BOR 4. 3k wat &é. 
In one Age we fee Epittetus banifhed, and the venerable Seneca 
doomed to Death, whilft Domitian and Nero are covered with Purple. 
In another Period, injured Majefty bows the Neck to relentlefs Ty- 
tT anny. 
If, from this unamiable Stream of hiftoric Truth, we explore its 
branching Rivulets, and feek for Pleafure in our Refearches into the An- 
tiquity of Nations; this Study, tho’ always harmlefs, and fometimes 
ufeful ; yet, after an irkfome and tedious Purfuit, thro’ Paths rendered 
obfcure and dark by Length of Time, or Ignorance, or made almoft im- 
pervious by Superftition, after a Life fpent in fuch Inquiries, perhaps the 
ultimate Refult will be, how precifely to determine the Day and Year, 
that memorable #ra, which gave Birth to a Vimrod, who conquered fome 
fmall Province, or built fome little City, and reigned its Tyrant ; or per- 
haps the Period of our Labours will clofe with the diminutive Difcovery 
how to fix the original Meaning of fome obfcure Sentence, or even an 
obfolete Word. 
Whereas, in purfuing the Study of Nature, and meditating upon the 
exact Harmony fo vifible in the Works of the Creation, we are fure to 
meet with untainted Pleafures ; not fuch as proceed from the Tranfports 
of an heated Imagination, or a violent Paffion, but Pleafures, like that of 
Health, ftill and ferene. 
The Accomplifhments we acquire by many other Studies, may, by 
foothing our Vanity, occafionally miflead us, and likewife byafs human 
Nature with a ftrong Propenfity towards fome favourite Prepoffeffion of 
the Will. 
Thus the Oratory of Cicero, indued with every Power to pleafe ----- 
to raife or calm the various Paffions in the human Breaft ; ---- (a noble 
Endowment, when employed in the Caufe of Virtue !)---- But (fuch, alas! 
is the Inftability and Imperfection of human Nature) this very Talent, 
which gave him Pre-eminence above other Men, became fubfervient to 
indulge a Weaknefs, which we muft at once condemn and pity. To 
living Cz/ar, the Orator paid the pleafing Tribute of Adulation and. 
Praife: ---But, when dead, loaded him with Reproaches. 
If we defcend to many other Branches of Study, and polite Literature 
(efpecially in the prefent Age), we fhall find, that thefe Embellifhments 
too often tend only to infpire us with a fanfied Superiority over others, and 
ferve, at beft, but to fet forth and enliven fome particular Occafion or 
Period of Life. Their Amufements, to make ufe of a great Writer’s 
Simile, ‘ *.are likea Fountain,which, on fome gaudy Days, {pouts forth a 
“ frothy Stream, but remains dry all the reft of the Year.” 
But fuch are the Subjeéts of our Inquiries in Natural Philofophy, that 
they are as large, and as lafting, as the Univerfe, full of inexhauftible 
* Lord Vifcount Bolingbroke. : : Variety; 
i 
