To the READER. 



To fee an univerjal Natural Hijiory of Great Britain 

 complec^t is what exceeds our higheji Expectation -, as what 

 can never be execute d^ hut by the Labour of a great many 

 Pencils fupported by the Munificence of a Prince^ with a 

 Curiofity of feeing his Cabinets Jlored with the FortraBs of 

 the Animals and Vegetables Nature has placed under his 

 Dominion : thefe would be attended with a Pleafufe peculiar 

 to themj elves, as they would represent Originals fubjtjiing to 

 the I at eft Generations ; for Nature is fo uniform in the Struc^ 

 ture of the whole Species, that the Piffure of an Individual will, 

 to an human Eye, at leaji jerve for a Reprefentation of any 

 of the Species (the Sex only excepted.) Befides thefe are not 

 liable to the Calamities the Originals oftheKingofFrsLncc's 

 Models of his Towns were, whofe Beings might have been 

 dejiroyed by a Marlborough and victorious Army ; whereas 

 a Butterfly and Bird preferve their Species amidft the Ra- 

 vages of a Kingdom, and th^ feeblejl Genus of Plants main- 

 tain their Kind under the Feet of the Grand Signior'j 

 Horfe. Such a Colle^ion perhaps would not boafl that Pomp 

 and Gaiety a Gallery filled with Rarities feletled from the 

 diftant Kingdoms of the PForld would do. However, thefe 

 I mention feem to have a Claim to the Patronage of the Prince 

 whofe Subjects they are, and to deferve his peculiar Study 

 and Obfervation. 



THE 



