s; surely the second ought to be the
_six-thousandth_.

An inquiry into the Copernican system ... wherein it is proved, in the
clearest manner, that the earth has only her diurnal motion ... with an
attempt to point out the only true way whereby mankind can receive any
real benefit from the study of the heavenly bodies. By John
Cunningham.[384] London, 1789, 8vo.

The "true way" appears to be the treatment of heaven and earth as
emblematical of the Trinity.

Cosmology. An inquiry into the cause of what is called gravitation or
attraction, in which the motions of the heavenly bodies, and the
preservation and operations of all nature, are deduced from an
universal principle of efflux and reflux. By T. Vivian,[385] vicar of
Cornwood, Devon. Bath, 1792, 12mo.

{173}

Attraction, an influx of matter to the sun; centrifugal force, the solar
rays; cohesion, the pressure of the atmosphere. The confusion about
centrifugal _force_, so called, as demanding an external agent, is very
common.

THOMAS PAINE'S RIGHTS OF MAN.

The rights of MAN, being an answer to Mr. Burke's attack on the French
Revolution.[386] By Thomas Paine.[387] In two parts. 1791-1792. 8vo.
(Various editions.)[388]

A vindication of the rights of WOMAN, with strictures on political and
moral subjects. By Mary Wollstonecraft.[389] 1792. 8vo.

A sketch of the rights of BOYS and GIRLS. By Launcelot Light, of
Westminster School; and Laetitia Lookabout, of Queen's Square,
Bloomsbury. [By the Rev. Samuel Parr,[390] LL.D.] 1792. 8vo. (pp.64).

When did we three meet before? The first work has sunk into oblivion: had
it merited its title, it might have {174} lived. It is what the French call
a _piece de circonstance_; it belongs in time to the French Revolution, and
in matter to Burke's opinion of that movement. Those who only know its name
think it was really an attempt to write a philosophical treatise on what we
now call socialism. Silly government prosecutions gave it what it never
could have got for itself.

Mary Wollstonecraft seldom has her name spelled right. I suppose the O! O!
character she got made her W_oo_lstonecraft. Watt gives double insinuation,
for his cross-reference sends us to G_oo_dwin.[391] No doubt the title of
the book was an act of discipleship to Paine's _Rights of Man_; but this
title is very badly chosen. The book was marred by it, especially when