the radius of the circle. The world
travels very fast now; the increased velocity of the transit of earthly
bodies, the rate at which they live, the multiplicity of engagements,
etc., have made the social world revolve so fast that the speed would
have startled the torpid life of the last century. And what is the
result? Men's thoughts fly off at a tangent; they are unable to
concentrate their minds on any given subject; they are content with
hasty generalisms, with short magazine articles on important subjects,
which really require large volumes and patient study to elucidate them
fully.

What we want to do is to increase the attractive force, in order to
prevent this tangential motion--to increase the _force of gravity_.

'Well,' says the young lady who loves to revel in the 'Ghastly Secret of
the Moated Dungeon,' or the 'Mysteries of Footlight Fancy,' 'you are
_grave_ enough. Pray don't increase your gravity!'

Thank you, gentle critic. I will, in turn, ask you one favour. Leave for
once the 'Mysteries of Footlight Fancy;' seek to know no more 'ghastly
secrets,' and increase _your gravity_--your mental weight; and hence
your attraction in the eyes of all who are worth attracting will be
marvellously increased, by understanding a little about Newton's law of
universal gravitation, and don't fly off at a tangent.

* * * * *

At the end of this portion of the MS. the editor of these papers
discovered a photograph which, from subsequent inquiry, proved to be
that of the accomplished authoress of the above reflections. The face
is one of considerable beauty, with eyes as clear, steadfast, and open
as the day. There is a degree of firmness about the mouth, but it is a
sweet and pretty one notwithstanding; and a smile, half scornful, half
playful, can be detected lurking about the corners of the lips, which do
not seem altogether fitted for pronouncing hard mathematical terms and
abstruse scientific problems. This photograph might have been the
identical one which nearly brought an enamoured youth into grave
difficulties by its secretion in the folds of his blotting-paper during
examination. The said enamoured youth had evidently placed it there for
the sake of its inspiring qualities; and it was said that all his hopes
of gaining the hand of the fair original depended upon his passing that
same examination. But the wakeful eye of a stern examiner had watched
him as he turned again and ag