It is true as a mere Publisher, (which I only set up for) it may seem too arrogant, to rank my self with such illustrious Company; but if it is consider'd, that without my generous Benevolence to Mankind, these mighty Treasures and Discoveries I bestow on them, had never seen the Light, and that I have here convey'd to them the great Secrets of Futurity, in so plain and open a manner, that this Age may say, (tho' contrary to the receiv'd Axiom of the Schools) de futuro contingenti est quoad nos determinata veritas, I hope, I shall not appear too assuming. Nay, I have yet the merit of infinite Toil to plead, since I can fairly aver, that the translating this Work, from the English it was writ in, (viz. the English that will be spoke in the XXth Century) was a task so painful and difficult, that no unenlighten'd Mind could have perform'd, and which even I my self had miscarried in, without the superior assistance that my good Angel afforded me.
A Task so laborious! that besides this being the second Time of my Writing to the Publick,[1] which according to Cardinal Be-
- ↑ See my Works, three Volumes in Quarto, Printed for Mr. Lintot, 1720. N. B. There are some sets in Royal Paper for the Curious.
rule's
