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and is now a great Pluralift and a Dignitary. The firft Account I had of this laft Promotion was at a Coffee-house, where it was the Subject of much Converfation and Merriment among a Set of Gentlemen, who seemed to have no great Esteem or Affection for our Family. Upon which one of them faid, For part, I am not at all furprised that a Man who has been for fo many Years a most remarkable Blunderbuss, should at laft become a Canon. At which they all burst into a most incomprehenfible Laughter. This provoked me not a little; I looked fternly upon them, and, with a grave Tone, replied, Gentlemen, you may be as merry as you pleafe, but remember, there is a good old Proverb, which fays, Let him laugh that wins. I then looked at my Watch, paid down my Penny, and left them to finish their Laugh by themselves. How great foever my Coufin's Preferment may be, I think he has reafonable Expectations of greater, having been more than once employed by his Patrons to compofe fome fhining Pieces for the Gazetteer, in which he out-did his ufual Out-doings; and for which, in my poor Judgment, he can never be fufficiently rewarded.-As he fometimes does me the Honour to converse with me upon Subjects of Learning, I have made ample Discoveries of the Strength of his Genius, and the Profundity of his Understanding, and may venture to promife the Public fomething very curious and entertaining, worthy fuch a Genius and fuch a Pen. I happened one Day to mention my great Efteem for the late Bishop Hooper's Treatife of Weights and Measures, he turned short upon me, and, with a contemptuous Smile, told me, That Thorndyke's juft Weights and Measures were worth a thousand of them. As I make it a Point of Duty, as VOL. II.

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well as good Manners, not to contradict a Dignitary, I took care to be exceedingly astonished at his judicious Remark, and excufed myself, by confeffing my Want of Capacity to make the Comparison.

Another Time we were talking of the Reformation; and as I could not help mentioning the Part that Cromwell bore in that Tranfaction, he began to upbraid me with my Ignorance in History and Chronology, and undertook to demonstrate, that that Ufurper could not poffibly have any Hand in that Affair, being not born till near an hundred Years after. Finding me quite thunderftruck at this Difcovery, and utterly unable to make any Reply, he dropped the Argument, and I very respectfully took my Leave.-But, meeting him by chance fince, he told me, that he had taken the Pains to procure a Certificate of Cromwell's Age from the Parish Register at Huntingdon, where he was born, from whence it appears that he was born in the Year 1599; whereas the Reformation was in the Beginning of that Century. He concluded with fome very judicious Remarks upon the Negligence and Temerity of our English Hiftorians, in falling into fo palpable an Error, which he intended to confute upon a proper Occafion.-Thefe two curious Subjects the gentle Reader may poffibly find largely and circumstantially handled in the aforefaid Collection.

The Improvements in natural Knowledge that have been made by feveral Virtuofo's of our Family, are too confiderable to be overlooked or defpifed by equitable Judges and Lovers of Learning. How many natural Curiofities have been neglected, by the unphilofophical Herd, as Trifles not worth their Knowledge, had not we, by incredible Application and Succefs,

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cefs, rescued them from the Contempt of the Illiterate and Ignorant, and thereby drawn the Attention and Admiration of the Learned both on them and our felves? Infects, Reptiles, Vermin, Animalcules of all Sorts, Flowers, Plants, Minerals, Moffes, Shells, Pebbles, &c. which had long been defpifed and trampled on, by every illiterate Booby, as common Grass or Stones in the Highway, have been, by our united Labours, discovered, diffected, improved, and polifhed, and recommended, in many ingenious Differtations, to the Notice and Esteem of all true Lovers of curious Learning. Some very uncommon Discoveries in the Anatomy of Snails and Spiders, made by our late learned Kinfman Sir Nicholas Gimcrack, Knt. and his learned and worthy Affociate Dr. Johannes Elfcrikius, will foon be publifhed in fome Form or other, being of too much Confequence to be loft or neglected.

I had like to have forgot one Article, in which we justly glory, and defy the whole World to invalidate our Title; and that is, the great Number of very pretty Poets we have produced in all Ages, more in Proportion (I dare fay) than an hundred to one of any other Family, whofe Names at least, if not their Labours, will, by the peculiar Felicity of our Family, be rendered immortal by those very Means by which that Hypercritical Cenfor Pope endeavoured to suppress and deftroy them. We had once a Thought of publishing fome felect Pieces in the above-mentioned Collection; but as we find, among our Friends, a much greater Number than was expected, and alfo equally valuable, that it is hard to know to which to give the Preference, we are come to a Refolution to publish the Whole by Subfcription, in about thirty Pocket Volumes,

Volumes, under the Title of Minafculorum Poetarum Opufcula, Latina & Anglica. By which many a wonderful Performance will be preserved, that else had never seen the Light; and forasmuch as some are so exceeding modeft, as not to have the Author's Name prefixed, we shall endeavour to affign to every Production the true Name of the Parent, and give them the Honour due to their Labours. And, for the better completing this Design, we have employed several of our Friends to make Collections of all the Lilliputian Odes, Epigrams, Anagrams, and Pofeys for Snuff-boxes and Wedding-rings, and all the Wit that can be picked up at Bath, the Hot-wells, Tunbridge, and Scarborough, and all the great Inns upon the Roads leading to the great Metropolis, from the brilliant Performances of fine Fingers, Diamond Rings, or Pencils npon Glafs, to the fmutty Labours of Charcoal and Black-lead upon the Walls of Ale-houses, Tap-houses, and Bog-houses, and other Places of public Refort, and easy Conversation. And as we are under great and special Obligations to that worthy and excellent Perfon Mr. Edmund Curl, Citizen and Bookfeller, for the many Years good and faithful Services he has been doing to our Family, we have agreed to give him all the Profits arifing from the faid Subscription, &c. for the Term of feven Years, the Property of the Copy being fecured in the Hands of fuch Trustees as fhall referve the future Profits in Bank, to be a perpetual Fund for the decayed Wits and fuperannuated Poets of our Family. And as we have Reason to hope, from the Names and Interests of fome of the Authors, who are Perfons of Quality and Distinction, that it will be one of the largest Subscriptions

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scriptions that has been fet on foot for fome Years paft: We propofe, if the Funds will answer, to erect a commodious Building, either in Grub-street or Moorfields, for their Reception; where they may retire from the Sneers and Cenfures of an ill-judging World, and spend the Remainder of their Days in Peace and Plenty. So much for our Learning.

Give me leave now, my Lord, to come to the Article of Religion, in which we have some Merit to plead, and fome Title to your Lordship's Encouragement and Protection. We all agree that that Learning which does not terminate in a Religion of fome Sort or other, is at beft but a fplendid Ignorance; that nothing can make us truly wifer, that does not make us really better; and that the Peace and Intereft of the Public, and the Quiet and Profperity of Civil Society, is and ought to be the only End of all religious Inftitutions. Now, as all Mankind have took it into their Heads to have a Religion of one Sort or other, fo it has been Matter of Grief and Complaint, that the Disputes and Controverfies about it have often produced very tragical Effects, not only to the Detriment of private Persons, but to the endangering the Peace and Safety of Civil Societies. No Man that has been ever fo little converfant in Hiftory, can pretend to be ignorant how many Perfecutions, Maffacres, Plots, Battles, and Aflaffinations he has read of for the Sake (upon the Pretence at least) of Religion, and an outragious Zeal for fome diftinguishing Doctrines and Opinions, fome different Forms or Objects of Worship, which have produced tragical Effects in all Ages and Nations, whether Gentile, Jewish, or Chriftian. Now what can be a greater Good to Man

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kind;