Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/42

 The PREFACE, xxi*

mull it be forgot, that I pretend to have carried the Diliionary-Way to a pitch hitherto little thought of- So that if I have fallen fhort of the Mark on one fide ; it may be fome Atonement that I have gone beyond it in another. I am fenfible, however, there is no Point I have been more delinquent in than this one of Method ' and that I am at every turn forgetting my own View. The References, and r.eceffary Connexions between the Parts, which mould fhew their Relation, and help the Imagination to put 'em together, are but too frequently dropt, and the Reader left without his Clue.

AS to Jejunenefs, and Crudity; no doubt there muft be a deal of that kind, confidering the Time fo great a Load of Fruit had to hang and ripen. Much of it was gathered ere it could poffibly be matured" fa that 'tis no wonder it now and then taftes of the Wood. But fetting afide this ; if a Man may not be allow'd to fay a good number of indifferent things, in the Compafs of five hundred Sheets, I know not who would be an Author.

LASTLY, as to there being little in it new, and of my own growth ; I mull: here change my Style* and from Confeffion, turn to Vindication.- — The Work is, what it ought to be, a Colkffion ; no? the Produce of a fingle Brain, for- that would go but a little way ; but of a whole Commonwealth. If any Perfon will un- dertake to write a Dictionary, even of fome one particular Art, from his own Fund, alone ; a Man may fafely undertake to prove it good for nothing. I do not pretend to entertain my Gucfts at this rate, with juft what my own fcanty Barns afford : The whole Country is ranfack'd to make 'em the fuller Banquet. Call me what you will ; a Daw, and fay I am (tuck over with other Peoples Feathers : with all my Heart ; but it would be altogether as juft to compare me to the Bee, the Symbol of Induftry, as that of Pride. For tho I pick up my Matters in a thouland Places ; 'tis not to look gay my felf, but to furnifli you with Honey. I have rifled a thoufind Flowers ,- prickly ones many of 'em, to load your Hive. No body that fell in my way, has been fpared ; Antient nor Modern, Foreign nor Domeftick, Chriftian, nor Jew, nor Heathen : Philofophers, Di- vines, Mathematicians, Critics, Cafuilts, Grammarians, Phyficians, Antiquaries, Mechanics, all are ferved alike. The Book is not mine, 'tis every body's ; the mix'd IiTue of a thoufand Loins. The Prince of modern Au- thors, is pillaged to fome purpofe ; and what Quarter then can any body elfe expeft ? If ever you wrote any thing your felf ; 'tis poffible there is fomething in it of yours : fo that you will at leaft allow fomething in it good.

NONE of our Predeceffors can blame us for the ufe we have made of them •, fince it is their own Prac- tice. It is a kind of Privilege attached to the Office of Lexicographer, if not by any formal Grant, yet by Connivance at leaft. We have already affumed the Bee for our Device ; and who ever brought an Action of Tro- ver or Trefpafs againft that avowed Free-booter ? If any body blames us, 'twill ten to one be fome of thofe very Drones, who are fuflained by our means.

'TIS idle to pretend any thing of Property in things of this Nature. To offer a thing to the Publick, and yet pretend a Right referved therein to one's felf, if it be not abfurd, yet it is fordid. The Words we fpeak ; nay, the Breath we emit? are not more vague and common than our Thoughts, when divulged in print. You may as well prohibit People to ufe the Light that mines in their Eyes, becaufe it comes from your Candle : E'en clap it m a dark Lanthorn, and let us not be amufed, and dazzled by it ; if we may not be the better for good things, let's not be the worfe for the ill and indifferent ones mix'd with 'cm.

WE fee the fame Thought, which was firft ftarted in one Author under a world of Crudity, borrow'd by another become farther improv'd and ripen'd ; and at length tranfmitted to a third, yield Fruit in abundance. All Plants will not thrive in all Soils that will produce 'em ; fome languilh in their Mother-Beds : whence the Gardner is under a frequent neceffity of Replanting, Engrafting, t?c.

