The Hope of acquiring lasting Fame, is, with many Authors, a most powerful Motive to Writing. Some, tho’ few, have succeeded; and others, tho’ perhaps fewer, may succeed hereafter, and be as well known to Posterity by their Works, as the Antients are to us. We Philomaths, as ambitious of Fame as any other Writers whatever, after all our painful Watchings and laborious Calculations, have the constant Mortification to see our Works thrown by at the End of the Year, and treated as mere waste Paper. Our only Consolation is, that short-lived as they are, they out-live those of most of our Cotemporaries.

Yet, condemned to renew the Sisyphean Toil, we every Year heave another heavy Mass up the Muses Hill, which never can the Summit reach, and soon comes tumbling down again.

This, kind Reader, is my seventeenth Labour of the Kind. Thro’ thy continued Good-will, they have procur’d me, if no Bays, at least Pence; and the latter is perhaps the better of the two; since ’tis not improbable that a Man may receive more solid Satisfaction from Pudding, while he is living, than from Praise, after he is dead.

In my last, a few Faults escap’d; some belong to the Author, but most to the Printer: Let each take his Share of the Blame, confess, and amend for the future. In the second Page of August, I mention’d 120 as the next perfect Number to 28; it was wrong; 120 being no perfect Number; the next to 28 I find to be 496. The first is 6; let the curious Reader, fond of mathematical Questions, find the fourth. In the 2d Page of March, in some Copies, the Earth’s Circumference was said to be nigh 4000, instead of 24000 Miles, the Figure 2 being omitted at the Beginning. This was Mr. Printer’s Fault; who being also somewhat niggardly of his Vowels, as well as profuse of his Consonants, put in one Place, among the Poetry, mad, Instead of made, and in another wrapp’d, instead of warp’d; to the utter demolishing of all Sense in those Lines, leaving nothing standing but the Rhime. These, and some others, of the like kind, let the Readers forgive, or rebuke him for, as to their Wisdom and Goodness shall seem meet. For in such Cases the Loss and Damage is chiefly to the Reader, who, if he does not take my Sense at first Reading, ’tis odds he never gets it; for ten to one he does not read my Works a second Time.

Printers indeed should be very careful how they omit a Figure or a Letter: For by such Means sometimes a terrible Alteration is made in the Sense. I have heard, that once, in a new Edition of the Common Prayer, the following Sentence, We shall all the changed in a Moment, in the Twinkling of an Eye; by the Omission of a single Letter, became, We shall all be hanged in a Moment, &c. to the no small Surprize of the first Congregation it was read to.

May this Year prove a happy One to Thee and Thine, is the hearty Wish of, Kind Reader, Thy obliged Friend,

Note, That Morris and Hunterdon Counties, were both in one, under the Name of Hunterdon, in 1737-8. In 1745, the Number of the People called Quakers in New-Jersey, was found to be 6079; no distinct Account was taken of them in 1737-8. Total of Souls in 1737, 47369; Ditto in 1745, 61403; Increase 14034. Query, At this Rate of Increase, in what Number of Years will that Province double its Inhabitants?

Note; No Account of Burials in the Swedish Ground, was taken in the Year 1743, and those Germans buried in the new Dutch Burying Ground, are numbered among the Strangers, who were chiefly Palatines: The Mortality among them is not owing to any Unhealthiness of this Climate, but to Diseases they contract on Shipboard, the Voyage sometimes happening to be long, and too great a Number crowded together. Exclusive of those, the Total of Deaths in seven Years is about 2100, which is 300 per Annum: By which we should have had nearly 10,500 Inhabitants during those seven Years, at a Medium; for in a healthy Country (as this is) political Arithmeticians compute, there dies yearly One in Thirty-five. But in these last five Years, from 1744, the Town is greatly increased.

In the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New-England, Anno 1735, there were 35,427 Polls of white Men of 16 Years and upwards, 2600 Negroes, 27,420 Horse-kind of three Years old and upwards, 52,000 Neat Cattle of three to four Years old and upwards, 130,001 sheep of one year old and upwards. In 1742 there was 41,000 Polls of white Men, from 16 Years upwards. Increase of Men in seven Years 5573, which is near one Sixth. New-Jersey increased in the same Time near one Third.

By the New-Jersey Accounts it appears, that the Number of Males, aged above 16, is nearly one fourth Part of the whole Number of Souls. If the same Proportion holds in the Massachusetts, they should have had in that Province, in 1742, about 164000 Souls. There are three other Provinces in New-England, viz. Connecticut, Rhode-Island, and New-Hampshire.

