ther Philofophers had their peculiar Sects. 'Tis divided commonly into two parts, that which treats of Things, and that of Words or Names. The firft is call'd by the Rabbins Berefchit, the fecond Mercana: the Caba lifts, called Sephiroch, that is to fay, Numbers or Knowledges (for with them to Number and to Know, are almoft fynonymous) is either Philofophical or Theolo gical. The Philofophical compre hends their Logick, Phyficks, Metaphyficks, and Aftronomy. In Logick, they treat of the Ten lef fer Sephiroth, which are fo mamy Steps or Degrees for attaining to the Knowledge of all things by means of Senfe, Knowledge, or Faith; and they are divided into three Regions. In the loweft, which is made by the Senfe, are (1.) the Object, (2.) the Medium or Diaphanum, (3) the Eternal Senfe. In the Second and Middle Region are (4) the Internal or common Senfe, (5.) the Imagination or Phancy, (6.) the Estimative Faculty, or inferiour Judgment. In the Third and Supream (7.) the Superior and Humane Judgment, (8) Rea fon. (9) the Intellect, (10.) and laftly, the Understanding or Mens, which performs the fame Office to the Soul, that the Eye doth to the Body, whom it enlightens. For Example; When I hear a Cannon discharg'd, the Sound comes to my Ears by the Medium of the Air, then the Common Senfe receiving this fpecies of the Sound, tranfmits the fame to the Imagination, and the Eftimative Faculty judges thereof fimply, as Beafts would do; afterwards the Judgment apprehends the Effence of the Sound, Reafon fearches the Caufes thereof, and the Intellect confiders them but laftly, the Underftanding or Mens, call'd by the Cabalifts Ceter, that is, a Crown (by way of Excellence) receiving Light from on high, irradiates the Intellect, and this all the other Facultics. And thefe are the Degrees of Cabaliftical Knowledge. In the other parts of their Philofophy, they Treat of the Fifty Gates of Light, whereof the 1, is the Divine Effence, the Symbol of which is the Tetragrammaton and ineffable Name of God; the 2. Gate is the Archetypal World, the Knowledge of which Two Gates, they fay, was hid even to Moses. The 3 is the Earth; 4. Matter; 5. Vacuum or Privation; 6. the Abyffe, 7. the Fire; 8. the Air; 9. the Water; 10. the Light; 11. the Day; 12. Accidents; 13. the Night; 14. the Evening; 15. the Morning, and after many other things, they conftitute Man for the 50th Gate. To arrive to the Knowledge of thefe 50 Gates, they have invented 32 Flambeaux or Torches to guide them into the Secrets contain'd therein which they call the Paths of Wisdom, namely the Intelligence miraculous or occult Intelligence. Sanctifying, Refplendent, Pure, Difpofitive, Eternal; Corporeal, &c. The Theological Ca bala treats of God and Angels Of God, by expounding the Names of 12 and 42 Letters, yea they attribute feveral Hundred feveral ones to him; and particularly the Ten Divine Attributes, which they term the grand grand Sephiroth, namely, Infi- | is call'd Themurath, which i nity, Wisdom, Intelligence, Cle- Tranfpofition of Letters, like th mency or Goodness, Severity, Ornament, Triumph, Confeffion of Praife, Foundation and Royalty, whereby God governs all things by Weight, Number and Meafure. Of Angels, namely, of the 32 abovesaid Intelligences, call'd by them the Paths of Wifdom (for they make them fo many Angels) and of Seven of our Anagrams, the most com mon way of which, is to chan the laft Letter of the Alphabet: to the firft, and on the contrar to which kind are referr'd t Words and Verfes which are re backwards, fuch as this: Supo. Thus they prove by the fir Word of Genefis, which is B refchit, that the World w created in Autumn, because this Word is found that of B thifri, which fignifies Autumn And that the Law ought to kept in the Heart, because th first Letter of the Law is Be and the laft Lamed; which tw Letters being put together, an read after their Mode, which backwards, make Leb, which fig nifies the Heart. ty Two other Angels; the Names I. Deus elati mutatum Itale fued they compofe out of the 19, 20, and 21 Verfes of the 14th Chapter of Exodus; in each of which there being 72 Letters, they Form the Name of the firft Angel out of the three firft Letters of each Verfe; the Name of the fecond, out of the three fecond Letters of the fame Verfes; and fo the reft, adding at the end of every Word, Fab or El, the former whereof denotes God as he Exifts, and the latter fignifies Mighty or Strong God. The Cabala, which treats of Words and Names, is nothing else but the Practice of Grammar, Arithmetick, and Geometry. They divide it into three Kinds, the firft whereof is called Not arickon, when of feveral firft or