[No 1.
THE
New-England Courant.
Monday Auguſt 7. 1721.
Homo non unius Negotii: Or, Jack of all Trades.
IT'S an hard Caſe, that a Man can't appear in Print now a Days, unleſs he'll undergo the Mortification of Anſwering to ten thouſand ſenſeleſs and Impertinent queſtions like these, Pray Sir, from whence came you? And What Age may you be of, may I be ſo bold? Was you bred at Colledge Sir? And can you (like ſome of them) ſquare the Circle, and cypher as far as the Black Art? &c. Now, tho' I must confeſs it's ſomething irkſome to a Man in haſt, thus to be ſtop'd at his firſt ſetting-out, yet in Compliance to the Cuſtom of the Country where I now ſet up for an Author, I'll immediately ſtop ſhort, and give my gentle Reader ſome Account of my Perſon and my rare Endowments.
As for my Age, I'm ſome odd Years and a few Days under twice twenty and three, therefore I hope no One will hereafter object againſt my ſoaring now and then with the grave Wits of the Age, ſince I have dropt my callow Feathers, and am pretty well fledg'd: but if they ſhould tell me that I am not yet fit nor worthy to keep Company with ſuch Illuſtrious Sages, for my Beard do's n't yet reach down to my Girdle, I ſhall make them no other Anſwer than this, Barba non facit Philoſophum.
I make no queſtion my gentle Readers, but that you're very Impatient to ſee me entirely diſſected, and to have a full View of my outward as well as inward Man, but as I ſtopt ſhort juſt now, meerly to oblige you, ſo I ſhall ſtop as ſhort here, and give no farther Account of my ſelf until this Day fortnight, when you ſhall have a farther Account of this uſeful Deſign, and of my great Endowments of Body and Mind.
And to engage the World to converſe farther with me, they'l find me in the good Company of a certain Set of Men, of whom I hope to give a very good Account,
Who like faithful Shepherds take care of their Flocks,
By teaching and practiſing what's Orthodox,
Pray hard againſt Sickneſs, yet preach up the POX!..
N. B. This Paper will be publiſhed once a Fortnight, and out of meer Kindness to my Brother-Writers, I intend now and then to be (like them) very, very dull; for I have a ſtrong Fancy, that unleſs I am ſometimes flat and low, this Paper will not be very grateful to them.
abnormis ſapiens.Hor.
At the Requeſt of ſeveral Gentlemen in Town:
A Continuation of the Hiſtory of Inoculation in Boſton,
by a Society of the Practitioners in Phyſick.
THe bold undertaker of the Practice of the Greek old Women, notwithſtanding the Terror and Confuſion from his Son's Inoculation-Fever, proceeds to inoculate Perſons from Seventy Years of Age and downwards.
The Select Men (or Managers of the Town Affairs) in duty bound to take Cognizance of the Matter, deſire a Meeting of all the Practitioners in Town, to have their Opinion whether the Practice ought to be allowed or not; they unanimously agreed that it was raſh and dubious, being entirely new, not in the leaſt vouched or recommended (being meerly publiſhed, in the Philoſophick Tranſactions by way of Amuſement) from Britain, tho' it came to us via London from the Turks, and by a ſtrong viva voce Evidence, was proved to be of fatal & dangerous Conſequence. Bn is deſired by the Select Men to deſiſt.
Notwithſtanding the general Averſion of the Town, in Contradiction to the declared Opinion of the Practitioners, in Oppoſition to the Selectmen, and in Spite of the diſcouraging Evidences relating to this Practice, Six Gentlemen of Piety and Learning, profoundly ignorant of the Matter, after ſerious Conſideration of a Diſeaſe one of the moſt intricate practical Caſes in Phyſick, do on the Merits of their Characters, and for no other reaſon, with a Vox præteriaq; nihil, aſſert, &c. If this Argument, viz. their Character, ſhould prevail with the Populace (tho' here I think they have miſſed of their Aim) who knows but it may oblige ſome prophane Perſon to canvas that ſort of Argument. I think their Character ought to be ſacred, and that they themſelves ought not give the least Occaſion to have it called in queſtion. They ſet up for Judges of a Man's Qualifications in the Practice of Phyſick and very laviſhly beſtow all the fulſome common Place of Quack Advertiſements. One would think they meant ſome Romantick Character, ſomething beyond that of candid Sydenham, the ſagacious Radcliff, or the celebrated Mead: they might indeed in reſpect of his moral and religious Qualifications, which lay properly under their Cognizance, have ſaid, That he was a modeſt, humble Man, a Man of Continency, Probity, &c.
At firſt reading of this Compoſure, many were perſwaded, that it was only a Piece of Humour, Banter,Burleſque,
