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ORIGINAL LETTER.

THE following original letter from Dr. Price to his correspondent, the late PRESIDENT WILLARD, will we doubt not be gratifying to our readers. It evinces the interest, he is known to have felt in our affairs, that love of learning and science, which has no regard to country, and that benevolence of heart, which embraces all the wise and good. The correspondence of men, eminent for virtue and literature, is always acceptable. Dr. Price is well known, as a writer; and was beloved by all, who enjoyed his personal acquaintance. He was a man of genuine benevolence and fellow feeling; and, though he had his faults, they seemed to result from a heart, overflowing with love to mankind. Thus,

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"E'en his failings lean'd to virtue's side."

DEAR SIR,

Newington Green, July 21, 1781.

THINK myself much honored by the favor of your Jetter, dated the 28th of February last, which I received about a month ago. I am made very happy by the information, it contains, that in the midst of war, and the most important struggle, that a people were ever engaged in, a new academy for promoting arts and sciences has been established at Boston. In compliance with your desire I have communicated the incorporating act and list of members to the president and secretaries of the Royal Society, attended with a letter of my own, stating the contents of your letter to me, and the hopes, which the American academy entertain, that the Royal society, governed by the neutrality of philosophy, will favor it with its encouragement. I do not yet know certainly what notice will be taken of these communications. The reply, that has been reported to me from the president, is, that it has not been customary to lay before the Royal society notices of the institution of any societies whatever.

I am obliged to be cautious in communicating the inaugural oration of your honorable and worthy president on ac

count of some political passages in it.

For my own part, I approve and admire these passages; and I request the favor of you to deliver my best respects to the author.

I have delivered your letters to Dr. Morell and Mr. Maskelyne. I have likewise got a friend to communicate to the society of arts and commerce the copy of the incorporating act, which you intended for them.

I am at present very busy in preparing for the press a fourth edition of my treatise on life annuities and reversionary payments. I shall enlarge it to two volumes, and when out of the press, which I am afraid will not be till the beginning of next summer, I shall endeavor to get it conveyed to you, in hopes of the honor of its being accepted, as a testimony of my respect for the American academy. This work having been of some use, I am anxious about making it as complete, as possible. With this view I am collecting all the observations, I can get, on population, the increase of mankind, and the duration of human life in different situations.

All, that can be worth communicating to you in the philosophical and astronomical way, is published in the numbers of the philosophical transactions of the Royal society, which come out every half year. What has lately most engaged attention is the new star, discovered near Auriga by Mr. Herschel, a gentleman at Bath, who has for some time been very curious and diligent in watching the heavens. This star was at first taken for a comet; and the astronomer royal once expected, that it would have passed over the disk of the sun at the beginning of last month. But he has since told me, that it is doubted, whether it may not be a planet, never before discovered, moving at a much greater distance from the sun, than Saturn. It has for some time been hidden by the sun's rays. Should it appear again, something more certain will probably be determined concerning it.

Dr. Priestly never went farther in his history of philosophy, than electricity and optics. He has been for some time wholly employed in making experiments on the different sorts of air. In this branch of philosophy he has made several

very important discoveries, an account of which he has given in five octavo volumes, the last published this summer. One of the most important facts, which he has discovered, is the effect of vegetation, aided by the action, not of heat, but of light, in purifying, preserving, and restoring common air, constantly injured and diminished by the breathing of animals, the burning of fires, putrefaction, and other causes. In the day time, and particularly in sunshine, the purest kind of air is emitted by the leaves of trees and all vegetables; and this emission is more or less copious in proportion to the vigor of the vegetation, and the force of the sun's light. In the night and in the dark it ceases entirely. Dr. Priestly is going on with these experiments, and very probably another volume will be published in a little time.

If you think, that my best respects and wishes will be acceptable to the members of your academy, I beg you would deliver them. No one can observe with a more earnest at

tention, than I do, all, that now passes in America. With much gratitude and the greatest regard I am, Sir,

your most obedient

and humble servant,

RICHARD PRICE.

P. S. Deliver my very respectful compliments to the venerable Dr. Chauncey. Dr. Winthrop was my correspondent. With pain I reflect, that he is no more in this world to promote virtue, liberty, and science. But we are all following him. God grant, that we may leave the world wiser and better for us.

CHARACTER OF WASHINGTON.

THE readers of the Miscellany will not be displeased with the following concise character of the man, whose name they revere. Should the subject be considered hackneyed, let it be recòllected, that it ought never to die, and that few compositions in the style of a "character" of this great and good man have ever been published.

WASHINGTON was a perfect example; his char

acter has no parallel.

Modern names are diminished before

him, and antiquity is rivalled.

A general, statesman, magistrate, and citizen, his duties were arduous and manifold, and he sustained them without effort.

Guiding the policy of the cabinet with his intellectual, and wielding the sword of battle with his physical strength, he confounded the arts, and defeated the arms of his enemies. He commanded the hearts of his soldiers and the resources of his countrymen; and his wishes were immediately followed by their exertions. His firmness was so undaunted, his submission to congress so meekly authoritative, his decision so moderately determined, and his exploits so prudently harrassing, that, in every vicissitude of war, his friends were overruled, and his foes overborne by his preeminence. Rising far above common conception, his actions were heroic, his virtues sublime. No difficulty reached him, that he did not surmount, and no passion assailed him, that he did not overcome. Malignity has accused him of cruelty and indifference, but his tears on the death of André, and the effusion of his country's gratitude have completely controlled the poison of the imputation.

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No ignoble desires for arbitrary sway were produced by his universal popularity, for his magnanimity was more exalted, than his courage. The vile, who believed him capable of treachery, were mortified, and the weak, who mistrusted human fortitude, were astonished at his noble resignation of power.

As the absence of the law of gravitation would involve our system in original chaos, so at the retirement of Washington the union assumed the aspect of convulsive dissolution. He appeared again, and order assumed her operation. Opposition was silenced at the mention of his name, and rebellion retired to her den. So controlling was his influence, that party breathed only to expire. So patriotic were his motives, that there existed no envy, however malignant, that ever disputed his integrity, and no corruption, however har dened, that did not tremble at his frown. The powers of his authority seemed his natural habiliments, yet his obedi ence, as a citizen, was a pattern for emulation. The rela tive duties he observed with religious attention, and his shining talents in public were equalled only by his philosophy in domestic life.

In Washington there was an aggregate of excellence rather, than any glaring peculiarity. Without those flashings of genius, which serve only to dazzle the understanding, the steady light of his intellect concentrated its rays to guide the progress of America to liberty and to fame. He was one of those few characters, which are formed by God for conducting great events. An epoch in history will accompany the life of Washington. A warlike nation humbled by the struggles of a peaceful one, a government erected by social compact, and a people flourishing under the mild influence of those institutions, which they themselves had consolidated; these are the grand concomitants, with which the name of Washington will be adorned for the imitation. of posterity.

TRIBUTE.

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