T a time, when the ftudy of natu- 
ral hiftory feems to revive in Eu- 
rope; and the pens of feveral il- 
luftrious foreigners have been employed in 
enumerating the productions of their refpec- 
five countries, we are unwilling that our 
own ifland fhould remain infenfible to its par- 
ticular advantages; we are defirous of divert- 
ing the aftonifhment of our countrymen at 
the gifts of nature beftowed on other king- 
doms, to a contemplation of thofe with which 
(at left with equal bounty) the has enriched 
our own. 
A judicious Foreigner has well ey 
that an Engh ifbman is excufable fhould he be j 
ignorant of the papal hiftory, where it does 
not relate to Great Britain; but inexcufable 
Should he negle& inquiries into the origin 
a2 of 
