dealt with Mankind till now as fome bigotted Clergymen do, in giving the greateft part to Ignorance here, as they do to the Devil hereafter. 1 confefs thofe few and imperfect Tranflations we have, did a little refine the Converfation of a great many, who had not the good Fortune to be skill'd in Languages; but thofe Books are (as I have hinted before) too large, too difficult, and too dear for feveral, that are as willing and as fit to learn, tho' they have not fo good a Purse to fpare, either their Money, or their Time on them, from their neceffary Occafions of getting their Livelihood. But the Society have open'd an eafier way, and fet Learning in fo fair a Light, that won with its Beauty, every one muft with eagerness imbrace it, in a Form fo agreeable to all Capacities; and thofe, who are fo near a-kin to their Bodies, as not to care for the Embellishments of the Mind, will have a clearer Mark fet upon them of fordid Ignorance.

If these and many more are the Advantages that will accrue to the Publick from this Undertaking, I belive the Learned will receive no lefs; I mean those who are not fo full of themselves, that they cannot with Patience perufe the Works of any one elfe for all the knotty Points of Philofophy, Divinity, Mathematicks, c. which have imploy'd the curious part of the World thus long, are form'd into Queries by the Inquifitive, and anfwer'd with an abundance of

Reafon by the Society, who are not only Men of Parts, but alfo bleft with a Temper that is induftrious to the highest degree, and by confequence muft give a general Satisfaction in their Performances, to the best of Judges in every Science.

But here methinks I fee fome plodding grave Gentleman, that has been at the Expence of many a laborious. Year to gain the Mastery of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, with a fupercilious Frown, condemning this Society, not for falling fhort of their first Pretence, but because they keep up too close to it: For, fays he, What honour will be due to learned Men, that have spent fo many years in the Study of Languages, and the Criticisms of them, if the Kernel of that Nut they are fo long a cracking be given to every illiterate Fellow, who understands not what's Latin for the Book he reads? This Defire of Honour and Veneration, and to be efteem'd fomething more than Men, has been the Caufe of the fmall Progrefs of Learning in former Ages, as I have already fhewn, and therefore ought to be caft away with the other Fopperies of those times, which obftructed the Growth of Knowledg; and the Gentlemen of this Kidney may fatisfy themselves, that the number of illiterate Fellows will be much lefs, and yet the Skill in the Languages be in as much Efteem as it deferves, as long as the Study of antient Authors, especially the Poets (which can never be deliver'd

in any other Language with that Force and Beauty they have in their own) fhall be valu'd by the Ingenious: Criticifms will fill be pleafing, tho' a thousand times repeated; and to be a Critick, 'twill be neceffary to understand the Original of thofe Books which teach them to be fo. Etymologies of Words, and Terms of Art will require fome Skill in Languages, eFt. Nay, this Athenian Oracle will rather contribute to that; for the nature of many Men (efpecially those who are curious) is, to defire to fee the Author it felf from whence fuch admirable things are drawn; which will oblige them to ftudy Languages, to be able to understand them. So that that fort of Learning is in no fear of being loft, fince now, it may be, fome Hundreds may be excited to it, who otherwife had never thought on it.

But I cannot imagine why a Man may not be Matter of as much Senfe, tho' he underflands never a word of Latin, as if he was perfect in the dark eft places of Perfius; nor if his Senfe can be thus im

prov❜d, can he come under the Contempt of Illiterate. But to fatisfy thefe Sparks, who are for the keeping the World in Ignorance, let them not be fo uneafy; for I dare engage there will ftill be Fools and Blockheads enough for them, who will not make ufe of this Advantage.

Some of the Roman Pedants found the fame fault with Ci eero's Defign, in tranflating the

Philofophy of the Grecians in to Latin, for fear it fhould make Learning, or at leaft its Profeffors, too cheap. But as that did not deter him from profecuting his Undertaking, fo this cannot be fuppofed to weigh at all with the prefent Athenian Society, who have undertaken a Province of more general Good, and carry'd it on with no lefs Force and Wit.

Here I must not forget that great and univerfal Good this Defign affords to any Troubles of Mind, in removing thofe Difficulties and Diffatif factions, that Shame or Fear of appearing ridiculous by asking Queftions, may caufe feveral Perfons to labour under, who now have Opportu nities of being refolv'd in any Queftion, without knowing the Informer.

To inlarge upon this would be fuperfluous, fince every Man, who is affected with any fuch Trouble, will find how much Eafe Advice will afford him, efpecially when he has it without discovering himfelf to be griev'd. It must stop many a defperate Hand, which unnaturally elfe might attempt upon the Breaft, foolishly imagining, that an end of this Life would put a Period to their Sorrows, when it only adds an infinite Increase to them. Methinks there is fomething divinely myfterious in this, that a Man can confult fo many able Heads on his private Diftractions, and yet that they fhould ftill remain a Secret. Nay, they who pro

pole

an Injury,

that the World might be oblig'd with a Design of as great a Value. All the Study of that great Mafter in the Mathematicks, Archimedes, could not refolve that Curiofity which Hiero, King of Syracufa, propos'd to him: Nor could he imagine how to find how much Gold the Goldsmith had ftole, without deftroying the Work, to know it by ocular Demonftration; till going by chance into a full Bath, the Water ran over the Brim as his Body enter'd. This Accident brought the Solution into his Head, full of which he ran from thence, naked as he was, to put his Thought into execution, crying out aloud all the that he went, * way I have it, I have it.

To omit the Mariner's Compafs, and a great many other noble Inventions, the Difcovery of the new World it felf was at firft but a random thought of Columbus, from the Obfervation of the Setting-Sun with a quid fi. Mr. Dunton has done more than Columbus, for he has not only found out a way to discover new Worlds (for the Industry, and paft Performances of the Athenian Sociery, promife not a few new Difcovereis in Nature) but alfo how to people the thinly inhabited Kingdoms of Philofophy, with a more numerous Generation. I have heard fome of the Wou'd be-Wits object against this Defign, mere ly becaufe invented by a Book

feller; but that is fo foolish a Flaw to find in it, that it difcover'd their Ignorance as well as Partiality. For firft, feveral noble Inventions have had more unlikely Authors, to inftance only in Printing, defign'd by a Soldier (tho' a certain Writer has dubb'd him a Knight from a Trooper, Eques being an equivocal word) than one that deals in Wit and Learning, and may well be fuppos'd to converfe with many of thofe Authors he fells. And next, the Learned know, that Scaliger was a Bookfeller, and Stephanus a Printer.

Having thus let the World know to whom it is oblig'd for this advantageous Project, 'tis but Juftice that it give him that Encouragement the usefulness of his Defign deferves, and not buoy up the ungenerous and unjuft Attempts of any Interlopers, who, wanting Wit to invent any thing of equal worth, meanly ufurp upon the Right of another, and aim to live upon that Crop which was manur'd by his Industry and Charge. Every confidering Man muft needs think, that it cost him not a little to eftablifh it, and bring it to the Knowledg of the World, and therefore he ought in Reason to reap the Profit of it. If the little Inventor of any small Mechanick Inftrument, for the publick Ufe, has fo far a Propriety in it, as to deferve the Royal Security, a Patent, that none fhall enjoy the Advantage

of