have expected a Birth from the Mountain, and the Arch-Deacon's History is a Labour of the same Kind. As we in _England_ are apt to confound Sentiments and Expressions, so we do the same by Talents, and think if a Man can make a _School-Book_ or two, he can write a History. _Jeremiah Collier_ wrote a _short View of the Stage_, which sold wonderfully, and immediately the Booksellers hir'd him to write Three Histories in Folio: And I question not but, because Sir _Isaac Newton_ has outdone all Philosophers in his Treatise of _Fluxions_, they would employ him in _Heroick_ Poetry, if he were young enough, and would be employ'd by them. There was a _Pertness_ in _Collier_'s Stile, which was mistaken for Vivacity, and tho' there cannot be any Thing more affected, yet it recommends his _Essays_, _Views_, &c. as somewhat in the Perfection of our Language. I wonder Dr. _Felton_ should forget him, when he mentions Sir _Roger L'Estrange_, Mr. _Trap_, and other masterly Writers. You cannot name _Collier_'s _Views_, _Essays_, &c. in Company, but some body or other immediately cries out, _Ay! that's Fine._ Wonderful fine, as will be seen presently. In his Essays he has this Expression, _A Man may act an Excellency for the Satisfaction if Significancy_, which has the same Effect in Prose, as it is observ'd of some good Verses, that the _Smoothness_ or _Roughness_ of the Numbers are an Image of the Roughness or Smoothness of the Thing. You can hardly pronounce these Words without a prim Look, and screwing up your Mouth with the Affectation of a Girl at a _Boarding-School_. Would one imagine that this was said by the same Author in another place; _Nothing is more nauseous than to be affected_: And yet see further, _Don't let Miss suffer her Heels to get too much into her Head_, not to say any Thing about the _Attitude_, which would be very extraordinary in a Picture. Again, _Seeing and Hearing are the most creditable Senses; the Brain has an unpromising Aspect_, which cannot be known without Dissection. What Idea does this leave upon the Mind? or this, _A PRINCE made but a lame Figure in Comparison with our APOSTLE._ One would think _Collier_ had Prince _Prettiman_ and the _Spanish_ Fryer in his Head when he wrote it. He is so fond of this Conceit, that he endeavours to prove, in his Essay on Theft, and elsewhere, that our Saviour's Disciples were Men of Quality, well-born, and well-bred, and if they did fish at any time, 'twas only for their Pleasure. As the _Barber_ of _Northampton_ told _Estcourt_, He was a Doctor by Profession, and shav'd only for his Diversion. But _Collier_ seems to have less Regard for his Brotherhood in the last Centuries, when he informs us that by Queen _Elizabeth_'s Injunctions a Clergyman could not marry till he had made his Complaint against Celibacy before two Justices of the Peace, and gain'd their Consent, and the _good Will of the Master or Mistress where the Damsel serv'd_, by which he gives us