to the degree of perfection we now behold them in. 

 Many secrets of nature, not to be penetrated in one 

 age, have been laid open in a succession of many. Mo- 

 rality itself hath been perfected by the Christian reli- 

 gion ; philosophy hath assumed a new air ; and the 

 trifling, childish, and rain cavils of the schools, have 

 at length been put to flight by the reiterated efforts of 

 Ramu>, Bacon, Newton, and many others. 



I willingly therefore give up to the partizans of the 

 moderns every advantage I have here enumerated ; but 

 there is no need on that account to rob the ancients of 

 the share they have had in promoting all these parts of 

 knowledge, by the pains they took to beat out for us 

 the tracks we have pursued. Much less should we as- 

 sume, as modern discoveries, what the ancients really 

 invented or illustrated. It also deserves notice, that 

 the most part of the admirable and useful inventions, 

 in which our age glories, such as printing, gunpowder, 

 the compass, telescopes, &c. were not the acquisi- 

 tions of genius and philosophy, but mere effects of 

 chance. To place in its true light the share the an. 

 dents havs in whatever we pretend to know^ and even 

 in what has been called modern discoveries, is the prin- 

 cipal aim of my present undertaking. 



