. L ! B. V J. Of the Aclijancemem ofL earning. 1 6 j 



the Meiienger ft.ind ftill, atidhc vpalkj,i!g.in a Gardca, topt all the hrghcjl Heroc<of. 

 Flowers ••3 fignifyingthe cutting ofE, Jtnci the keeping low ofthe Nobi- ^^*''v 

 lity j did as well make ufe of a HicKfiglyphick^^ as if he had drav.'n the 

 fimc upon Paper. This in the mean is plain, thzx. Hi crogl)p hicks and 

 Cejhres ever have fotne firailuude with the thing figoified, and are kind 

 o( Emblems -J. wherefore we have namtd them tha Not^s of things; from 

 Congruity. But Ch.ira&crs RealhaVQ nothing of Emblem in thera , but 

 are plainly dumb and dead Figures, as the Elements oi^ Letters are 5 and 

 only devifed ad Placitum^ and confirmed by Cufjipm, as by a tacit a- 

 greeraent. And it is manifeftalfo that there muft- needs be a va(t num- 

 ber of them for writing 5 at leaft (b many as there are Radical words. 

 Wherefore this portion of Knowledge concerKitjg the Orgcpi of speech, 

 which is of the Notes of Things^ we report as DeJ^cietit. And though it 

 may feem of no great u(e, confidering that Words and writings by Let- 

 ters are the moft apt Organs oiTradititm j yet we thought good to make 

 mention of it here, as of a knowledge not to bedefpifed. For we here 

 handle, as it were, the Coytzs of things IfitellcQital j and it wi-II not be 

 amilstoknovv, that as Money may be made of other matter befides 

 Gold and Silver 5 fo there may be ftamped other Notes of things be- 

 fides tVords and Letters. 



n Let us proced to Cmmmay-y this doth bear the office as it vpere^ of 

 anVper to other Sciences j a place not very honourable , yet very tteceffa- 

 ry^ efpecially feeing that in our age Sciences are chiefly drawn from LeArned 

 LangHages^ andnot from Adother-tonghes. Nor is the dignity thereof to 

 be efteeraed mean, feeing it fupplics the place of an Antidote, 3g:nnft 

 that AIaledi3 ion o{ the Cqnfitfton o{Tpngites. Surely the Induftryof 

 man ftriveth to reftore, and redintegrate himfelf in thofe Benedidions, 

 which by his guilt he forfeited i and by all other Arts,arm8 and firength- 

 ens himfelf againft that firfl: general Curfe of they?fr77//7 (?///)e ea>-th,and 

 the eating of his bread in the fiveat of his brows. But againft that (econd Gen, 3. 

 Curfe, which was the Cofzjufion of Tongues, he calls in the ajfijiance of 

 Grammar. The ufe hereof in fome Mother- tongues is indeed very fmall 5 

 in forreign tongues more large, but mofl: ample in fuch tongues, as 

 have ceafed to be vulgar, and are perpetuated only in Books. 



^ We will divide Grammar into twojoi^s, whereof the one is Literary, 

 the other Philofophical. The one is merely applied to Languages, that 

 that they may be more fpeedily learned 5 or more correftedly and pure- 

 ly fpoken. The other in a fort doth minifter, and is fubfervient to rhi- 

 lofophy. In this later part which is Philofophical, we find that C£far writ Seet ;n 

 Bookj De Anahgia 5 and itis a queftion whether thofe Books handled i"'- 

 this Philofophical Grammar whereof we fpeak ? Our opinion is, that 

 not any high and fubtil matter in them, but only that they deliver'd 

 Preceptsof a pure and perfeft fpeech, not depraved by popular Cu- mVt'ic4 . 

 ftora j nor corrupted and polluted by over-cunous affeclation 3 in ph\''°s!°' 

 which kind C£far excell'd. Notwithjianding^ admonifh'd by fuch a 

 work, we have conceiv'd and comprehended in our mind, a kind of 

 Grammar, that miy diligently enquire, not the Analogy of words one 

 with another, but xht Analogy between Words and Things, or Reafon •, 

 befides that Interpretation of Nature, which is fubordinatc to Logick^. 

 Surely IVords are thefoot-Jleps of Reafon , and foot-fteps do give fome 

 indications of the Body > wherefore we will give fome general delcri- 

 ption 



