Chap. III. the Kingdom 
an Affair, which, if well managed, may be attended 
with fo many good Confequences. 
The Plan, it is true, is very extenfive, and I will 
readily grant is much Iboner conceived and thrown out 
upon Paper (though that too has coft a good deal of 
Time) than carried into Execution. But it may be a 
very good Plan for all that, and I have the better Opi- 
nion of it, becaufe it may be executed Step by Step, 
and be made to bear its own Charges into the Bargain. 
If the Trade to Corea fhould be found pradicable and 
profitable, I fhould certainly incur no Blame for point- 
ing it ou‘t ; but fay, that Experience fhould juflity the 
former only, and not the latter : In that Cafe I fhould 
think we might eke out Matters from Japan, not in 
two or three Years perhaps, but in half a Score much 
might be done; and in the mean Time fome Trials 
might be made towards other Difcoveries. The old 
Proverb fays, that Rome was not built in a Bay, and this 
Proverb was never better verified than when applied to 
Trade, to Settlements, and to Colonies. They are, to 
be fure, neither adjufted, fixed, or rendred beneficial 
in a Moment *, but in Matters of this Nature, Time and 
Patience will do all. Let us look at Virginia and New- 
England, thofe Sifter Plantations, that have grown up 
to be fine comely Perfonages, though they were fome- 
what difficult in the Rearing ; and let us remember 
how often dais Nation was told, while they were at her 
Breafts, that it was all Labour in vain, and that they 
would never live to go alone. But Thanks be to God, 
we were not terrified by thefe old Womens Prophecies, 
we continued our Care of them notwithftanding thefe 
untoward Prognoftications, and we have had no Caufe 
to repent of it ; the young Women, as they grew up, 
‘throve apace ; they have been long fince able to get 
their own Living, and have made us very grateful Re- 
turns for the Pains we took in nurfing them. 
The Danger is not fo great in undertaking extenfive 
Projedls, as that which arifes from the Folly of aban- 
doning them too foon. We ought moft certainly to 
examine Things maturely before we refolve upon them ; 
as I faid once before, I am not vain enough to imagine, 
that I have pointed out all the Methods, or even the 
beft Methods for accomplifhing this Defign, but if upon 
Trial it fhould be found that I have been ever fo much 
miftaken, and that the Thing muft be gone about in 
quite another Way, it will not afflidt me much provided 
the Thing can be done. That, and that alone, is my 
View, let the Projedt be decried, let the Projedlor be 
thought a Fool, if his Folly proves an Inftrument to his 
Country’s Good, and his Countryman’s Glory, that Fool 
will be happier than all the Indies could make him. 
The Vanity of knowing much, the Ambition of making 
a Figure in the learned World, the afpiring Hopes of 
ftriking out new Paths, are Weakneffes without Doubt, 
but they are Weakneffes that are often beneficial to 
Mankind, and in that Light are excufable. I defire 
this may be confidered in no other, though in Truth I 
am not much concerned in what Light it is confidered, 
if it is but produdlive of any Good. 
Extenfive as the Plan is, yet we fee plainly 
that it confifts of Parts ; though it is propofed 
at once, yet it may be effedled by Degrees. We 
are told that Milo, a famous Lubber of Antiquity, 
began with carrying of a Calf, and was able to jog about 
with it upon his Shoulders when it grew up to be an Ox, 
which he afterwards knocked on the Head with a Blow 
of his Fift ; and then I think the Story fays, he eat it, 
not at a Meal, I prefume, but in Joints. This ffiews 
us, that Time and Application will atchieve Wonders, 
and provided we make an Effay to take up the Calf all 
in good Time, we may come to have many a good 
Dinner out of the Ox. But we muft fet our Shoulders 
to it, that was Milovs Beginning, and it muft be ours. 
If we can but carry the Calf, and do not fling it down 
in a Paffion, there is no doubt of its becoming an Ox, 
or that our Strength and his will keep Pace, and that 
we fhall be able to carry him when he is an Ox. The 
Comparifon is familiar and coarfe, but it is very apt, 
and if I was fure that the Criticks, would not be angry, I 
of Corea. 1013 
would fay that Homer himfelf has madeufe of fome that 
are not a bit more clumfy or lefs cleanly. 
