I am not conscious of having made any great Excursions beyond the Bounds which these Rules prescrib’d to me, unless it is in the Chapter concerning _Superstition_. And even here, unless the Commentary had been somewhat copious, the Text it self wou’d have appear’d like a motly Piece of mysterious Nonsense. Thus much I thought my self oblig’d to do in Justice to _Theophrastus_; and as for the Enlargements which I have made, over and above what wou’d have satisfy’d this Demand, they will not, ’tis hop’d, be unacceptable to the curious Reader. They are Digressions I own; but I shall not here offer to make one Digression to execute another, or, according to the Custom and Practice of modern Authors, beg a thousand Pardons of the Reader, before I am certain of having committed one Offence. Such a Procedure seems preposterous. For when an Author happens to digress, and take a Trip ὑπὲρ τὰ ἐσκαμμένα, beyond the Bounds prescrib’d; the best, the only consistent thing he can do, is to take his Chance for the Event. If what he has said does not immediately relate to the Matter in Hand, it may nevertheless be _a propos_, and good in its Kind; and then instead of Censure, he will probably meet with Thanks; but if it be not good, no prefatory Excuses will make it so: And besides, it will ever be insisted on, that ’tis an easier Matter to strike out bad Digressions, than it is to write good Apologies. One Word more, and then I have done. Since Mr. _Budgell_ has thought fit to censure Mr. _de la Bruyere_, for troubling his Reader with _Notes_, I think my self oblig’d, in order to justify both Mr. _de la Bruyere_ and my self, to shew that this Censure is very unreasonable, and very unjust.[D] Mr. _Budgell’s_ Words are as follow. _Theophrastus_, at the Time he writ, referr’d to nothing but what was well known to the meanest Person in _Athens_; but as Mr. _Bruyere_ has manag’d it, by hinting at too many _Grecian_ Customs, a modern Reader is oblig’d to peruse one or two _Notes_, which are frequently longer than the Sentence it self he wou’d know the meaning of. But if those Manners and Customs, which _Theophrastus_ alludes to, were, in his Time, well known to the meanest _Athenian_, it does not follow that they are now so well known to a modern Reader. [D: Preface to his Translation of _Theophrastus_.]