fecret Approbation we afford them, infenfibly be

comes a natural Allurement to imitate them. Thefe are the Confiderations that have regulated our Choice.

A Youth of Quality, whom we shall call the Chevalier du Breuil, in the Vacation from his College Studies, and at a Time when his Father had taken a Journey to make an advantageous Provifion for his eldest Son, pays a l'ifit in the Country to a Gentleman, who was cne of their intimate Friends, and who employs in the Study of Nature the Abundance of Leifure he enjoys.

The Count de Jonval, for that is the Gentleman's Nnme, difcovering an extraordinary Penetration and Vivacity in the Son of his Friend, endeavours to cultivate in his Mind the Rudiments of a good Tafte, and a Philofophy that should always prove advantageous to him. He afficiates into their Converfations the PriorCurate of the Place, a Man valuable for his Knowledge, and one whom a large Share of Picty and Politeness had rendered ftill more engaging. And as the Subjects of their Amusement were fome of the most common Occurrences which were no way necessary to be illuftrated by learned Difputations, the Countess had an Inclination to increase the Company. All the Remarks the young Gentleman hears on Things which he had till then beheld with Inattention, are entirely new to him, and he never fails at his Return from Hunting or Fishing, with which the Day closes, to commit to Writing all he can remember of the Converfation; after

which he gives his Journal to the Prior, for his Revifal and Correction. The Reader may fuppofe, that this Journal of their Conference fo modelled and re-touched, is what we now offer to the Public.

If thefe Amufements or Studies, in vacant Hours, have the good Fortune to be pleafing to Youth, and especially to the Youth of our Nobility, who, as they are frequently in the Country, are more con.erfant with natural Curiofities; we may hereafter renew thefe Entertainments, and endeavour, to the utmost of our Ability, to fubfiitute a Tafte for amiable Nature and Truth, in the place of the falfe Marvellous of Fable and Romance, that now revives in an hundred new Forms, notwithstanding the Declenfion it was reduced to by the good Taste of the laft Age.

What Labour foever we have been at to be informed, either by cur own Diligence, or the Friends we could confide in, of most of the Remarks on Nature advanced in these Converfations; we have fill be n careful to cite, in the Margin of every DIALOGUE, the most celebrated Authors, who have made the like Obfervations. We did not think it necessary to make use of what the Ancients have published upon fome of thefe. Articles, too often with more Credulity than Exactness; but the Reader will be more difpofed to relifh what he finds warranted by the Teftimony of modern Obfervers, who have gained univerfal Reputation by their Accuracy and Circumfpection.

The

The Works to which we have had chief Recourfe, for our own Information, and to justify our Remarks, are the excellent History and Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences; the Philofophical Tranfactions of the Royal Society at London, abridged by Lowthorp; the Tracts of Malpighi, Redi, Willughby, Leuwenhoek, Grew, Nieuwentit, Derham, Vallifneri, &c.

As we have been folicitous to interfperfe, in the Second and third Volumes of this Work, thofe Illuftrations, which fome Pafjages in the first may require, thofe who have purchased the fecond Edition of this, will have no Occafion to buy the third. We acknowledge, indeed, that, befide thefe neceffary Improvements and Corrections, we have changed fome particular Expreffions, but they relate only to fuch Points, wherein any former Miftakes can neither be prejudicial nor degrading. Having found, for Inftance, in taking the Shell of a Lion-Pifmire to Pieces, that the Particles of Sand which compofe it, are not confolidated together, but were fufpended by small Fibres of Silk, like the Beads of a Chaplet; we thought it proper to obferve, that these Infects, as well as fome Species of Caterpillars, that are preparing to divest themselves of their loft Skins, in order to affume the Form of Aurelia's, cover themfelves with a Surface of Sand, not by glewing the Grains of it together, by an Exhalation of Sweat, but rather by uniting them with a viscous Thread. Eight or ten Remarks of this Nature are not of any confiderable Confequence, and add

no extraordinary Merit to a Book. We have, however, inferted them, that we might endeavour to be as accurate as poffible; but have always been cautious not to lengthen or multiply fuch Additions, fince a Profufion of them would have appeared to many of our Readers rather perplexing than explanatory or improving.

When we write for the Learned, we need not be apprehenfive of degrading ourselves in their Opinion by the Minuteness of the. Subjects we confider, nor of trefpaffing upon their Patience by the Length of the Difquifitions in which we engage; Truth in all its Forms is dear to fuch Perfons, and every new Difcovery is fure to obtain their Efleem. Readers of this Clafs will undoubtedly be pleafed with the Natural History

Infects, the firft Volume of which has been lately publifhed by Monfieur de Reaumur. They will there find exact Divifions and the most inconfiderable Diversities peculiar to each Species. The Anatomy of Infects with their Changes and Operations are there treated with a Perfpicuity, Copioufness, and Penetration that leave nothing unexplained. But the Readers, for whose Improvement we were folicitous, are far from expecting this Method from us: On the contrary, if this fmall Work has obtained a favourable Reception from the Public, that Happiness results from the Accommodation of Materials to the Capacity of young Perfons, and chiefly from the Preference we have conftantly given to fuch Particulars as could either touch or inftruct them, with relation to what would otherwife have

proved a cold and unproductive Branch of Knowledge. We may add, that the Advantage which arifes from this Precaution is not to be limited to Youth alone, fince Perfons of all Ages and States of Life are defirous of being affected with pleafing Impreffions, and to have their Imaginations filled with the Wonders which are conftantly exhibited around us by the Deity in the leaft as well as the largest Objects. The most inconfiderable Parts of Nature may, by thefe means, acquire an Air of Dignity and Spirit, and when they can once be rendered engaging, we regard them with Attention and Complacency: But they would immediately fhrink into their original Minuteness, and appear more defpicable than ever to the generality of Readers, Should they make them the Subjects of a long and dry Series of Study: Had we proceeded in this Track, our Book would have been rejected with this Reproach, that we treated the inconfiderable Miniature of Nature in a fcientific Manner. This Cenfure we were unwilling to incur, and have therefore been careful not to croud this Edition any more than the former with a Multitude of Particulars, efpecially in the Article of Infects; and if this Edition fhould be thought preferable to the preceeding, it may pofJibly owe that Merit to fome Retrenchments that have been made in more Places than one.

As to thofe Plates that were either too much worn, or infufficient for our Purpose in any other Particular, it has been thought necessary to subStitute new ones in their ftead. Such, for instance, are the Solomon in the Frontispiece, engraven

by