The Wise and Ingenious COMPANION, _FRENCH_ and _ENGLISH_: OR, A COLLECTION OF THE WIT, OF THE Illustrious PERSONS, BOTH Ancient and Modern: CONTAINING Their wise Sayings, noble Sentiments, witty Repartees, Jests and pleasant Stories. CALCULATED For the Improvement and Pleasure of the _English_ and _Foreigners_. By Mr. _Boyer_, Author of the Royal Dictionary. _Omne tulit Punctum qui miscuit utile Dulci._ Horat. _London._ Printed by _G.C._ for _Tho. Newborough_, at the Golden-ball in St. _Paul_’s Church-yard, and _J. Nicholson_ at the Kings Armes in _Little Britain_. 1700. LE COMPAGNON Sage & Ingenieux, _ANGLOIS_ & _FRANÇOIS_. OU Recueil de L’ESPRIT, DES PERSONNES Illustres, TANT Anciennes que Modernes: CONTENANT Leurs Sentences, Pensées nobles, genereux Sentimens, Reparties fines, Bons Mots & Contes plaisans. COMPOSE Pour l’Utilité & le Plaisir des _Anglois_ & des _Etrangers_. Par Mr. _Boyer_, Autheur du Dictionnaire Royal _Anglois_ & _François_. _Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci._ Horat. A _Londres_. Chez _Tho. Newborough_ à la boule d’Or, au Cimetiere de S. _Paul_; Et _John Nicholson_ aux Armes du Roy, dans la petite _Bretagne_, 1700. A Prefatory INTRODUCTION; CONCERNING The Excellency, Nature and Use of wise Sayings witty Repartees, Jests, and pleasant Stories. Sentences, witty Repartees and Jests, have ever been esteem’d by all civilized Nations: The ancient _Greeks_ and _Romans_ have shewn what account they made of them, by their care of Collecting and Quoting them. _Julius Cesar_ made a Collection of the Jests of his Contemporaries; the famous Historian _Plutarch_ is very exact in recording all those of the illustrious Men of whom he writes the Lives: Wherein he has been imitated by _Diogenes Laertius_, in his lives of the Philosophers; and among the Moderns, my Lord _Bacon_, _Guichardin_, and several others have enrich’d their Writings with them. These Testimonies carry so much weight with them, that we cannot but join our Approbation with that of so many illustrious Persons: The only Question is how to make a good Choice, and not confound true Wit and Sense with abundance of low Thoughts, and dull, and vulgar Jests which are imposed upon the World; and this I have proposed to do in the following Collection. INTRODUCTION En forme de PREFACE, TOUCHANT L’Excellence, la Nature, & l’Usage des Sentences, Reparties fines, Bons Mots, & Contes Plaisans.