In 1742, a Year of middling Health in Boston, were buried about 515, which multiplied by 35, makes nearly 18,000 Inhabitants. In the same Year were found in that Town, Dwelling-houses 1719, Warehouses 166, Widows 1200, of which 1000 poor; in the Almshouse 111 Persons; in the Work-house 36; Negroes 1514; Horses 418; Cows 141.

In 1748-9, the Dwelling-houses in Philadelphia were 2076. The following Summer arrived 24 or 25 Sail of Ships with German Families, supposed to bring near 12,000 Souls.

It has been computed in England, that the Colonies on the Continent, taken one with another, double the Number of their Inhabitants every Thirty Years. This quick Increase is owing not so much to natural Generation, as the Accession of Strangers. What the natural Increase of Mankind is, is a curious Question. In Breslaw, the Capital of Silesia, a healthy inland City, to which many Strangers do not come, the Number of Inhabitants was found to be generally about 34,000. An exact Register is kept there of the Births and Burials, which taken for 30 Years together, amount, as follows,

Let the expert Calculator say, how long it will be, before by an Increase of 64 per Annum, 34,000 People will double themselves?

Yet I believe People increase faster by Generation in these Colonies, where all can have full Employ, and there is Room and Business for Millions yet unborn. For in old settled Countries, as England for Instance, as soon as the Number of People is as great as can be supported by all the Tillage, Manufactures, Trade and Offices of the Country, the Overplus must quit the Country, or they will perish by Poverty, Diseases, and want of Necessaries. Marriage too, is discouraged, many declining it, till they can see how they shall be able to maintain a Family. January. XI Month.

On the 9th of this Month, 1744-5, died Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, and Emperor of Germany. ’Tis thought his Death was hastened by Grief and Vexation at the Success of the Queen of Hungary, and the Disappointments of his own Ambition. O Content! What art thou! And where to be found! Art Thou not an inseparable Companion of Honour, Wealth and Power? No. This Man was rich, great, a Sovereign Prince: But he wanted to be richer, greater, and more a Sovereign. At first his Arms had vast Success; but a Campaign or two left him not a Foot of Land he could call his own, and reduc’d him to live with his Empress in a hired House at Frankfort!

February. XII Month.

On the 19th of this Month, 1653, was a great Sea-Fight between the English and Dutch. The Fleet of the former commanded by Blake and Dean, Admirals; That of the latter by Van Trump. The Dutch were beaten, lost 11 Men of War, and 30 Merchant Ships, and 1500 Men killed. The English lost but one Ship, the Sampson, Which was sunk; but the Number of their Slain supposed to be nearly equal.

March. I Month.

The Reason, says Swift, why so few Marriages are happy, is, because young Ladies spend their Time in making nets, not in making Cages.

April. II Month.

On the 17th of this Month, 1722, the Princesses Amelia and Carolina, were inoculated for the Small Pox, after the Experiment had been tried for the first Time in England on some condemned Malefactors. The Example of the Court was soon followed by many of the Nobility and Gentry, and Success attending the Practice, ’tis now grown more common in many Parts of Europe; and tho’ at first it was reckoned by many to be a rash and almost impious Action, to give a Distemper to a Person in Health; so changeable are the Opinions of Men, that it now begins to be thought rash to hazard taking it in the common Way, by which one in seven is generally lost; and Impious to reject a Method discovered to Mankind by God’s good Providence, whereby 99 in 100 are saved.

The Indians of America generally suffer extreamly by this Distemper when it gets among them, perhaps from the Closeness and Hardness of their Skins. Monsieur condamine, a French Academician, who, in 1744, made a Voyage from Peru, down the River Amazones, thro’ the Middle of South America, reports, that a few Years before, the Small-Pox getting among the Indians, full Half of those taken sick were carried off by it: Which a Portuguese Missionary observing, and having met by Chance with an Account of Inoculation in a News Paper, he try’d it on great Numbers of his Indian Disciples, and preserved them all; which gave a high Opinion both of the Man and his Religion. May. III Month.

On the 22d of this Month, 1453, was the famous City of Constantinople, the Capital of the Greek Empire, taken from the Christians by the Turks, who have ever since held it in Possession. When it was besieg’d, the Emperor made most earnest Application to his People, that they would contribute Money to enable him to pay his Troops, and defray the Expence of defending it; but they thro’ Covetousness refused, pretending Poverty, &c. Yet the Turks in pillaging it, found so much Wealth among them, that even their common Soldiers were enriched: And it became a Saying, which continues to this Day, when they observe a Man grown suddenly rich, He has been at the Sack of Constantinople.

