would avoid any Reſemblance to that Kind of Hiſtory which a celebrated Poet ſeems to think is no leſs calculated for the Emolument of the Brewer, as the reading it ſhould be always attended with a Tankard of good Ale.
While—Hiſtory with her Comrade Ale
Sooths the ſad Series of her ſerious Tale.
For as this is the Liquor of modern Hiſtorians, nay, perhaps their Muſe, if we may believe the Opinion of Butler, who attributes Inſpiration to Ale, it ought likewiſe to be the Potation of their Readers; ſince every Book ought to be read with the ſame Spirit, and in the ſame Manner, as it is writ. Thus the famous Author of Hurlothrumbo told a learned Biſhop, that the Reaſon his Lordſhip could not taſte the Excellence of his Piece, was, that he did not read it with a Fiddle in his Hand; which Inſtrument he himſelf had always had in his own, when he compoſed it.
That our Work, therefore, might be in no Danger of being likened to the Labours of theſe Hiſtorians, we have taken every Occaſion of interſperſing through the whole ſundry Similes, Deſcriptions, and otherkind
