A Trip to the Moon/Preface
THE
PREFACE.
First, That to condemn a Man without sufficient Evidence, is contrary to our Irish Statutes, neither can suck Evidence be had, till some Body arrives from the Moon, who I am sure will bear Witness to all I have set down.
Secondly, The Similitude of Manners is but a weak Objection. Does not every Body know that Nature in all her Works delights in Uniformity? Why then may not the Inhabitants of our secondary Planet be like us in their Behaviour? I doubt not, but if I had seen more of them I should have been able to describe Persons like some of our Neighbours. As to what is said concerning Government, let none misapply it: I had sworn Allegiance to King George the First of glorious Memory, before my Departure, and was always firmly attach'd to the Hanoverian Succession, against the base Pretensions of a cowardly, spurious, Popish Pretender; besides, a monarchical Government can never be applied with the the least probability to the Crown of Great Britain. In the next Place, let me make some Apology for endeavouring to account for some Things in an uncommon Manner.
The best Philosophers have been famous for their own Conjectures, some of which I have follow'd, and made bold to add my own, where they were not very positive. Other Accounts I have related according to the receiv'd Doctrine of the Moon, for which I am oblig'd to my dear Friend Tckbrff.
What has been said, may suffice to vindicate me from such Aspersions as evil-minded Persons may cast upon me, who look no higher than their own native Earth. It remains that I address my self to those of a more generous Disposition, who I hope will excuse small Faults, and impute them rather to my Ignorance, than to any design of imposing on the Publick.