laft Letters of fome Word is fram'd a fingle one; as in our Acrofticks. The fecond, Gemaeric, when the Letters of one Name anfwer to the Letters of another by Arithmetical Propor tion; (the Hebrews as well as the Greeks, making ufe of their Letters to number withall.) Whence fome Moderns have affirm'd, that Chriftianity will last Seven Thousand Years, because the Letters of xestavo are of the fame Value in number with thofe of laxior. The third ἑπτακιχιλίοι. Q. At what time ought th Tear to begin? A. Although nothing be mon certain than the measure of th Sun's Courfe, compofing the A ftronomical Year, which is divi ded into Converfional or Tropi cal, and Sydereal; yet being thi Courfe is not concluded in an entire number of Months, Day, nor yet of Hours (for fome Mi nutes must be added to it) hence arifeth the difficulty to regulate the Years; the Confufion whereof has been encreas'd by the divers Political and Civil Years eltablifh'd by Legiflators, who have endeavour'd to comply in this cian of Athens, nam'd Meton. And forafmuch as they mark'd this Number of 19 in their Kalendar with a Cypher of Gold, thence it came to be call'd the Golden Number. The Christians took up this Calculation as the beft of all: But because there wants eleven Minutes every fourth Year to make the Biffextile or Leap-year entire, it was found that from the time of Julius Cæfar to Gregory XIII. the Lunations and Equinoxes had anticipated ten days, which render'd the Golden Number ufelefs, and remov'd Eafter and other moveable Feafts out of their true place; therefore this Pope, afliited by Doctor Lilio a Phyfician, retrench'd thofe ten days throughout all Chriftendom, except in places who are not pleafed with Novelty, unless fo far as it difpleases the Pope. Which Anticipation will always oblige future Ages to use a like Reformation of the Julian Year; which we begin from the Midnight which precedes the firft Sun rife of the Month of January. But the moft fenfible Knowledge to be had of the Duration and Beginning of the Solar Year, is obtain'd by obferving the Day on which the Shadow of the Perpendicular Needle of a Quadrant is found longeft at Noon, being. a certain fign that the Sun is then moft deprefs'd, and confequent Point with the Vulgar, which likes nothing but what is entire and cafie to comprehend. Romuus began his Year at the Vernal Equinox, and compos'd it of 304 Days, divided into 10 Months. Numa obferving that the courfe of the Sun, and the Lunations, did not agree, and that the cold Weather was often found in Sum mer, and Harveft in Winter, added January and February to it. The progrefs of Time having fhewn that this Reformation was fill imperfect, Julius Cæfar, 670 Years after him, affifted by Sofigenes a great Mathematician, corrected the Defect, adding three Months to the Year in which he made this Rectification, which was the 708th Year of the Building of Rome; namely, two Months between November and December, one of 29 Days, and the other of 30; and another of 30 Days at the end of December, to make up the Days which were pal'd. So that this Year Debtors had three Months refpite. Then he divided the Year into 365 Days, for this Caufe call'd from his Name the Julian Year. But becaufe the Sun is near fix hours more in accomplishing his Period, he added a Day every fourth Year after the 23d of February, which they call'd Sexto Calendas; and because in counting it twice they faid Bis fexto Calendas, this Year hath thence retain'd the Name of Biffextile, attributed by the Vully that we muft there fet down gar to finifter and unfortunate things. And to confirm the Months to the Lunations, he was contented to obferve that every 19th Year the Moon is found in The fame place which was the Dilcovery of another Mathemati the End of the preceding Year, and the Beginning of the next,which is Vifible by the Exaltation of the Sun, whofe Shadow will not be found equal again till after the Revolution of a juft Year. QGen Q Gentlemen, I am a young Gentlewoman, in the very prime of my Youth, and if my Glafs flatters me not, tolerable handfome, likewife Coheiress of a very fair Eftate, there being but two Sifters of us to enjoy what my aged Fathers many years Induftry hath acquired Tho' my Father bath ever fhewn himself lovingly tender, yet he hath ever had fo great an awe over us, that we never durft give him the least fufpicion of any ill Conduct in our Behaviour, he often affuring us, that nothing fhould fo foon quench the flame of his Paternal Love, as our Deviation from the ftrict Rules of pure Chaftity and its Handmaid Modefty. Now to my utter Ruin and eternal Shame (if any thing unknowingly committed may be termed fhameful) I am with Child; how, when, where, and by whom, to my greatest grief I know not: but this, alas, I know too well, that the hour wherein my Father hears of it, I am difinherited of his Eftate, banished his Love, &c. Gentlemen, I earneftly implore you to give me fome Relief by folving these two Queries: 1. whether it be poffible for a Woman fo carnally to know a Man in her Sleep as to conceive; for I am fure this and no other way, I was got with Child? 