BUT that I may not seem at last altogether to give up, what I have been advancing, however in modest _Terms_ and upon authentick _Authorities_, I ingenuously answer and confess, that, I have in diverse respects and in sundry places in this BOOK, spoke my Mind freely, and impartially, however without Prejudice, and _that_ sometimes also contrary to the _Opinions_ of many famous WRITERS in Vogue, as well _Ancient_ as _Modern_; by which means, I may perhaps have disgusted some, otherways, most _Judicious_ READERS: However, considering the different _Grounds_ upon which Men commonly form their _Judgment_ of AUTHORS, if I have but the Happiness to please in some Things, I have all that I am ambitious of. WHEREFORE, as it was neither for _Applause_ nor _Reputation_-sake, but merely for the _Common Good_ of Mankind, that I undertook to write modestly, so I resolved at the _Beginning_, that, neither _Malice_ nor _Envy_ should deter me from publishing what is _True_, and, to my certain Knowledge, confirmed by _Experience_. I have carefully perus’d other Men’s WORKS, _Moderns_ as well as _Ancients_, to gain the Knowledge and discover the _Truth of Things_, and I gratefully acknowledge what _Benefit_ soever I have reaped from them, whose NAMES I am not asham’d to affix to this BOOK, by the _Help_ of their elaborate and ingenious WRITINGS: Desiring thereby to convince the REVOLVER, that I neither reject the hard _Labours_ of the _Ancients_, nor despise the laudable _Endeavours_ of the _Moderns_, _much less_ would I be thought to decry or find Fault with any particular _Performance_; especially considering that I meet with none so _empty_, but that I get something by, which I emprove to my own Advantage. BUT as far as I have found them mistaken, since _Mortal Eyes_ cannot see beyond their HORIZON, nor the best of Men exceed the natural Limits of _human Frailty_, I have thought it my _Duty_ to forewarn POSTERITY of their _Mistakes_, not only according to the laudable CUSTOM of the _Ancients_, but also according to my plain _Notion_ of the genuine Nature or true CHARITY; which I think consists not in contemning, detracting and calumniating _one another_, but rather in cleansing SCIENCES from the _Dross of Errors_, that so the _Right Way_ may be pav’d to our _Successors_ by a continued _Series_ of Time, which may be effectually done by _Many_, that cannot possibly be accomplished by _One_; because of the _Brevity_ of LIFE.