very fubject to wafte; as all kind of Grocery Wares. And Pitch, Tar, Rofin, Wax, Tallow, Flax, Hemp, &c. Copper, Tin, Steel, Iron, Lead, &c. Alfo Flefb, Butter, Cheefe, Salt, &c. To these and the like (I prefume) it was thought convenient to allow a greater Weight than the Laws had provided, which happened to be about a Sixth part more: For I found by a very nice Experiment, that one Pound Averdupois is equal to 14 Ounces, 11 Penny Weight, and 15 Grains Troy. And it is now computed as in the following Table.

As the leaft part of Weight came at firft from Wheat Corn, fo (it is generally faid) the leaft Part of a Long Measure was at firft a Barley Corn, taken out of the middle of the Ear, and being well dried, three of them in length were to make one Inch; and thence the reft, as in this Table.

594 23760

12=1

36=

198=16

5 P.Poles.

7920= 660 220= 401 Furlong. 190080-6336052801760—320—8—1 Mile.

Note, That forty Poles (or Perches) in Length, and four in Breadth, do make a Statute Acre of Land.

That is, 220 Yards, multiplied into 22 Yards 4840 Square Yards are a Statute Acre.

And according to the Tranfactions of the French Acadenty, Anno 1687, a Paris Foot Royal is 12,8 Inches English; Six of thofe Feet make a Toife; and 57060 Toifes=365184 English Feet, are the Meafure of one Degree of a great Circle upon the Surface of the Earth. So that one Degree is 69 Miles and 288 Yards, which is very near to our Country-man Mr Norwood's Experiment made betwixt London and York, Anno 1635; who found that 367196 Fut 69 Miles, and 958 Yards do make a

F

Degree.

Degree. And not 60 Miles, according to the common received Opinion and Practice of the Navigators or Seamen.

Hence, according to the French Account, the Circumference of the Earth (fuppofing it to be a true Spherical Figure) is 24899 English Miles.

6. Of Liquid Measures.

All Measures of Capacity, both Liquid and Dry, were at first made from Troy Weight, Vide Statutes 9 H. III. 51 H. III. 12 H. VII. &c. wherein it is enacted, that eight Pound Troy Weight, of Wheat, gathered out of the middle of the Ear, and well dried, fhould make one Gallon of Wine Measure: And that there should be but one Measure for Wine, Ale and Corn, throughout this Realm, (Vid. Stat. 14 Ed. III. 15 Rich. II.) But Time and Custom hath altered Measures, as they have done Weights (and perhaps for one and the fame Reason) for now we have three different Measures, viz. one for Wine, one for Ale or Beer, and one for Corn.

I have inferted Tables of each, as they are now computed by Cubick Inches, and practifed in the Art of Gauging, &c.

The common Wine Gallon fealed at Guild- Hall in London; by which all Wines, Brandies, Spirits, Strong waters, Mead, Perry, Cyder, Vinegar, Oil, and Honey, &c. are measured and fold; is fuppofed to contain 231 Cubick Inches, and from thence the reft are computed, as in this Table.

But Dr Wybard in his Tectometry, Page 289, doth fuppofe the Wine Gallon to contain but 224, or 225 Cubick Inches at the moft, and pursuant to this Account an Experiment was made by Mr Richard Walker and Mr Philip Shales, two General Officers in the Excife. They caufed a Veffel to be very exactly made of Brass, in Form of a Parallellopipedon, each Side of it's Bafe was 4 Inches, and it's Depth 14 Inches; fo that it's juft Content was 224 Cubick Inches. This Veffel was produced at GuildHall in London (May 25, 1688.) before the Lord-Mayor, the Commiffioners of Excife, the Reverend Mr Flamstead, Aftr. Reg.

Mr

Mr Halley, and feveral other ingenious Gentlemen, in whose Prefence Mr Shales did exactly fill the aforefaid Brazen Vessel with clear Water, and very carefully emptied it into the old Standard Wine Gallon kept in Guild-Hall, which did fo exactly fill it, that all then prefent were fully fatisfied the Wine Gallon doth contain but 224 Cubick Inches. (This notable Experiment 1 faw tried.) However, for feveral Reasons, it was at that time. thought convenient to continue the former fuppofed Content of 231 Cubick Inches to be the Wine Gallon, and that all Computations in Gauging fhould be made from thence, as above.

