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Untitled Article
of pensions , as in some countries , there is no briguing or bribing for elections . I wish old England were as happy in its government , but I do not see it . Your people however think their
constitution the best in the world , and affect to despise our ' s . It is comfortable to have a good opinion © f one ' s self , and of every thing that belongs to us , to think one ' s own religion , king , and wife the best of all possible wives , kings and religionsi I
remember three greenlanders , who had travelled two years m Europe , under the care of some Moravian Missionaries , and had visited Germany , Denmark , Holland and England , when I asked them at Philadelphia ( where theywerein their way home ) whether now they had seen how much , more coimtiodiousljr
the white people lived by the help of the arts , they would not chuse to remain among us—their answer was ^ that they were pleased with having had an opportunity of seeing many fine things , but they chose to live in their own country ; which country , by the way , consisted of rock only , for the Moravians were obliged to carry earth in their ship from New York for the
purpose of making there a cabbage garden . By Mr . Dollond ' s saying that iny double spectacles could only serve particular eyes , I doubt he has not been rightly informed of their construction . I imagine it will be found pretty generally true that the same convexity of glass through which a man sees clearest and best at the distance proper for reading , is
not the best for greater distances . I therefore had formerly two pair of spectacles , which I shifted occasionally , as in travelling I sometimes read r and often want to regard the prospects . Finding this change troublesome and not always sufficiently ready , I had the glasses cut out and half of each kind associated in the same circle , the lower half and the least convex for distant
objects , the upper half and the most convex for reading : by this means , as I wear my spectacles constantly I have only to move ray eyes up or down , a ? I want to see distinctly far or pear , the
f ) roper glasses being always ready . This I find more particuarly convenient since my being in France ; the glasses that serve me best at table to see what I eat , not being the best to see the faces of those on the other side of the table who speak to me and when one ' s ears are not well accustomed to the sounds
of a language , a sight of the movements in the features of him that speaks iielps to explain , so that I understand French better by the help of my spectacles . My intended translator of your piece , the pnl y onclknow who
understands the subject as well as the two languages , which a translator ought to do , or he cawot nialfe so good a translation , is at present ocsupisd in an affair that prevents his undertaking it ; but that will soon be over—ri thank you for tlte note * . I should be glad to have another of the printed pamphlets .
Untitled Article
1 J 6 Original Letters by Dr . FranJcUn *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1806, page 196, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1723/page/28/
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