TO do juftice to a Colleffion, I mean a genera) and promifcuous one ; it has its Advantages. Where num- bers of things are thrown precarioufly together, we fometimes difcover Relations among 'em, we mould never have thought of looking for : As, the Painter's and Sculptor's Fancy, is frequently led on to the boldeft and molt mafterly Defigns, by fomething they fpy in the fortuitous Sketches of Chance, or Nature : infomuch that a cele- brated Author * makes no fcruple to lay this down as the firft Origin and Occafion of all thefe Arts. 'Tis cer- tain molt, of our Knowledge is empirical, the Refult of Accident, Occafion, and cafual Experiment : 'Tis but very little we owe to Dogmatizing and Method ; which, as already obferv'd, are pofterior Matters, and only come in play after the Game is ftarted. 'Twas, in all probability, the hand of Chance that firft threw Sul- phur, Charcoal, and Salt-petre together ; and what furprizing Effefls have not arofe from it ; what Handle has it given to Art and Contrivance, to direft and apply this fortuitous Produaion ?

'TIS indeed furprizing to confider, what flender Experiments and Obfervations many of the capital Doflrines have arofe from : The Blows of a Smith's Hammer on his Anvil, (truck out the Principles of Mufic ; which Gutdo, a poor Friar, perfefted by what he obferved in conning over his Beads. The Inventions of Priming, of Clafs, of the Dipping Needle, of Pbofphorus, of Tele/copes, of Taffata, of Antimony, &c. are fuppofed to have arofe in the like manner ; as the Reader may find under their proper Articles : And how many more we know not, by reafon the great Obfcurity of their firft Rife, ere they attain'd a degree of Ufefuinefs and Perfeffion fuffi- cient to be taken notice of, has buried the particular Circumftances thereof. If we will hear the antient Phceni- cians, and Egyptians, amongft whom moft of the Arts are fuppofed to arofe ; they all came from cafual Obferva- tions : Geometry from the Inundations of the Nile ; the Flight of the Crane, gave occafion to the Invention of the Rudder ; the Ibis taught to adminifter a Clyfter, fcfr. In effect, a new Obfervation in fome Peoples Minds prepared for it, is like a Spark in a heap of Gun-pouder, which may blow a whole Mine.

WHAT Advantages may not Philofophy derive from fuch a Collection, or Farrago of Arts ; when 'tis con- fidered, that every Circumftance, every Article of an Art, ought to be look'd upon as a Datum, a Phenomenon, or Experiment in Philofophy ; and that the leaft of 'em may poffibly be the Foundation of a new Syftem?— To confider only the Tanning, or Currying of Leather : what is the whole Procefs, but a Series of phyfical Effects, arifing from new applications of Body to Body ? And how many Leftures will the Philofopher have from Painting, Gardening, Agriculture, &c. touching Planting, Engrafting, Pruning, Expofure, ExtreJJion, Walls, &c. which might never have come in his way, but by fuch a chance ? When a thing is once ftarted/ it may be applied infinite ways, and no body knows where it will flop.

THRO' OUT the Whole, we have had a particular regard, both in the Choice of the feveral Heads, and in dwelling or amplifying upon 'em ; to the extending our Views, dilating our Knowledge, open- ing new Tracks, new Scents, new Viftas. We have endeavour'd not only to furnilh the Mind ; but to inlarge it, and make it in fome meafure co-extend with the Dimenfions of all Minds, in all Ages and Places, and un- der all Situations and Circumftances : as Language, in fome meafure, makes our Senfes do. With which view, we have given the Sentiments, Notions, Manners, Cuftoms, tiff, of moft People, that have any thing new, unufual, or hardy in 'em.

SUCH a Variety of Views, Principles, and Manners of thinking, is a fure Remedy againft being too vio- lently attached to any one ; and is the belt way of preventing the making of Pedants, Bigots, (s/r. of any


 * Leon Battifla Albert!, dclla Staiua.

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