The Beer or Ale Gallon (which are both one) is much larger than the Wine Gallon; it being (as I prefume) made at first to correfpond with Averdupois Weight, as the Wine Gallon did with Troy Weight: For (as I faid before, Page 33.) one Pound Averdupois is equal to 14 Ounces, 12 Penny Weight Troy, very

near.

And, as one Pound Troy is in proportion to the Cubick Inches in a Wine Gallon, fo is one Pound Averdupois to the Cubick Inches in an Ale Gallon. That is, 12: 231 :: 148 2811, very near the Cubick Inches contained an in Ale Gallon, as appears from an Experiment made by one Nicolas Gunton, General Gauger in the Excife, about 41 Years ago, who, by fuch a Veffel mentioned before in the laft Page, did find the Standard Ale-Quart (kept in the Exchequer, Vid. 12 Car. II.) to contain juft 701 Cubick Inches, coniequently the Ale-Gallon muft contain 282 Cubick Inches, and from thence the following Tables are computed.

N. B. This Diftinction or Difference betwixt Ale and BeerMeasure, is now only used in London. But in all other Places of England the following Table of Beer or Ale, whether it be ftrong or small, is to be obferved, according to a Statute of Excise made in the Year 1689.

Cab. Inches

2821 Gallon.

239781 Firkin.

4794172=1 Kilderkin. 958834=421 Barrel. 143825163=1=1 Hogshead.

7. Of Dry Measure.

Dry Meafure is different both from Wine and Ale Measure, being as it were a Mean betwixt both,, tho' not exactly fo; which upon Examination I find to be in proportion to the aforefaid old Standard Wine Gallon, as Averdupois Weight is to Troy Weight; That is, As one Pound Troy is to one Pound Averdupois, fo is the Cubick Inches contained in the old Wine Gallon: To the Cubick Inches contained in the Dry or Corn Gallon.

Viz. 12: 148: 224: 272, which is very near to 272, the common received Content of a Corn Gallon: Altho' now it is other wife ettled by an Act of Parliament made in April 1697, the Words of that A&t are these:

Every round Bufhel with a plain and even Bottom, being made eighteen Inches and a half wide throughout, and eight Inches deep, fhould be efteemed a Legal Winchester Bufhel, according to the Standard in his Majefty's Exchequer.

Now a Veffel being thus made will contain 2150,42 Cubick Inches, confequently the Corn Gallon doth contain but 268 Cubick Inches.

Cub. Inches.

268,8 Gallon

537,62 1 Peck.

4 Bufbels a Comb.

Note, 10 Quarters=a Wey, and 12 Weys a Laft of Corn.

2150,4 841 Bufbel. 17203,264 32=81 Quarter.

I obferved amongst the Lead-Mines in Derbyshire, (Anno 1692) that the Miners bought and fold their Lead Ore, by a Measure which they called an Ore Dish; whofe Dimenfions I carefully took, and found it

Length 21.3.2

Thus

Breadth
Depth

6. Inches. 8.4.

Confe

Confequently it's Content is 1073,52 Cubick Inches, which is very near equal to 4 Corn Gallons, according to the abovementioned Settlement.

Nine of those Dishes they call a Load of Ore, which if it be pretty good, will produce about 3 hundred Weight of Lead.

8. Of Time.

It is not an eafy Thing to give a true Definition of Time; for (according to the Philofophick Poet)

Time of itself is nothing, but from Thought
Receives it's Rife, by labouring Fancy wrought
From Things confidered, whilst we think on fome
As prefent, fome as paft, or yet to come.

No Thought can think on Time, that's ftill confeft,
But thinks on Things in Motion or at Řest.

And so on, Vide Lucretius, Book I.

That is, Time only fhews the Duration or Mutation of Things, a Year being the Standard or Integer, by which fuch Continuance or Change is computed. And a Year is that Space of Time in which the Sun (apparently) compleats it's Revolution from any one Point in the Ecliptick (an imaginary Circle in the Heavens) to the fame Point again, which, according to modern Obfervations, is performed in 365 Days, 5 Hours, 48 Minutes, 57 Seconds, 21 Thirds, &c. But a Second being the least part of Time that can be truly measured by the Motion of any Mechanical Engine, as a Clock, &c. (a Third being less than the Twinkling of an Eye) I begin the following Table with Seconds.

31556937=525949=8765=365+5+48+57=1 Year, called a (Solar Year.

But the common Year, ufually called the Julian Year, doth confift of 365 Days and 6 Hours, and is divided into twelve unequal Months, called Calendar Months, whofe Names and Number of Days are the Subject of every Almanack.

To