the 9 R E F A C E.
xxvin
human Thoughts is no doubt the moft valuable of all others ; it being this alone that can make the Bafis of a juft Logic, as Phyfiology of a juft Phyfics. We mult know wherein People have fail'd, or fallen ihorr, or been decervM, to learn the Reafons thereof, or be able to form Rules for avoiding the like. The feveral Opinions that have obtain'd, may be confider'd as fo many Pheenomena of the human Mind, which muft be
conflder'd and inquir'd into to find its Nature. This alone were enough to have engaged us not to omit that
part of Learning, in the prefent Work : tho there were not wanting other circumltantial Reafons which had alfo their (hare ; as, the neceffity hereof to the underftanding not only of the antient Writers, but even of the modern ones, who frequently combat, remark, csV. upon the antient Notions. To which it may be ad- ded, that abundance of our Terms and Dictions are derived from them, and therefore could not be fo com- pleatly underftood without 'em. The Language of the antient and modern Philofophy is not very different : the chief Diverfity is in the different Ideas affixed^ to the fame Words, and the different Applications of 'em. And happy had it been for the Moderns, had they form'd a new Set of Terms adapted to their new Notions : By adopting the old ones, they have not only introduced a world of Ambiguity and Confufion ; but have even loft the Credit of many of their own Dilcoveries, which now lie blended and buried among thofe of the Antients. One is at a lofs to think what could induce the great Philofopher of our Age, to ufe the word. Attraclion, in the Senfe he has done. No doubt it was originally as pertinent as any other ; but the Stamp and Impreflion it had already taken from the Antients, made it lefs fit to receive a new one. It could at belt but take it imperfectly ; and the refult was, a promifcuous Image, wherein we neither fee the one nor the other, diftinctly. 'Tis fcarce in the Power of Imagination, totally to divert a Sound of its received Mean- ing, and confider it as indifferent to all things ; any more than to annihilate the Characters on a piece of Pa- per, and confider it as a mere Blank. Accordingly, tho the great Author abovementioned explain'd over and over, in the cleareit Terms, the Senfe he fixed to his Attraclion ; yet Experience verifies how much he was overfeen ; the chief Objections againft his whole Syftem being drawn from a Mifapprehenfion of this very Word, which keeps half the Philofophers in Europe ftill at a diftance, afraid to admit a moft excellent Doctrine, mere- ly out of diftruft of the Vehicle that conveys it. But this en paffant : The Reader who defires to fee far- ther, may turn to the Articles Attraction, Newtonian Philosophy, Gravitation, (3c.
WHAT has been fpoke of the School Philofophy, reminds us of Aftrology, the Terms whereof have not
been omitted in this Work. Were it only that it has once obtain'd, is ftill extant in Books, and has given
occafion to abundance of Terms and Phrafes, adopted into other Arts ; it would have a Title to be remem- ber'd. " The Hiftory of Mens Follies, fays the inimitable Fontenelle, makes no fmall part of Learning 5 and "unhappily for us, much of our Knowledge terminates there *." But this is not all ; and they who abfolutely reject: all Aftrology as frivolous, don't know it. Every Art and Science has its Vanities, and Foibles ; even Philofophy, and Theology : and every one its good Senfe, even Aftrology. The heavenly Bodies have their Influences : The Foundation, therefore, of Aftrology is good : but thofe Influences are not directed by the Rules commonly laid down, nor produce the Effects attributed to 'em : fo that the Superftructure is falfe. A- ftrolqgy, therefore, ought not to be exploded, but reformed. Indeed a Reformation would reduce it into a little compafs ; but this little is too much to be loft, as it now is, among that heap of Trumpery mixed with
it. We have even been careful to preferve what is juft and rational, in Phyfiognomy, Witchcraft, and
many other fanciful Arts. The time was, when Phyfics was not much more worthy the Study of a Man of Senfe, than Aftrology now is ; fo that one might propofe an Introduclio ad fanam Aftrologiam, as a Defideratum.
THE Preface is now degenerated into a Differtation in good earned : at leaft, it has got the Length and
Formality thereof, and wants only the Accuracy and Precifion. Enough has been difcourfed of the general
Nature, and Subject of the Work : You muft now allow me to defcend a little more to particular, and per- fonal Matters ; and thus end my Preface, where I might have had Precedents enough for beginning it.
I WILL at leaft deal honeftly with my Reader, and not be caught faulty in point of Morality, whatever I
may be in any thing elfe. What has been faid hitherto, has been on the advantageous fide of my Work ; and
I ihould not have acquitted my felf, (hould I not likewife mention what may be alledg'd on the contrary Part.——. The curious Reader, then, may expect, he will here meet with Omiflions, and there with Redundancies : here the Mediod and Oiconomy are not kept to ; there an Article is imperfedly treated : here, a Paffage from fome other Language is not furficiently naturalized ; there a Sentiment of fome other Author is not fufHciently di- gefted : There, in fine, the Author was afleep, and here the Printer.
ONE might palliate thefe Objections, by alledging, that " they are things not peculiar to this Work, but " extend to all of the Kind ; that moft of 'em are things not foreign and acccidental to it, but arife of necef- " fity, from the very Nature and form of a Dictionary ; and that many of 'em, are not peculiar even to a " Diaionary, but agree to all extenfive Undertakings, and are appendant to the very belt Part of the Defi>n, " its Univerfality :" but inftead of extenuating, I had rather be guilty of inflaming, and aggravating 'em. °
FOR Errors, they cannot be very few, confidering the Hands thro' which moft Parts of our Knowledge have paffed, and from whom we are obliged to take our Accounts. What one Author, upon the moft par- ticular Subject, will you produce, that has not his (hare of 'em ? and what Argus could poflibly fee, and cor- rect the Errors in all the Authors he had to do with ? Scaliger, in his Exercitations againft Cardan, has ftiewn fome twenty thoufand, in one fmall Work ; and no body imagines he has pick'd it perfectly clean. Yet Cardan was no ill Author. Bayle's Diftionary has been called the Errata of Morreri ; yet is not Bayk him-
felf without his Errors. -The moft we can fay, is, that we hope there will be few found in the prefent
Work, in comparifon of others of the like kind. Many thoufands we have corrected, both in the Dictionaries and other Writings we have colkaed from, by means of- the Light which other Parts of Knowledge afforded : But after fo large a Harveft, no doubt there remains a tolerable Gleaning. We flatter our felves, however that what we have overlook'd, the Reader will frequently be enabled to correct, by the Means here afforded ; and that there will be few Errors found in the Book, which the Book it felf will not help to rectify.
AS to Omiffions, there is fcarce any avoiding 'em -, and the more intelligent the Reader' is, the more of this kind he will neceffarily meet withal : they being only fuch in relation to his fulnefs. Indeed, I muft own my felf greatly a Debtor on this fcore ; and tho at prefent infolvent, yet if the Reader will give me Cre- dit, it mall be my endeavour to fee all I owe difcharged ; if not in a Lump, yet by a Courfe of Payments
FOR Redundancies, you know there cannot well be richnefs without 'em. After you have picked what you think fit of this kind, and laid it by •, 'tis ten to one but the next Perfon that comes will reftore half of 'em to their places ; and tax your Temerity, and want of Tafte : and the next after him will go near to replace the other half. &
AS to Irregularities, and breaches of Method, I will not claim Impunity on the Score of being the firfl: that introduced any certain Rules, or Method into this way of writing at all : But there will be at leaft this Satisfadion attending my Cafe, that I cannot be indicted for the Breach of any Laws but my own. Nor
J Hilt, de 1' Acad, R. An. 1708. p. 135.
muft
