P R E F A "C E. vH 



GE NE RAL H ISTO RIES of thefe Kinds we have been 

 furnijhed with in the Writings of the Learned : Here I apply my/elf 

 to the Difcujion of one particular Species, viz. the Serpent : in which 

 I don't pretend t a new Dijtoveries, but only to collet, and bring into 

 one View y what has been f aid by different Perfons, which is not tj be 

 found by any without many Books, and much Time ; and whichy 

 without the prefent Englifli jDr^, would not be underjlood by others 

 at all. 



IN accounting for fome things relative to the SubjeB, I have al- 

 ways chofen the Words of the Learned in the Phyfical Profeffion. 



TH E SubjeB being like Duft, the Food of the Serpent, very dry, 

 I have endeavoured to give it fome Agreeablenefs^ by a Variety of 

 Paffagesfrom Hijioryj and Refedlions of many kinds ; whichy though 

 they may not always naturally arife from the SubjeSf^ yet being in- 

 tended for the Reader s Entertainfnent and Ifijlru^ion {as he goes 

 along in the principal Defign of the Book) Ihope they willfttd a fa- 

 vourable fiidgment, ._--,...,^.^ 



GIVE me leave , upon this occafon, to adopt Sir William, 

 Tcmple'j Words, viz. ** It is not perhaps amifs, fajfs he, to relieve 

 " or enliven a bufy Scene fometimes with fuch DigreftonSy v^^he- 

 *' ther to the Purpofe or no."* 



/ SHALL only addy that in cultivating this SubjeSi^ I have 

 attempted to give aJJjort Difplay of the Divifie PerfeBions, whichy 

 as they appear eminetit in the Syflem of the Creation in getter al^ fo in 

 the Serpent they may be feen in particular -, and ij it produces in the 

 Reader a more exquifite Perception of God in all his Works ^ I have my 

 Etidi who am 



Your Humble Servant, 



» 



T(f«r//(f's M«moirs from 1672 to 1679. Second Editlp. 57, 58, t;^^ 



