ps
there detained, would have been sufficient, if properly applied, to
reduce the island of Mauritius in the Indian ocean, Martinique in the
West Indies, or Minorca in the Mediterranean; and all these three were
objects of importance. In all probability, the design of the armament
was either to intimidate the French into proposals of peace; to make a
diversion from the Rhine, by alarming the coast of Bretagne; or to
throw over a body of troops into Flanders, to effect a junction with the
hereditary prince of Brunswick, who, at the head of twenty thousand men,
had made an irruption as far as the Lower Rhine, and even crossed that
river; but he miscarried in the execution of his design.

ASTRONOMERS SENT TO THE EAST INDIES.

In the midst of these alarms some regard was paid to the improvements
of natural knowledge. The Royal Society having made application to the
king, representing that there would be a transit of Venus over the disc
of the sun, on the sixth day of June; and that there was reason to
hope the parallax of that planet might be more accurately determined
by making proper observations of this phenomenon at the island of St.
Helena, near the coast of Africa, and at Bencoolen in the East Indies,
his majesty granted a sum of money to defray the expense of sending
able astronomers to those two places, and ordered a ship of war to be
equipped for their conveyance. Accordingly, Mr. Nevil Maskelyne and Mr.
Robert Waddington were appointed to make the observations at St. Helena;
and Mr. Charles Mason and Mr. Jeremiah Dixon undertook the voyage to
Bencoolen, on the island of Sumatra.*

* In the beginning of April, the king granted to his
grandson prince Edward Augustus, and to the heirs male of
his royal highness, the dignities of duke of the kingdom of
Great Britain, and of earl of the kingdom of Ireland, by the
names, styles, and titles, of duke of York and Albany, and
earl of Ulster.

EARTHQUAKES IN SYRIA.

Except the countries that were actually the scenes of war, no political
revolution or disturbance disquieted the general tranquillity. Syria,
indeed, felt all the horrors and wreck of a dreadful earthquake,
protracted in repeated shocks, which began on the thirteenth day of
October, in the neighbourhood of Tripoli. A great number of houses were
overthrown at Seyde, and many people buried under the ruins. It was
felt through a space of ten thousand square leagues, co