2. Whether it may be lawful to use means to put a stop to this growing mischief, and kill it in the Embryo; this being the only way to avert the Thunder-clap of my Father's Indignation? A. To the first Queftion, Madam, we are very pofitive, that you are luckily mistaken, for the thing is abfolutely impoffible if you know nothing of it: indeed we had an account of a Widow that made fuch a pretence, and fhe might have better credit than a Maid, who can have no Plea but dead drunk, or in fome fwooning fit; and our Physicians will hardly allow a poffibility of the thing then. So that you may fet your heart at rest, and think no more of the matter, unless for your Diversion. As for the ad Question, fuch Practices are Murder; and those that are fo unhappy as to come under fuch Circumstances, if they ufe the forementioned means, will certainly one day find the Remedy worse than the Disease. There are wifer Methods to be taken in fuch Cafes, as, a fmall Journey and a Confident. And afterwards fuch a pious and good Life as may redrefs fuch an beavy Misfortune. 2. I have, for above a Year laft paft, almoft in every Night, dream'd a Dream that has been always one and the fame Dream; viz. I fancy'd my felf in Company difcourfing with a Gentlewoman whom I have not feen nor heard of thefe feven Years, yet formerly I was very well acquainted with her, but never had any more Love for her than the I never faw, and is, when I am awake, the very leaft of my Thoughts, except the Remem brance of my Dream. Gentle men, Ifpeak it of a certain truth, feldom has a Night pad wherein I have not dream'd of her, efpecially for these three weeks laft I can safely say, that I have dream'd of her every night, thinking my felf talking with ber; I bumbly defire your Opinion herein, and and what you think it may portend: | Town, therefore he refts ConFor it very much diffaiisfies me? tented with that Cloudy Anfwer you thought fit to give to it, being not willing to create you any greater Trouble than fuch as he gives you this Morning; neither has he any more to fay to the fcurvy Com one of your Poetical Oracles; he acknowledging himself rightly ferv'd for appearing in to un becoming a Garb, only he cannot help thinking you used him worse than any of his Brethren A. We are fo far from pretending to Interpretation of Dreams, that we think there's nothing in 'em. Any Bufines that ones Mind has been intent upon in the day time, will certainly be reprefented by the Fan-pany you forc'd him to keep, in cy in the Night, the Impreffion being left behind; but where Dreams come that are wholly unaccountable, that have no dependance of any thing done be fore-hand, or things which perhaps we never heard of in Na-ever were, by Degrading him ture, these are wholly owing to from his old Friend Abigail to the the Conftitution and Tempera. Cook-maid; but no matter, who ment of the Body, as the Melan bid him aim at thofe two un. choly Dream of Spirits, Death, come-at-able Thing, Poetry and Precipices, Waters, &c. the San- Semendra ? Of both which it guine of Fighting, Flying, in will be very convenient for him the Air, &c. and fo of the reft. to take leave, and come to Not but that fometimes our Things fitter for him. GatleTurelary Angels do Suggeft men, if I have not been too things in our Sleep which are troublesome already, I would of Confequence, moft common-beg your Thoughts on the folly for the avoiding of fome clowing Queftions: The first is mient Dangers, Death of Pa- to be found in Boteri Polit. lib. 2. rents, Children, &c. and other | p. 869. the other two are inthings; the best and fafeft Curiofity in all thefe Cafes, is to live well, and be always prepar'd for all Occurrences what tended for the Advantage of the young Sit, W. whose Father was pleased to bequeath him fuch an unusual Education. I am, Gentlemen, your humble Servant &c. 2.1. Why the Peftilence rages conftantly every third Year at Conftantinople, and ac Caire every feventh, Q. 2. Whether is beft for a young Gentlewoman to be Taught at a great School, or by a Tutor at home? Q3. Whether it be not a Neceffary Accomplishment for fuch a Perfon to Travel? At what Years is that ficteft to R • be |