not appear to be perfectly without Fault, can with little Justice complain of the Wrong he receives by it, fince it has prevented his fuffering a much greater; no more than a Man, who is pushed down out of the Way of a Bullet, can with Reafon take as an Affront, either the Blow he falls by, or the Dirt he rifes with. BUT indeed I have very little Uneafinefs upon me for fear of any Injury the Author's Credit and Reputation may receive from any Imperfection or Uncorrectness in these following Tracts, fince the Perfons, from whom I had them, and in whofe Hands I have reafon to believe the Author left them, when his Affairs called him out of this Kingdom, are of fo much Worth themselves, and have fo great a Regard for the Author, that I am confident they would neither do, nor fuffer any thing that might turn to his Difadvantage. I'muft confefs, I am upon another Account under fome Concern, which is, left fome of the following Papers are fuch as the Author perhaps would rather fhould not have been Published at all; in which Cafe, I fhould look upon my felf highly obliged to ask his Pardon: But even on this Suppofition, as there is no Perfon named, the fuppofed Author is at liberty to difown as much as he thinks fit of what is here Publifhed, and fo can be chargeable with no more of it, than he pleases to take upon himself. FROM this Apology I have been making, the Reader may in part be fatisfied how thefe Papers came into my Hands; and to give him a more particular Information herein, will prove little to his Ufe, tho' perhaps it might fome what what gratify his Curiofity, which I think not material any farther to do, than by affuring him, that I am not only my felf fufficiently convinced, that all the Tracts in the following Collection, except those before, which I have in the Book exprefsed my Doubtfulness, and the other three (to which I which I have prefix'd their Author's Names) were Wrote by the fame Hand, but fe veral Judicious Perfons, who are well acquainted with the fuppofed Author's Writings, and not altogether Strangers to his Converfation, have agreed with me herein, not only for the Reasons I have before hinted at, but upon this Account alfo, that there are in every one of thefe Pieces fome particular Beauties that discover this Author's Vein, who excells too much not to be diftinguifhed, fince in all his Writings fuch a furprizing Mixture of Wit and Learning, true Humour and good Senfe, does every-where appear, as fets him almost as far out of the Reach of Imitation, as it does beyond the Power of Cenfure, THE Reception that thefe Pieces will meet with from the Publick, and the Satisfaction they will give to all Men of Wit and Tafte, will foon decide it, whether there be any Reafon for the Reader to fufpect an Impofition, or the Author to apprehend an Injury: The former, I am fully fatisfied will never be; and the latter I am fure, I never intended. In confidence of which fhould the Author, when he fees these Tracts appear, take fome Offence, and know where to place his Refentment, I will be fo free as to own, I could without much Uneafinefs fit down under fome degree of it, fince it would be no hard Tafk to bare fome Difpleafure from a fingle Perfon, for that which one is fure to receive the Thanks of every Body elfe. THE THE Difcourfe of the Contefts and Diffentions between the Nobles and Commons in Athens and Rome, THE Sentiments of a Church of England man, with respect to Religion and Government, AN Argument to prove, that the Abolishing of Chriftiani- ty in England may, as things now ftand, be attended A Project for the Advancement of Religion, and the Re- formation of Manners. To the Countess of Berkeley, 111 A Meditation upon a Broom-Stick, according to the A Tritical Effay upon the Faculties of the Mind, 150 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 pass. Written to prevent the People of England from being farther impofed on by Vulgar Almanack-Makers. THE Accomplishment of the First of Mr. Bicker- ftaff's Predictions; being an Account of the Death A A Vindication of Ifaac Bickerstaff, Efq; against what is objected to him by Mr. Partridge in bis Alma- nack for the prefent Year, 1709. By the faid Ifaac A Famous Prediction of Merlin the Britifh Wizard, Written above a Thousand Years ago, and relating to this prefent Year, 1709. With explanatory Notes. VERSES wrote in a Lady's Ivory Table Book, 190 TO their Excellencies the Lords Juftices of Ireland, the Humble Petition of Frances Harris, LADY B B finding in the Authors Room fome Verfes Unfinished, underwrote a Stanza of her own THE Virtues of Sid Hamet tho Magicians Rod, 228 A DISCOURSE OF THЕ Contests and Diffentions Between the Nobles and the Commons IN ATHENS and ROME, With the Confequences they had upon both thofe STATES. Si tibi vera videtur Dede manas; & fi falfa eft accingere contra. Lucret; Written in the Year, 1701. T CHAP. I. IS agreed, that in all Government there is an abfolute unlimited Power, which naturally and originally feems to be placed in the whole Body, wherever the Execu tive Part of it lies. This holds in the Body natural; For wherever we place the Beginning of Motion, whether from the Head, or the Heart, or the animal Spirits in general, the Body moves and acts by a Confent of all its Parts. This unlimited Power placed fundamentally in the BoB dy |