sonable hands and miseries, far worse than death; others for no desert are hoisted up to honours which of right belong not to them; or, being guilty of things worthy of utmost shame or punishment, yet scape the stroke of justice; and oft-times with hoary heads go down to the grave in peace; -some, deserving well, meet with rewards suitable to their merits; others, with contempt due to their no deserts; or, if criminal, with punishments proportionable to their crimes: So in the State of Learning, among the writers of all ages, some deserve fame, and have it; others neither have, nor deserve it; some have it, not deserving; others, though deserving, yet totally miss it, or have it not equal to their deserts!

8. And these are the Men who require our most peculiar consideration, and for whose sake chiefly it is that this design hath been undertaken. For, though the personal calamities of poor wretched mortals are the highest object of human pity, yet methinks there is something of compassion due to extinguished virtue, and the loss of many ingenuous, elaborate, and useful works; and even the very names of some, who having perhaps been comparable to Homer for heroic poesy, or to Euripides for tragedy, yet nevertheless sleep inglorious in the crowd of the forgotten Vulgar and for as many of those names, whether more or less eminent, as have been preserved from utter oblivion, together with an account for the most part of what they writ, all Learned Men, especially such as are curious of antiquity, are obliged to those generous Registers, who have been studious to keep alive the memories of famous Men, of whom it is at least some satisfaction to understand that there were once such men, or writings, in being.

9. However, since their Works having by whatever casualty perished, their Names, though thus recorded, yet as being dispersed in several authors, and some of those not of the most conspicuous note, are scarce known to the generality even of the Learned themselves; and since of later ages the memories of many whose works have been once made public, and in general esteem, have nevertheless through tract of time, and the succession of new generations, fallen to decay, and dwindled almost to nothing; I judged it a Work in some sort not unconducing to a public benefit, and to many not ungrateful, to muster up together in a body, though under their several classes, as many of those who have employed their fancies or inventions in all the several Arts and Sciences, as I could either collect out of the several Authors that have mentioned them in part, or by any other ways could come to the knowlege of.

10. But finding this too various and manifold a task to be managed at once, I pitched upon one Faculty first; which, not more by chance than inclination, turns out to be that of the POETS; a science certainly of all others the most noble and exalted; and not unworthily termed DIVINE, since the height of poetical rapture hath ever been accounted little less than DIVINE INSPIRATION.

11. Pardon me therefore, most honoured Friends, if having undertaken a province more weighty and difficult than the account of any other Art and Science, and which beyond all others exerciseth the utmost nicety and sagacity of judgment, I ambitiously make address to the patronage of persons of so fair a reputation, as well in poetry as other parts of learning, and who are yourselves parties not obscurely or without just merit concerned, whom, against what

ever may happen either of deserved or undeserved censure, I crave leave in the first case to have recourse to as Advocates; in the next to appeal to as Judges; it being studiously my desire to anticipate, as much as possibly in me lies, all that can be said of prejudice, or exception;-which, if I foresee aright, will amount only in the main to one grand objection; namely, the omission of some that ought to have been mentioned; and the mentioning of others that might without injustice have been omitted.

12. As to the first part of this objection, I have nothing to do, but humbly to beg the pardon of the persons so neglected if alive, or otherwise of the concerned reader in their behalf. Not that I think myself obliged to receive prescriptions from any but whom I think competent to judge who are and who are not worthy;- but as being not altogether unconscious to myself, and conceiving it no disparagement to acknowlege that, for haste, and want of that profound leisure and other advantages which are requisite for the bringing of all endeavours to maturity; (though I question whether ever any human work was ever yet so perfect as might not admit either of addition or diminution,) many things may possibly have been omitted; some things also mistaken; though I dare confidently avouch, that of very conspicuous note there have been forgotten very few, if any.

13. And for those, who pretending, and perhaps not without reason, to poetical fancy or judgment equal to many that have written with applause, yet nevertheless have contented themselves to be wise, ingenuous, or judicious only to themselves, not caring to transmit any memorials to pos

terity, certainly those men, though able to contend with Apollo himself, cannot in reason challenge to themselves a ' place among the poetical writers, except upon the testimony of some very authentic author.

14. What shall we say of those, who, studying no doubt public benefit above private fame, (for so in charity we ought to believe,) have forborne to set their names to what they have written; which, if by any kind of intelligence they could be recovered, it would be a most unmannerly thing to divulge his name to the world, who thinks fit himself to have it concealed. Sorry I am I cannot pay a due respect to M.r ANONYMOUS but he is the author of so many Books, that to make but a Catalogue of them would require a Volume sufficient of itself. Others there are, who vouchsafe but the two first Letters of their names and these, it is to be supposed, desire to be known only to some friends, that understand the interpretation of those letters, or some cunning men in the Art of Divination.

15. Now as to the last part of the objection, I have so much the more confidence to stand upon my own justification, by how much I rely upon this maxim, that it is less injustice to admit of twenty that deserve no notice or mention, than to omit one that really deserves,

16. And here, methinks, there seems to arise a large field of examination and distinction, between those that are in truth of no value or desert; and those that are generally reputed so.

17. It is to be observed that some have been once of great esteem, and have afterwards grown out of date: others have never arrived to any esteem: and possibly in both cases the

merits of the cause may have been various on either side. Yet I am apt to believe that as it is a more frequent thing to over than under value; so a universal contempt is a shrewd, not infallible, sign of a universal indesert. The reason is plain: for, though no doubt the number of the judicious and knowing is as great if not greater than ever, yet most confessedly not so great as that of the ignorant, or only superficially knowing. There are many that think; few only that judge: therefore things of the most transcendent excellence are for the most part only valued by persons of transcendent judgment: whereas the indifferent and plausible are received with general and vulgar applause. So that those works, which, being advantageously published, nevertheless obtain no fame, may be justly suspected of little or no worth; since, had they been excellent, they might, falling into the hands of the few that judge, have been buoyed up by their authority. Had they been plausible, they would have been cried up by the many that think.

18. And shall such very ignote and contemptible pretenders be allowed a place among the most renowned of poetic writers; among so many laureated heads with the triumphant wreath of Parnassus ? I beg your favourable attentions; yours in the first place, most equal Judges; yours in the next, most courteous Readers; let me plead a little for the well-meaning only, as something sympathising with those for whom I plead. Virtue will plead for itself; and needs no advocate. First, let it be considered that no man designs to write ill every one either writes well, or would write well. It is not in the power of mortal man to discover that wit, judgment, fancy, or industry, with which he never was endowed; and without most of which, if not all, a good poem