are design'd to enlighten the Nations of the Earth, they will be treated with the utmost Admiration and Reverence; nor need I from any unjust Imagination of their ill reception, threaten the World, as Apollo did on the ill Fortune of his unhappy Phaethon, to leave it hereafter in eternal Darkness, as a just mark of my Resentment, since I am persuaded all that have Eyes will see and applaud the Light I am lending to them. Naturalists tell us, that setting up a burning Torch in fenny or marshy Grounds, is a sure Method to shut up the clamorous Throats, and silence the Croaking of Frogs; and I hope the amazing Splendour and Brightness of this Work, will have the same happy effect on my envious Maligners, and quiet the noisy Tongues of dull Objectors.
Not that I expect to have it treated at first Sight, as well as it deserves; for as all who set up for extraordinary Discoveries that are reveal'd to them, ought to be receiv'd with Diffidence, and hearken'd to with Caution, I make no doubt, but many People may be ready enough to suspect me as an Impostor, in these I am communicating to them. And I almost imagine my self engag'd, with one of my Readersof
