which, with a little curious Examination, will be found to be forged ones. Many of this Kind are printed by _Dugdale_, as I shall have Occasion to remark elsewhere. If these Antiquaries could fix the same Authority on _Monkish_ Writings, as we are told of _Homer_'s, that the Claims of two Cities to certain Limits, were determined by what he said of them in his _Ilias_, it would be worth every one's while to read the Monks instead of the Classicks; And I doubt not Dr. _Felton_ would have succeeded better if he had given us Instruction in the Monkish Learning, than he has done in the _Classical_. But since their Writings prove nothing but their Ignorance and Superstition, I believe Men of Taste and Genius will be so generous as to leave such hidden Treasures to enrich those, whose Invention and Judgement lie under the Calamity of the most extream Poverty. There is nothing but Labour and Patience requisite to acquire a Mastery in these Studies, whether the Matter collected be good or bad, 'tis the same Thing if it be Old, if it be _Teutonick_ or _Runick_, _Danish_ or _Saxon_, that's sufficient. A Man who has any Warmth in his Imagination, and any Delicacy in his Taste, cannot be always raking in the Rubbish of barbarous Ages, and groping in _Gothick_ Darkness. A good Proof of the small Talent necessary for this Work is, that there hardly ever was an Author among these Monkish Antiquaries, but his Language was as barbarous as his Subject. Such Sort of Scholarship is, I own, very serviceable to those that know how to make a good Use of others Labours; but the Merit of the Scholar consists rather in the Goodness of his Eyes, and the Strength of his Head, than in the Fineness of his Genius, or the Regularity of his Judgement. I am apt to think the Translator of _Homer_ had not the Admirers of these Antiquities in his Thoughts, but refer'd to the Criticks and Commentators on the _Greek_ and _Roman_ Authors: For he says, in another Place, _To talk of the Genius of an Ancient, as_ Macrobius _did, is at once the cheapest Way of shewing our own Taste, and the shortest Way of criticising the Wit of others_. This must be only meant of those whom Mr. _Dryden_ calls _Dutch_ Commentators, of those that do by the Classicks, as Correctors of the Press do by their Copies, and instead of applying themselves to the Sense stick close to the Letters, and look out for _Dele's_ and _Addenda's_. This they call correcting and restoring the Text; and it is much to be fear'd, that by this restoring and correcting of the Commentators, and the Mistakes, Blunders and Negligences of the Copiers, we have few or no Books of the Antients in their original Purity and Perfection. However, there is Perfection enough left in the Classical Writings to prove, That what the Translator of _Homer_ says, does not relate to the Classicks themselves, but to those that make an ill Use of them, and under their Name and Authority insult the Moderns.