To the Reader. 
that the Right Honorable the Earl of Berkdiire, Lord Lovelace, 
6cc. are defignedlj left out ^ in regard that though they have Eftates 
and Seats in th'ps County, yet their chiefeft^ and places of moft com- 
mon refidence being elfevphere^ I have chofen rather to omit them here^ 
and to -place them in thofe that feem their more defirahle Counties. 
Concerning the Hiftory // felf lean advife little more^ hut that I 
undertook, it at firil for my own pleafure, the fubje^i of it being fo 
pleafant^ and of fo great variety^ that it furprifed me to think, how 
jnanj Learned Ages hadpafi (careful and laborious enough in compi- 
ling the CW\\ and Geographical /7z/?one^ 0/ England) without fo 
much 05 ever attemting that o/Nature or Arts .* it feeming to he a de- 
fign (had the Undertaker been fuitable^ more highly deferving of the 
publicktoo^ than either of the former^ 06 tending not only to the ad- 
vancement of a fort of Learning y3 much negle5ied in England, but 
of Trade alfo.^ which I hope in fome meafure is made to appear in the 
following Treatife. 
Which though fuf^cient to jujlifie my choice of thi6 fubje^t, je/ / 
ventured not upon it without the joint approbation of the moft knowing 
in thefe matters^ fuch as the Honorable Robert Boyle Efq; Dr. Willis, 
Dr. Wallis, Dr. Bathurft, Sec. who/e celebrated names ferving to 
remove the groundlefs fufpitions many had of the attemt^ I proceeded 
to give this Specimen of it i Wherein Reader ^ only defiredto 
take notice^ that mojl of the Curiofities, ti'toAer 0/ iVrt, Nature, 
or Antiquities engraven in the Cuts, are fo certain truths., that as 
many as were portable^ or could be procured^ are in the hands of the 
Author. But for fuch things 06 are infep arable from their places^ they 
remain to be feen 06 in the Hiflory direSied^ there being nothing here 
mentioned, but what either the Author hoi feen himfelf or Im recei- 
ved unqueftionable teftimony/or i/, which for the moji part, if not 
alwaies^ the Reader willfind cited. 
//z/y^ePhilofophical/'^r/, J have chiefly embraced /^e Principles 
of Dr. Willis, a6 themoji univerfally known and received^ and there- 
foremo^ likely (in this inquifitive Age) to he the truefl ; which if I 
have any where mif applied (a6 "'tis manifold odds fome where or other 
J may') yet L doubt not but the Learned and fober Reader will can- 
didly accept of the honefty of my endeavor in excufe of my Error. 
But 06 for the hot-headed half-witted Cenfmer^ who perhaps only looks 
on the Title of a Chapter,or here and there a Paragraph that mak§sfor 
his 