It may be farther objecfed, and indeed Icannof de- 
ny, that though I ftile it a Angle Propofition, yet there 
is a great Variety of Objedfs pointed out ; but if front 
this Conceffion it fhould be laid that any Diftradiion ari- 
fes, againft that I fliall enter my Proteft. It is very cer- 
tain that one Machine may anfwer a Variety of Purpofes, 
and therefore becaufe a Man affirms, that if a certain 
Thing be done, it may prove the Means of doing many 
other Things, it does not at ail follow that what he 
propofes is the more difficult, much lefs that it is im- 
pracfticable. To judge of this, we muft confider the 
Relation between the Means he propofes, and the Ends 
which he affirms may be anfwered by them ; for if there 
be a proper Connexion between them, he may be ftill in 
the right, tho’ at the firft Appearance he may feem to 
promife large. To apply this general Do<5lrine. When i 
fay that Corea is happily ficuated for Trade, the Reader 
need only turn to a Map to know whether I Ipeak Truth. 
When I affirm that the Inhabitants are addicted to 
Commerce, he may have Recourfe to the Authorities I 
have cited, and upon due Examination the WitneflTes 
will be found to fpeak mySenfe. When I lay it down 
that there are Hands very conveniently fituated between 
Corea and Japan, I mention alfo their Names, fo that it 
may very eafily be feen, whether I imitate that Painter, 
who to gratify his Wile that did not love to fee fo much 
white in one part of the Globe, fprinkled a few Iflands 
through it, which are called the Painter’s Wife’s Iflands to 
this Day. When I hold forth about Countries beyond 
Japan, I muft confefs I am a little afhamed to appeal to 
Father Charlevoix and his Brethren the Jefuits ; but 
however, if their Teftimony fhould be rejedled, I believe 
I could produce fome Proteftant Witneffes to the fame 
Fa6ts. And laftly, when I talk about a North-eaft Paf- 
fage, there is Captain Wood will bear me out in all that 
I have advanced. Thus I reconcile my Means to all 
thefe feveral Ends, or at leaft I put it into the Rea- 
der’s Power to fee whether I reconcile them or not. 
In the next Place it is to be obferved, that I do not 
pretend to fay, that the Moment a Settlement is fixed, 
it will fulfill all that I have promifed in its Behalf, or 
that it is requifite we fhould attempt to fulfill them the 
very Inftanr that we have made fucha Settlement. This 
I am fo far from affirming that the principal Reafon of my 
introducing this Remark, is to fhew that it ought not to 
be expefted. I maintain that there is a Connection be- 
tween this Settlement and all the Ends I have ailed o-ed 
. - O 
It may anfwer ; but we muft touch but one String at 
a Tirne,l otherwife we lliall produce Difcord inftead 
of Harmony. We muft take each in its Order, and if 
we do not immediately fucceed, we muft drop that De- 
fign for a Time, and drive only the Nails chat will go, 
and thus by Degrees there is no Room to fear we iliali 
come to drive them all at laft. 
When the Canaries were firft difcovered, and toffed 
about from Hand to Hand, whoever thought that 
from thence a new World might be difcovered } Why 
truly Columbus. And what then ? He propofed it to the 
Portuguefe, who were thought to be the beft Judges 
of fuch Projefts, and they rcjeded it as an idle Dream. 
But as good Judges as they were, they miftook the 
Point, and as much as they thought him miftaken, he 
hit the Mark. Not at once indeed, but gradually ; he 
firft reached the Bahama Iflands, then the Continent of 
America, and as foon as he heard of a South Sea, he 
pronounced that the Indies he fought lay beyond that. 
By Degrees every End was anfwered, and the Spices 
brought home in Magellan's Ships, though many Years 
after Columbuses Death, proved that his firft Conceptions 
were right ; and give me Leave to fay they would 
have been juft as right if Magellan had not fue- 
ceeded in his Voyage. All the Ends of a Propofition 
may not be anfwered in a very long Tratft of Time, 
and yet they may be all truly laid down. We have 
not yet fquared the Circle, but the Butch Mathema- 
tician that had a Line and half of Decimals infcribad 
upon his Tomb went very near it. 
Wichouc 
