arrassed by the nature of the
sentiment which I ought to express to you, for in declaring as you
have done, p. 123, that you do not care for the contempt of such as me*
(ignorant as you were of my opinion), you tell me plainly that you do
not care for their esteem. I leave, therefore, to your discernment and
taste to determine the sentiment most congenial to my situation and your
desert.

* "And what does it do for me here, except, perhaps, expose
me to the contempt of such men as Mr. Volney, which,
however, I feel myself pretty well able to bear?" p. 124.
This language is the more surprising, as Dr. Priestly never
received anything from me but civilities. In the year 1791
I sent him a dissertation of mine on the Chronology of the
Ancients, in consequence of some charts which he had himself
published. His only answer was to abuse me in a pamphlet in
1792. After this first abuse, on meeting me here last
winter, he procured me an invitation to dine with his friend
Mr. Russell, at whose house he lodged; after having shown me
polite attention at that dinner, he abuses me in his new
pamphlet. After this second abuse he meets me in Spruce
Street, and takes me by the hand as a friend, and speaks of
me in a large company under that denomination. Now I ask
the public, what kind of a man is Dr. Priestly?

C. F. VOLNEY.

Philadelphia, March 10, 1797.

P. S. I do not accompany this public letter with a private note to Dr.
Priestly, because communications of that nature carry an appearance of
bravado, which, even in exercising the right of a necessary defence,
appear to me imcompatible with decency and politeness.

THE ZODIACAL SIGNS AND CONSTELLATIONS.

(Compiled by the publisher from recognized authorities.)

The Zodiac is an imaginary girdle or belt in the celestial sphere, which
extends about eight degrees on each side of the Ecliptic. It is divided
into twelve portions, called the signs of the Zodiac, within which all
the planets make their revolutions. The Zodiac is so called from the
animals represented upon it, and is supposed to have originated
in remote ages and in latitudes where the camel and elephant were
comparatively unknown. This pictorial representation of the zodiac was
probably the origin, as M. Dupuis suggests, of the Arabian and Egyptian
adoration of animals and birds, and has led in the natural progress of
event