring help for the emperor's mother, she was despatched with boat-poles and oars and other naval implements which chanced to be in the way. Agrippina kept silent, and was consequently not so well recognized, but yet she received one wound on her shoulder. She swam till she fell in with some boats, by which she was conveyed into the Lucrine Lake, and thence to her own. villa. There, turning over in her mind the various circumstances that it was expressly for this purpose that she had been invited by the treacherous letters and treated with particular distinction; that it was near the shore, without being driven by the winds or dashed against rocks; that the upper part of the ves