about a Vacuum, may be determin'd in the Affir mative, that it is to be found in a Critick's Head. They are at belt but the Drones of the Learned World, who devour the Honey, and will not work themselves; and a Writer need no more regard them than the Moon does the Barking of a little fenflefs Cur. For, in fpight of their terrible Roaring, you may with half an Eyedifcover the Afs under the Lyon's Skin.

BUT to return to our Difcourfe, Demofthenes being alk'd what was the First part of an Orator, replied, Ation, what was the Second, Ation, what was the Third, Action, and fo on ad infinitum. This may be true in Oratory, but Contemplation in other Things exceeds Action. And therefare a Wife Man is never lefs alone than when he is alone:

Nangnam minus folus, quàm cum falus.

AND Aribimedes, the famous Mathematician, was fo intent upon his Problems, that he never minded the Soldier who came to kill him.. Therefore not to detract from the juft Praife which belongs to Orators, they ought to confider that Nature, which gave us two Eyes to See, and two Ears to Hear, has given as but ope Tongue to Speak, wherein however fome do fo abound, that the Virtuofi, who have been fa} long in fearch for the Perpetual Motion, may: infallibly, find it there.

A

SOME Men admire Re-publicks, becaufe Orat ors flourish there moft, and are the great Ene mies of Tyranny; But my Opinion is, that One Tyrant is better than a Hundred; Befides: thefe Orators enflame the People, whose Anger is realy but a fhort fit of Madness,

Ira

AFTER which, Laws are like Cobwebs, which may catch finall Flies, but let Wafps and Hornets break through. But in Oratory, the greateft Art is to hide Art.

Artis eft celare Artem. :

BUT this must be the work of Time, we must lay hold on all Opportunities, and let flip no Occafion, elfe we fhall be forced to weave Penelope's Web, unravel in the Night what we did in the Day. And therefore I have obferved that Time is Painted with a Lock before, and Bald behind, fignifying thereby that we must take Time (as we fay) by the Forelock, for when 'tis once paft, there is no recalling it.

THE Mind of Man is at firft (if you will pardon the Expreffion) like a Tabula rafa, or like Wax, which while it is Soft is capable of any Impreffion, 'till Time has hardened it. And at length Death that grim Tyrant, flops us in the midft of our Career. The greatest Conquerors have at last been Conquered by Death, which fpares none from the Scepter to the Spade.

Mors omnibus communis.

ALL Rivers go to the Sea, but none return from it: Xerxes wept, when he beheld his Army, to confider that in less than a hundred Years they would be all dead. Anacreon was choak'd with a Grape-ftone, and violent Joy kills as well as violent Grief. There is nothing in this World conftant, but Inconftancy; yet Plate thought, that if Virtue would appear to the World in her own native Drefs, all Men would be enamoured with her. But now fince Interest

7

governs

governs the World, and Men neglect the Golden Mean, Jupiter himself, if he came on the Earth, would be defpifed, unless it were as he did to Danae in a Golden Shower. For Men now adays Worship the Rifing Sun, and not the Setting. Donec eris felix, multos numerabis amicos.

THUS have I in obedience to your Commands, ventured to expofe my felf to Cenfure in this Critical Age. Whether I have done right to my Subject, must be left to the Judgment of the learned Reader: However I cannot but hope, that my attempting of it may be an Encouragement for fome able Pen to perform it with more Succefs.

PREDICTIONS

FOR THE

Year, 1708.

Wherein the Month, and Day of the Month are fet down, the Perfons named, and the great Actions and Events of next Year particularly related, as they will come to pafs.

Written to prevent the People of England from being farther impos'd on by vulgar Almanack-makers.

I

By ISAAG BICKERSTAFF, Efq;

HAVING long confidered the grofs Abufe of Aftrology in this Kingdom, and upon debating the Matter with my felf, I could 870 not poffibly lay the Fault upon the Art, but upon thofe grofs Impoftors, who set up to be the Artifts. I know feveral Learned Men have contended that the whole is a Cheat; that it is abfurd and ridiculous to imagine, the Stars

can

can have any Influence at all upon human Actions, Thoughts or Inclinations: And whoever has not bent his Studies that way, may be excused for thinking fo, when he fees in how wretched a manner that noble Art is treated by a few mean illiterate Traders between us and the Stars; who import a Yearly Stock of Nonfenfe, Lies, Folly and Impertinence, which they offer to the World as genuine from the Plar nets, tho' they defcend from no greater a height than their own Brain..

I intend in a fhort time to Publish a large and rational Defence of this Art, and therefore fhall fay no more in its Juftification at prefent, than that it hath been in all Ages defended by many Learned Men, and among the rest by Socrates himself, whom I look upon as undoubt edly the wifeft of uninfpired Mortals Te which if we add, that thofe, who have con demned this. Art, tho' otherwife, Learned, hayr ing been fuch as either did not apply their Studies this Way, or at leaft, did not fucceed in their Applications: Their Teftimony will not be of much weight to its difadvantage, finco they are liable to the common Objection of condemning what they did not understand,

Nor am I at all offended, or think it an Injury to the Art, when I fee the common: Dealers in it, the Students in Aftralogy, the Philomatha and the reft of that Tribe, treated by wife Men with the utmoft Scorn and Contempt; but rather wont der, when I obferve Gentlemen in the Country rich enough to serve the Nation in Parliament poring in Paridge's Almanack to find out the Events of the Year at Home and Abroadnos daring to propofe a Hunting Match, till Gadhun or he hath fixt the Weather.