Periodicals that contained moral or satiric essays in the first half of the eighteenth century were

The Tatler and the Spectator.

Explanation:

Tatler was founded in 1709 by Richard Steele. It was a brand new approach to journalism which focused on the news and gossips heard in London cafés and also some invented stories.

Spectator succeeded the Tatler. It was founded in 1711 by Steele and Addison. Its aim was also to enliven moral and satiric stories.

answer: this problem has only trivial solutions, with all points on the same line. x=5 or x=7/5.

step-by-step explanation:

there are three triangles, and three unknowns: x, y=length of middle segment, and z=cos(angles marked with red arc).

we need

and law of cosines,

the three equations are

see attached image for solution.