He says the Sight of the _Gloucester_ Aldermen at once _gave Mirth to the most severe Countenances, and Sadness to the most cheerful Hearts_. What Idea can one have of these _Cavaliers_, as he expresses himself, but that of some Idiots whom we have seen to laugh and cry in a Breath. He has two Expressions about Mines, which are very extraordinary, both as he is a _Naturalist_ and as he is an _Orator_: The one is the _Brass-Mine_ in _Cumberland_, the only _Brass-Mine_ that ever was, or ever will be in the World. A _Copper-Mine_ might have been found out there, and a Mine of _Lapis calaminaris_, which put together, would produce _Brass_ enough, if there were Ore enough. Where he speaks of the Cleanliness of his Writing, he intimates, that he is one of those who _dive into the rich Mines of Nature_. What can one imagine about diving better than that of a Duck and a Dog in a Pond, or Boys in the _Bath_? To dive into a Mine, methinks, is like running a Man's Head into a Rock. If he had said he had been digging in the rich Mines of Nature, one might have expected some Mettal to have come of it, of one Sort or another. When the Parliament, that brought in King _Charles_ II, met the first Time, Mr. _Echard_ says, _We are now arrived at the_ VAST _Day_, which I humbly conceive to be beyond Conception, and a strange Specimen of the Author's Talent in Elocution. He had a mind to make this Day something _prodigious_ and _uncommon_, and therefore swells it up with an Epithet which bursts in the Operation. VAST might have been proper, if he had been speaking of the Ton of _Heidelbergh_, or Admiral _Russel_'s Punch Bowl at _Lisbon_: But under what Figure will he put Day for the Word VAST to become it well? Doctor _Littleton_ in his Dictionary makes VAST to be _huge_, _burly_, _wide_, _broad_, _large_, and what is much less for the Archdeacon's Purpose, _misshapen_, _ill-favoured_, _desolate_, _insatiable_, _outragious_; put Day to ever a one of them, and see how the Coat fits. Mr. _Bailey_ in his very good Dictionary is contented with two or three Interpretations only, as a _huge Day_, a _spacious Day_. _Ludlow_, I believe, would have followed _Littleton_, and then for VAST would have understood _desolate Day_, _ill-shapen Day_, _insatiable Day_; so dangerous is it for People to meddle with Words which they do not understand. Of all the Blunders in Expression which are to be avoided, there was the best Provision made against this that could be, if a Man had had the least Acquaintance with the politer Authors, Monsieur St. _Evremont_ having written a Dissertation on this very Word VAST, and whoever reads it, will pity a Writer who could fall into so gross an Errour, if there were no Malice in what he had written. I suppose that almost all Mr. _Echard_'s Readers have taken this VAST in the Sense he intended for _Important_, and if he had said this _Mountainous Day_, it would have done as well: They would