The PREFACE. xliii 



kni Ingenious a Nobility and Gentry as at 

 prHent Great- Britain abounds with. 



The Performance itfelf is what's of more 

 Concern, and for which, I am now too fure, 

 I ought to Apologize. I muft confefs my felf 

 at prefent, upon fome accounts, fomewhat 

 unequal to the Management of fo weighty 

 and ufeful a Province : But the favourable 

 deception of this, will, I hope, difpell thofe 

 Clouds that may any-ways hinder my next 

 Performance, as well as purchafe that Cou- 

 rage that all young Authors want. 



In general ^ I ought to addrefs the No- 

 bility and Gentry, efpecially that Noble and 

 Ufeful Society Incorporated for the Advance- 

 ment of Natural Knowledge, as Tibullus did 

 Apollo^ (Eleg. $. Lib. 2,') Let me quote 

 him in his own Words, without any other 

 Verfification : 



Pbcebe, fave^ novus ingreditur tua Tempi a 

 facerdos. 



But more particularly ^ The Gentlemen 

 des Belles Lettres^ ( coUefted as they are out 

 of the feveral Clafles and Degrees amongft 

 Mankind ) who will, I dare hope, fee fome 

 reafonable Cauft of Excufing the Deficiency 

 of this Work, when I affure them. That the 

 Noblenefs of the Subjed, rather than any 

 opinion of my own Performance, infenfibly 

 carry 'd me into Lengths in which I could 

 hope for little Succels: But this being an 



IntYodiiBion 