O Avarice! How blind are thy Votaries! How often by grasping at too much, do they lose all, and themselves with it! The Thirst of More, encreases with the Heap; and to the restless Desire of Getting, is added the cruel Fear of Losing, a Torment from which the Poor are free. And Death often scatters all we have with so much Care and Toil been gathering;

June. IV Month.

On the 7th of this Month, 1692, the Town of Port Royal, in Jamaica, was sunk by a fearful Earthquake.

The Day was very clear, and afforded no Suspicion of the least Evil; but in the Space of three Minutes, about half an Hour after 11 in the Morning, the fine Town was shaken to Pieces, sunk into, and cover’d, for the greater Part, by the Sea: By the falling of the Houses, Opening of the Earth, and Inundation of the Waters, near 2000 Persons were lost, many of Note.

For some Days afterwards, ’twas dismal to see the Harbour cover’d with the dead Bodies of People of all Conditions, floating up and down without Burial: For the great Burial Place, was destroy’d by the Earthquake; which dashing to Pieces the Tombs, whereof there were Hundreds in that Place, the Sea washed the Carcasses of those who had been buried out of their Graves.

A Sickness followed, which carried off some Thousands more.

During the Earthquake, Thieves robbed and plundered the Sufferers, even among the Ruins, while the Earth trembled under their Feet. Some were killed in the very Act by falling Walls, &c. July. V Month.

A plain, clean, and decent Habit, proportioned to one’s Circumstances, is one Mark of Wisdom. Gay Cloathing so generally betokens a light and empty Mind, that we are surpriz’d if we chance to find good Sense under that disguise.

What an admirable Invention is Writing, by which a Man may communicate his Mind without opening his Mouth, and at 1000 Leagues Distance, and even to future Ages, only by the Help of 22 Letters, which may be joined 5852616738497664000 Ways, and will express all Things in a very narrow Compass. ’Tis a Pity this excellent Art has not preserved the Name and Memory of its Inventor.

Bed-Bugs, by some called Chinces, because first brought from China in East-India Goods, are easily destroy’d, Root and Branch, by boiling Water, poured from a Teakettle into the Joints, &c. of the Bedstead, or squirted by a Syringe, where it cannot well be poured. The old Ones are scalded to Death, and the Nits spoilt, for a boil’d Egg never hatches. This done once a Fortnight, during the Summer, clears the House. Probatum est. August. VI Month.

The 22d of this Month, 1711, the English Fleet, sent against Canada, was shipwrecked in the Bay of St. Lawrence.

September. VII Month.

The 3d of this Month, 1658, died Oliver Cromwell, aged 60 Years. A great Storm happen’d the Night he died, from whence his Enemies took Occasion to say, The D---l fetch’d him away in a Whirlwind: But his Poet Waller, in some Verses on his Death, gave that Circumstance quite a different Turn. He begins with these lofty Lines; viz.

When the King came in, Waller made his Peace by a congratulatory Poem to his Majesty: And one Day ’tis said the King asked him jocularly, What is the Reason, Mr. Waller, that your Verses on Oliver are so much better than those you made on me? We Poets, my Liege, reply’d he, always succeed better in Fiction than in Truth.

October. VIII Month.

On the first of this Month, 1680, the great Comet appeared in England, and continued blazing near 3 Months. Of these surprizing Bodies, Astronomers hitherto know very little; Time and Observation, may make us better acquainted with them, and if their Motions are really regular, as they are supposed to be, enable us hereafter to calculate with some Certainty the Periods of their Return. They have heretofore been thought Forerunners of National Calamities, and Threateners of Divine Vengeance on a guilty World. Dr. Young, intimates this Opinion, in his Paraphrase on that Chapter of Job, where the Deity challenges the Patriarch, and convinces him of the Weakness of Man;

November. IX Month.

On the 30th of this Month, 1718, Charles XII. of Sweden, the modern Alexander, was kill’d before Fredericstadt. He had all the Virtues of a Soldier, but, as is said of the Virtues of Cesar, they undid his Country: Nor did they upon the whole afford himself any real Advantage. For after all his Victories and Conquests, he found his Power less than at first, his Money spent, his Funds exhausted, and his Subjects thinn’d extreamly. Yet he still warr’d on, in spite of Reason and Prudence, till a small Bit of Lead, more powerful than they, persuaded him to be quiet.

December. X Month.

On the 7th of this Month, 1683, was the honourable Algernon Sidney, Esq; beheaded, charg’d with a pretended Plot, but whose chief Crime was the Writing an excellent Book, intituled, Discourses on Government. A Man of admirable Parts and great Integrity. Thompson calls him the British Cassius. The good Lord Russel and he were intimate Friends; and as they were Fellow Sufferers in their Death, the Poet joins them in his Verses,