X PREFACE TO THE ORIGINAL EDITION. 



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 em- 

 ploy them, or who require a relaxation from labour. Professed 

 naturalists ^vill, no doubt, find it superficial ; and yet I should 

 hope that even these will discover hints and remarks, gleaned 

 from various reading, not wholly trite or elementary. 1 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 fronfi its garb of austerity, and to show the beauties of 

 that form, which only the industrious and the inquisitive have 

 been hitherto permitted to approach. 



