XXX 



flourishing ports of Nottingham ; which 

 I doubt not you'l accept of, though not 

 much to inrich you ; however you may taste 

 of those solitary hours laboriously spent 

 in Great-Britain's Hellespont, (the famous 

 Trent) where I used to refresh my self, and 

 ramble up and down her delightful fords, to 

 gratify and satisfy others as well as my self 

 with the fruits of experience. So that should 

 I call sea and land Elizium, it's not alto- 

 gether improper so to do, since earth and 

 water compleat but one globe. 



In those florid fields, near the fords of 

 Trent, I frequently wandred up and down 

 to crop the buds of experience ; yet I plun- 

 dred no man's orchard to enrich my arbory, 

 nor borrowed I other men's labours to adorn 

 my discoveries : the bounty of Heaven, that 

 always blest me with benevolent success, 

 restrained me from rifling the records of my 

 ancestors ; when to put a rod in my hand, 

 and place a river before me ; so that I should 

 offer violence to reason and art, if now to 

 consult the authority of others, when such 

 a large and legible folio to write by, as the 

 great and stupendous volume of the crea- 

 tion ; which to contemplate, interprets the 



