TO THE 
RIGHT HONOURABLE 
ROBERT, 
EARL of ALISBURY,&c. 
My LORD, 
EVER fince Thave mtdertaken to puhlijh the Philofophical Tranf- 
actions, I have been concerned^ once a year^ to feek,out aNohle 
Patron^ to ri>hofe favow I might mth good ajfurance addref^ the 
ColeUions of the whole Tear^rvhen finifhed^ And for this frefent Volume^ 
I cannot devife better than to lay it before Tour Lordjhip , vpho doth per^ 
feUly apprehend^ Hon> the genius of this Age hath countenanced theRC" 
ftauration of Nobk Arts and of gooclLiterature,^!?/^/ theEngViih No- 
bility and Gentry have conilantly fheipp'd a mUingne(lto he the Example^ 
( as it i^as firji lUnftrated and hefi Eecommended by a Veer (^/England, the 
Lord Vifcount of Albans v) and that great and deep JVits in all Forrain 
parts roundabout Vs^ and in ma ty Remote places , do drive it en rpith no 
f on? pace , the Emulation working high every vphere^ and performing to ad-- 
miration. 
Jhis being fo vpell k^mri^n to Xour Lordfhip ^ I am perjtraded\ It vpill 
he a divertizing Entertainment^ to tak^ notice of theTearly Grojvth of 
f hilofophy^and of Philofophical Aids^ in fubiiance and in extent ^vpith frejh 
fupplies continually y to obferve^ that the Ingenuous do hold on in a Real 
Progrefih and toremar\^ hovp^ vphere^ and by whom all Novel Inventions: 
have their Rife ^ and by n^bat Steps and Expedients they are promoted : 
Which is the hefi of Human helps^to excite^ encourage and enable for other 
beneficial Inventions : And 'tis an ingenuous delight^ to fee the Virtuous^ 
advance with g'?od Speed, J he Philofophical Poet Lucretius faid in hts 
Rapture *, 
lib.2. Suavc^marimagnOjturbantibus asquora ventis, 
E Terra magnum altcrius fpedare laborem ! 
^he Poet e^eems it Or deep pleafare^ to hehold (as from a fafe harbour 
firm land) the deviations and colhfwns of profound and induftrious Phi- 
kfophers in all formsr Ages, And certainly it mufl he a more Natural 
and a more agreeable pleafure^ and far greater happinefi^to behold the fer^ 
vent and fedulous Emulations of the moji Civil and moft Accomplifked Na^ 
tions (and of the acutefiythe deepeft^and the mofl learned amongst them^) 
contending with all their firength and shjll^ who jhall excel the other in the 
moft beneficial obltgings of Mankind, 
My LORV^ I doubt ^ it will be expeUed^ I fhouldhere reprefent to Tmr 
Lordjhip s eye a hintof juji applaufe for the great Merits of thofe Worthies^ 
vphn have fo happily hrought-in their frejh fupplies : But I muji confine my, 
felf toa fevi? foft louche s^which the moji refervedMedefly may jultly claim^ 
^^nd uMch Malice it felf cannot deny ^ 
