they cannot perfwade themselves to give it a Perufal, or hold any Converfation with a Book, that does not by fome Art infinuate itself to their Fancies, and give them Diverfion, to make the Ufe digested;

Sed veluti, pueris abfynthia tetra medentes Cum dare conantur, prius oras pocula circùm Contingunt dulci mellis flavóq; liquore————fays Lucretius; as we anoint the Rims of the Cup with Honey, to engage Children to drink up the bitter Potion; fo I have labour'd to humour the Squeamifhnefs of the Times, foften the Harshness of Difcipline and Duty, and give them down in a Vehicle, that is sweet and palatable, And to be yet the lefs Defpotick and Magifterial in my Rules, I have all along endea

f

vour'd,

vourd, rather to recommend than inforce, to counsel than oblige for, as Monfieur Bruyere, with much Modesty, premis'd to his Book, What I have written is not defigned for Maxims; those are like Laws in Morality, and I have neither Genius nor Authority to qualify me for s Legislatorado yang sem •Demosthenes, in an Oration to per fwade the Athenians not to change any Law upon small and frivolous Pretences, informs us of a Custom which prevail d'amongst the Locrians, that whatever Man fhould propofe to make any new Law, mult do it with a Rope about his Neck, which he was to be strangled in, if he did not carry his Point. This was fuch a Guard and Defence to the Laws, that they had but one new one

made

made in more than two hundred Years. Had the prefcribing Rules in Morality now ftood on the fame Terms of Danger, I fhould have been lefs forward in venturing to give this Affiftance; however, I fhould have evaded the Penalty, because, as I fhall anon more particularly obferve, I have intruded but very little Novelty: If I have injur'd the Matter in the Difpofition, and difcredited good Counsel by an aukward Delivery, I am at the Stake, and muft fubmit to the Cenfure: But hope the World will not proceed with Rigour on Faults that owe their Being to an Impotence of Judgment, and want of Power in Nature, to discharge myself with more Sufficiency.