that is ufually determined, when we remember, it is with human faculties as with liquors, the lightest will be ever at the top. to. There is in this famous ifland of Britain, a certain paultry fcribler, very voluminous, whose character the reader cannot wholly be a ftranger He deals in a pernicious kind of writings, called fecond parts, and ufually paffes under the name of the author of the first. I eafily foresee, that as foon as I lay down my pen, this nimble operator will have ftolen it, and treat me as inhumanely as he hath already done Dr Blackmore, L'Eftrange, and many others who fhall here be nameless. I therefore fly for justice and relief, into the hands of that great rectifier of faddles *, and lover of mankind, Dr Bentley, begging he will take this enormous grievance into his moft modern confideration: And if it fhould fo happen, that the furniture of an ass, in the fhape of a fecond part, must for my fins be clapped by a mistake upon my back; that he will immediately please, in the prefence of the world. to lighten me of the burthen, and take it home to his own houfe, till the true beaft thinks fit to call for it. In the mean time, I do here give this public notice, that my refolutions are to circumfcribe within this difcourfe, the whole ftock of matter I have been fo many years providing. Since my vein is once opened, I am content to exhauft it VOL. I. H h all * Alluding to the trite phrafe, Place the faddle on the right horfe. Hawkef. all at a running, for the peculiar advantage of my dear country, and for the univerfal benefit of mankind. Therefore hofpitably confidering the number of my guefts, they fhall have my whole entertainment at a meal; and I scorn to set up the leavings in the cup-board. What the guest cannot eat, may be given to the poor; and the dogs under the table may gnaw the bones *. This I understand for a more generous proceeding, than to turn the company's ftomach, by inviting them again to-morrow to a fcurvy meal of scraps. If the reader fairly confiders the strength of what I have advanced in the foregoing fection, I am convinced it will produce a wonderful revolution in his notions and opinions; and he will be abundantly better prepared to receive and to relifh the concluding part of this miraculous treatife. Readers may be divided into three claffes ; the fuperficial, the ignorant, and the learned: And I have with much felicity fitted my pen to the genius and advantage of each. The fuperficial reader will be ftrangely provoked to laughter; which clears the breaft and the lungs, is fovereign against the spleen, and the most innocent of all diuretics. The ignorant reader, between whom and the former the diftinction is extremely nice, will find himself difpofed to ftare; which is an admirable remedy for ill eyes, ferves to raife and enliven the fpirits, and wonderfully helps perspira tion. By dogs the author means common injudicious critics, as he explains it himself before, in his Digreffion upon Critics, p. 285. tion. But the reader truly learned, chiefly for whofe benefit I wake when others fleep, and fleep when others wake, will here find fufficient matter to employ his fpeculations for the rest of his life. It were much to be wished, and I do hereby humbly propofe for an experiment, that every prince in Christendom will take seven of the deepeft fcholars in his dominions, and fhut them up clofe for feven years, in feven chambers, with a command to write feven ample commentaries on this comprehenfive difcourfe. I fhall venture to affirm, that whatever difference may be found in their feveral conjectures, they will be all, without the leaft diftortion, manifeftly deducible from the Mean time, it is my earnest request, that so ufeful an undertaking may be entered upon, if their Majefties pleafe, with all convenient speed; because I have a ftrong inclination, before I leave the world, to taste a bleffing, which we myfterious writers can feldom reach, till we have gotten into our graves; whether it is, that Fame, being a fruit grafted on the body, can hardly grow, and much lefs ripen, till the stock is in the earth; or whether he be a bird of prey, and is lured among the reft to purfue after the fcent of a carcafe; or whether the conceives her trumpet founds beft and fartheft, when the ftands on a tomb, by the advantage of a rifing ground, and the echo of a hollow vault. text. It is true, indeed, the republic of dark authors, after they once found out this excellent expedi dying, have been peculiarly happy in the ety, as well as extent of their reputation. For ight being the univerfal mother of things, wife philofophers hold all writings to be fruitful in the proportion they are dark; and therefore the true illuminated (that is to fay, the darkest of all) have met with fuch numberlefs commentators, whofe fcholaftic midwifery hath delivered them of meanings that the authors themfelves perhaps never conceived, and yet may very juftly be allowed the lawful parents of them; the words of fuch writers being like feed, which, however fcattered at random, when they light upon a fruitful ground, will multiply far beyond either the hopes or imagination of the fower t And therefore, in order to promote so useful a work, I will here take leave to glance a few innuendo's, that may be of great affiftance to those fublime fpirits, who fhall be appointed to labour in a univerfal comment upon this wonderful difcourfe. And, firft, I have couched a very profound mystery in the number of O's multiplied by feven, and divided by nine ‡. Alfo, if a devout brother -Thefe were fanatic alchy * A name of the Rofycrucians.mifts, who, in fearch after the great fecret, had invented a means altogether proportioned to their end. It was a kind of theological philofophy, made up of almost equal mixtures of Pagan Platonifim, Chriftian Quietifm, aud the Jewish Cabala. Warburton on the Rape of the Lock. Nothing is more frequent, than for commentators to force interpretations which the author never meant. This is what the Cabalifts among the Jews have done with the Bible, and pretend to find wonderful myfteries by it. brother of the Rofy Cross will pray fervently for fixty-three mornings, with a lively faith, and then tranfpofe certain letters and fyllables according to prescription, in the fecond and fifth fection; they will certainly reveal into a full receipt of the opus magnum. Lastly, whoever will be at the pains to calculate the whole number of each letter in this treatise, and fum up the difference exactly between the feveral numbers, affigning the true natural caufe for every fuch difference; the difcoveries in the product will plentifully reward his labour. But then he muft beware of Bythus and Sige *, and be fure not to forget the qualities of Achamoth; a cujus lacrymis humecta prodit substantia, a rifu lucida, a triftitia folida, et a timore mobilis; wherein Eugenius Philalethes + hath committed an unpardonable mistake. * I was told by an eminent divine, whom I confulted on this point, that these two barbarous words, with that of Achamoth, and its qualities, as here fet down, are quoted from Irenæus. This he discovered by fearching that ancient writer for another quotation of our author; which he has placed in the title page, and refers to the book and chapter. The curious were very inquisitive, whether those barbarous words, bafyma cacabafa, &c. are really in Irenæus; and upon inquiry, it was found they were a fort of cant or jargon of certain heretics, and therefore very properly prefixed to fuch a book as this of our author. Vid. Anima magica abfcondita. To the above-mentioned treatife, called Anthropofophia Theomagica, there is another annexed, called Anima magica abfcondita, written by the fame author, Vaughan, under the name of Euge nius Philalethes; but in neither of thofe treatifes, is there any mention of Achamoth, or its qualities: So that this is nothing but amufe |
