of despotism; for as often as any individual of
the community pretended to think for himself, or differ in opinion from
the ordinary and his band of associates, the oracle decreed that he
should be instantly sent upon the mission which they had fixed in
Greenland, or to the colony they had established in Pennsylvania. As
these religionists consisted chiefly of manufacturers who appeared very
sober, orderly, and industrious; and their chief declared his intention
of prosecuting works of public emolument; they obtained a settlement
under a parliamentary sanction in England, where they soon made a
considerable number of proselytes, before their principles were fully
discovered and explained.

METAPHYSICS AND MEDICINE.

Many ingenious treatises on metaphysics and morality appeared in the
course of this reign, and a philosophical spirit of inquiry diffused
itself to the farthest extremities of the united kingdom. Though few
discoveries of importance were made in medicine, yet that art was well
understood in all its different branches, and many of its professors
distinguished themselves in other provinces of literature. Besides the
medical essays of London and Edinburgh, the physician's library was
enriched with many useful modern productions; with the works of the
classical Freind, the elegant Mead, the accurate Huxham, and the
philosophical Pringle. The art of midwifery was elucidated by science,
reduced to fixed principles, and almost wholly consigned into the hands
of men practitioners. The researches of anatomy were prosecuted to some
curious discoveries, by the ingenuity and dexterity of a Hunter and a
Monro. The numerous hospitals in London contributed to the improvement
of surgery, which was brought to perfection under the auspices of a
Cheselden and a Sharpe. The advantages of agriculture, which had long
flourished in England, extended themselves gradually to the most remote
and barren provinces of the island.

MECHANICS.

The mechanic powers were well understood, and judiciously applied to
many useful machines of necessity and convenience. The mechanical
arts had attained to all that perfection which they were capable of
acquiring; but the avarice and oppressions of contractors obliged the
handicraftsman to exert his ingenuity, not in finishing his work well,
but in affording it cheap; in purchasing bad materials, and performing
his task in a hurry; in concealing flaws, substituting show for
solidi