It was my good Fortune some time ago to have the Library of a School-Boy committed to my Charge, where, among other undiscover'd valuable Authors, I pitch'd upon _Tom Thumb_ and _Tom Hickathrift_, Authors indeed more proper to adorn the Shelves of _Bodley_ or the _Vatican_, than to be confin'd to the Retirement and Obscurity of a private Study. I have perus'd the first of these with an infinite Pleasure, and a more than ordinary Application, and have made some Observations on it, which may not, I hope, prove unacceptable to the Publick; and however it may have been ridicul'd, and look'd upon as an Entertainment only for Children, and those of younger Years, may be found perhaps a Performance not unworthy the Perusal of the Judicious, and the Model superiour to either of those incomparable Poems of _Chevy Chase_, or _The Children in the Wood_. The Design was undoubtedly to recommend Virtue, and to shew that however any one may labour under the Disadvantages of Stature or Deformity, or the Meanness of Parentage, yet if his Mind and Actions are above the ordinary Level, those very Disadvantages that seem to depress him, shall add a Lustre to his Character. There are Variety of Incidents, dispers'd thro' the whole Series of this Historical Poem, that give an agreeable Delight and Surprise, _and are such as *Virgil* himself wou'd have touch'd upon, had the like Story been told by that Divine Poet_, viz. his falling into the Pudding-Bowl and others; which shew the Courage and Constancy, the Intrepidity and Greatness of Soul of this little Hero, amidst the greatest Dangers that cou'd possibly befall him, and which are the unavoidable Attendants of human Life. Si fractus illabatur orbis, Impavidum ferient ruinae. The Author of this was unquestionably a Person of an Universal Genius, and if we consider that the Age he wrote in, must be an Age of the most profound Ignorance, as appears from the second Stanza of the first _Canto_, he was a Miracle of a Man. I have consulted Monsieur _Le Clerk_, and my Friend Dr. _B--ly_ concerning the Chronology of this Author, who both assure me, tho' Neither can settle the Matter exactly, that he is the most ancient of our Poets, and 'tis very probable he was a _Druid_, who, as _Julius Caesar_ mentions in his _Commentaries_, us'd to deliver their Precepts in Poetry and Metre. The Author of _The Tale of a Tub_, believes he was a _Pythagorean_ Philosopher, and held the _Metempsichosis_; and Others that he had read _Ovid's Metamorphosis_, and was the first Person that ever found out the Philosopher's Stone. A certain Antiquary of my Acquaintance, who is willing to forget every thing he shou'd remember, tells me, He can scarcely believe him to be Genuine, but if he is, he must have liv'd some time before the _Barons_ Wars; which he proves, as he does the Establishment of Religion in this Nation, upon the Credit of an old Monument.