To explain the Use of Education, no Method can be more effectual, than to
shew what dull Mistakes and silly Notions Men are apt to be led into for
Want of it. These Mistakes are so numerous, that if we were to undertake to
divulge all the Errors that Men of no Knowledge in the Sciences labour
under, the shortest Way would be to publish a compleat System of Natural
Philosophy, which Learning, as it may be acquired by reading the different
Books, which have already been wrote upon that Subject, in this Æra of the
Sciences, such an Undertaking would be quite needless at this Time, even
supposing the Author capable of that laborious Work.
If the following Sheets do but serve to divest Men of some of those
unreasonable Obstinacies with which they and their Forefathers have long
been prepossessed, the Time will be well laid out, both of the Writer and
Reader.
Be not affronted, gentle Reader, at my taxing thee with Error, with
Obstinacy, or the like; thou mayest not be one of that Stamp; for any Thing
I know you may have studied the Sciences, you may be well versed in
Mechanics, Optics, Hydrostatics, and Astronomy; you may have made the Tour
of Europe, if not, you may soon do it in Post-Chaises, and be almost as
wise as you was when you went out; or you may be one of those whom
bountiful Nature has blessed with a most excellent Understanding, a quick
Apprehension, and a discerning Judgment, and yet not have been so
fortunate, or unfortunate, which you think proper to term it, as to have
been brought up a Scholar.
Scoff not when we dwell so much upon Scholarship; for I would have thee
know, whether thou thinkest proper to believe me or not, that had it not
been for the four Branches of Learning abovementioned, thou wouldest not
have been smoaking that Pipe of right Virginia, which in all Probability
(whether thou art a Farmer in the Country, or a Mechanic in London) thou
art now most pompously blowing to Ashes: Neither would that charming Bowl
of Rum and Brandy Punch mixed, have waited at thy Elbow to inspire thee
with generous Sentiments (which Punch, let me tell thee, if thou drinkest
in Moderation, may keep thee from the Ague, if thou livest in the Hundreds
of Essex.)--Nay, thou wouldest not even have known what it was to have
tasted a Plumb-Pudding, which, tho' now, thy Palate being vitiated with
salt Pork and Mustard, and bottled Beer, thou hast no Relish for, yet thou
mayest remember the Time when thou didst think it most delicious Food. To
Philosophy art thou beholden for all these Dainties and Comforts of Life,
which if thou dost contradict, and dost still obstinately persist in thy
own Opinion, and wilt not be convinced of thy Errors, know, Dust and Ashes,
that thou art not sensible whether thou movest or standest still; and dost
imagine, that the glorious Sun is an extempore Whirligig.
Wonder not, Reader, if thou art a Man of Sense, that thou shouldest be
mistaken in many Things: For what Mortal can pretend to such Knowledge as
never to be mistaken? Truth is more difficult to be found out than is
generally imagined: Error is easily fallen into; by so much the easier as
the Odds are against us: For in the Disquisition of any Point, there are
numberless Wrongs, but there is only one Right. Numberless Falshoods and
Errors may be raised about any Thing, but Truth is invariable, and remains
the same to all Eternity.
The following Sheets will not contain many philosophical Terms; we shall
rather avoid such a Step as would hinder a great Part of our Readers from
understanding us, and shall endeavour to explain ourselves by such Methods
as the meanest Capacity will be able to comprehend. Moreover, all such
Subjects will be avoided as may interfere with any religious Tenets, it not
being the Intention of this Pamphlet to deprive Men of their Rest, by
tearing from their Consciences those fixed Protestant Principles of
Religion (let them be what they will) which they and their Ancestors have
long and peaceably enjoyed. But our Disquisitions will be chiefly confined
to natural Objects, and the Phænomena which daily present themselves to our
View. We shall likewise endeavour to rectify some of those Mistakes in the
common Arts of Life, whether of Business or Pleasure, which Men by an
accustomed Tradition are apt most obstinately to persevere in.
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