rill PREFACE. 



he has hitherto completed only the history of quadrupeds- 1 was 

 therefore, left to my own reading alone, to make out the history 

 of birds, fishes, and insects, of which the arrangement was so dil 

 ricult, and the necessary information so widely diffused, and so ob- 

 scurely related when found, that it proved by much the most labori- 

 ous part of the undertaking. Thus having made use of Mr. Buffon's 

 lights in the first part of the work, I may, with some share of confidence, 

 recommend it to the public. But what shall I say to that part, 

 where I have been entirely left without his assistance? As I would 

 affect neither modesty nor confidence, it would be sufficient to say 

 that my reading upon this part of the subject has been very exten- 

 sive ; and that I have taxed my scanty circumstances in procuring 

 books, which are on this subject, of all others, the most expensive. In 

 consequence of this industry, I here offer a work to the public, of a 

 kind which has never been attempted in ours, or any other modern 

 language that I know of. The ancients, indeed, and Pliny in partic- 

 ular, have anticipated me in the present manner of treating natural his- 

 tory. Like those historians who describe the events of a campaign, 

 they have not condescended to give the private particulars of every in- 

 dividual that formed the army ; they were content with characterizing 

 the generals, and describing their operations, while they left it to 

 meaner hands to carry the muster-roll. 1 have followed their manner, 

 rejecting the numerous fables which they adopted, and adding the im- 

 provements of the moderns, which are so numerous, that they actually 

 make up the bulk of natural history. 



The delight which I found in reading Pliny, first inspired me with 

 the idea of a work of this nature. Having a taste rather classical than 

 scientific, and having but little employed myself in turning over the 

 dry labours of modern system-makers, my earliest intention was to 

 translate this agreeable writer, and by the help of a commentary to make 

 my work as amusing as I could. Let us dignify natural history nev- 

 er so much with the grave appellation of an useful science, yet still we 

 must confess that it is the occupation of the idle and the speculative, 

 more than the busy, and the ambitious part of mankind. My inten- 

 tion, therefore, was to treat what I then conceived to be an idle sub- 

 ject, in an idle manner; and not to hedge round plain and simple 

 narratives with hard words, accumulated distinctions, ostentatious 

 learning, and disquisitions that produced no conviction. Upon the 

 appearance, however, of Mr. Buffon's work, I dropped my former plan, 

 and adopted the present, being convinced, by his manner, that the best 

 imitation of the ancients was to write from our own feelings, and to 

 imitate Nature. 



It will be my chief pride, therefore, if this work may be found an 

 innocent amusement for those who have nothing else to employ them 

 or who require a relaxation from labour. Professed naturalists wil 1 , 

 no doubt, find it superficial ; and yet 1 should hope that even these 

 will discover hints and remarks gleaned from various readings, not 

 wholly trite or elementary. I would wish for their approbation. But 

 my chief ambition is to drag up the obscure and gloomy learning of 

 the cell to open inspection : to strip it from its garb of austerity and 

 to show the beauties of that form, which only the industrious anJ thfi 

 inquisitive have been hitherto permitted to approach. 



