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INTRODUCTION

IN

To the READER.

N the Reign of Queen ANNE (which, notwithstanding those happy Times which fucceeded, every Englifhman may remember) thou may'ft poffibly, gentle Reader, have seen a certain venerable Person who frequented the outside of the Palace of St. James's, and who, by the gravity of his Deportment and Habit, was generally taken for a decayed Gentleman of Spain. His ftature was tall, his vifage long, his complexion olive, his brows were black and even, his eyes hollow yet piercing, his nofe inclined to aquiline, his beard neglected and mixed with grey: All this contributed to spread a folemn Melancholy over his countenance. Pythagoras was not more filent, Pyrrho more motionless, nor Zeno more auftere. His Wig was as black and fmooth as the plumes of a Raven, and hung as ftraight as the hair of a River God rifing from the water. cloak fo compleatly covered his whole perfon, that whether or no he had any other cloaths (much less any linen) under it, I fhall not fay; but his fword appeared a full yard behind him, and his manner of wearing it was fo ftiff, that it seemed grown to his Thigh. His whole figure was fo utterly unlike any thing of this world, that it was not natural for any man to ask him a question without bleffing himself first. Those who never faw a Jefuit, took him for one, and others believed him fome High Priest of the Jews.

His

But under this macerated form was concealed a Mind replete with Science, burning with a zeal of benefiting his fellow creatures, and filled with an honest conscious pride, mixt with a scorn of doing, or fuffering the least thing beneath the dignity of a Philofopher. Accordingly

he

he had a foul that would not let him accept of any offers of Charity, at the fame time that his body feemed but too much to require it. His lodging was in a small chamber up four pair of ftairs, where he regularly paid for what he had when he eat or drank; and he was often obferved wholly to abftain from both. He declined fpeaking to any one, except the Queen, or her firft Minifter, to whom he attempted to make some applications; but his real bufinefs or intentions were utterly unknown to all men. Thus much is certain, that he was obnoxious to the Queen's Ministry; who, either out of Jealousy or Envy, had him spirited away, and carried abroad as a dangerous perfon, without any regard to the known Laws of the Kingdom.

One day, as this Gentleman was walking about dinnertime alone in the Mall, it happened that a Manuscript dropt from under his cloak, which my fervant picked up, and brought to me. It was written in the Latin tongue, and contained many moft profound fecrets, in an unusual turn of reafoning and ftyle. The firft leaf was infcribed with these words, Codicillus, feu Liber Memorialis, Martini Scribleri. The book was of fo wonderful a nature, that it is incredible what a defire I conceived that moment to be acquainted with the Author, who I clearly perceived was fome great Philofopher in disguise. I feveral times endeavoured to speak to him, which he as often industriously avoided. At length I found an opportunity (as he stood under the Piazza by the Dancing-room in St. James's) to acquaint him in the Latin tongue, that his Manufcript was fallen into my hands; and, faying this, I prefented it to him, with great encomiums on the learned Author. Hereupon he took me afide, surveyed me over with a fixt attention, and opening the clasps of the Parchment cover, fpoke (to my great furprize) in English, as follows:

"Courteous ftranger, whoever thou art, I embrace "thee as my best friend; for either the Stars and my Art

"are deceitful, or the deftined time is come which is to "manifeft Martinus Scriblerus to the world, and thou "the perfon chofen by fate for this task. What thou "feeft in me is a body exhausted by the labours of the "mind. I have found in Dame Nature not indeed an " unkind, but a very coy Miftrefs: Watchful nights, "anxious days, flender meals, and endless labours, must

be the lot of all who pursue her, through her laby"rinths and mæanders. My firft vital air I drew in this ifland (a foil fruitful of Philofophers) but my "complexion is become aduft, and my body arid, by "vifiting lands (as the poet has it) alio fub fole calentes. "I have, through my whole life, paffed under several "difguifes and unknown names, to screen myself from "the envy and malice which mankind express against "those who are poffeffed of the Arcanum Magnum, But

at prefent I am forced to take Sanctuary in the British "Court, to avoid the Revenge of a cruel Spaniard, "who has purfued me almoft through the whole terraqueous globe. Being about four years ago in the

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City of Madrid in queft of natural knowledge, I was "informed of a Lady who was marked with a Pomegra-, "nate upon the infide of her right Thigh, which blof"fom'd,and, as it were, feem'd to ripen in the due season. "Forthwith was I poffeffed with an insatiable curiofity "to view this wonderful Phænomenon. I felt the ard"our of my paffion encrease as the feafon advanced, till, "in the month of July, I could no longer contain. I "bribed her Duenna, was admitted to the Bath, faw "her undreffed, and the wonder difplayed. This was "foon after difcovered by the husband, who finding "fome letters I had writ to the Duenna, containing "expreffions of a doubtful meaning, fufpected me of a "crime moft alien from the Purity of my Thoughts. "Incontinently I left Madrid by the advice of Friends, "have been pursued, dogged, and way-laid through se"veral nations, and even now fcarce think myself fecure within the facred walls of this Palace. It has VOL. III.

K

been

"been my good fortune to have seen all the grand Pha"nomena of Nature, excepting an Earthquake, which "I waited for in Naples three years in vain; and now "by means of fome British fhip, (whose colours no " Spaniard dare approach *) I impatiently expect a safe "paffage to Jamaica, for that benefit. To thee, my "Friend, whom Fate has marked for my Hiftoriogra→ "pher, I leave these my Commentaries, and others of "my works. No more-be faithful and impartial."

He foon after performed his promife, and left me the Commentaries, giving me alfo further lights by many Conferences; when he was unfortunately fnatched away (as I before related) by the jealousy of the Queen's Miniftry.

Though I was thus to my eternal grief deprived of his conversation, he for fome years continued his Correspondence, and communicated to me many of his Projects for the benefit of mankind. He fent me fome of his Writings, and recommended to my care the recovery of others, ftraggling about the world, and affumed by other men. The last time I heard from him was on occafion of his Strictures on the Dunciad: fince when, feveral years being elapfed, I have reafon to believe this excellent perfon is either dead, or carried by his vehement thirft of knowledge into fome remote, or perhaps undiscovered Region of the world. In either cafe, I think it a debt no longer to be delayed, to reveal what I know of this Prodigy of Science, and to give the Hiftory of his Life, and of his extenfive merits to mankind; in which I dare promise the Reader, that, whenever he begins to think any one Chapter dull, the ftyle will be immediately changed in the next.

*This marks the time when the Introduction was written,

MEMOIRS

MEMOIRS*

O F

MARTINUS SCRIBLERUS.

BOOK I.

CHAP. I.

Of the Parentage and Family of Scriblerus, how he was begot, what Care was taken of him before he was born, and what Prodigies attended his Birth.

I'

N the City of Munfter in Germany, lived a grave and learned Gentleman, by Profeffion an Antiquary; who, among all his invaluable Curiofities, esteemed none more highly, than a fkin of the true Pergamenian

* Mr. Pope, Dr. Arbuthnot, and Dr. Swift projected to write a satire, in conjunction, on the abuses of buman learning; and to make it the better received, they proposed to do it in the manner of Cervantes (the original author of this fpecies of fatire) under the hiftory of fome feigned adventures. They had obferved those abuses ftill kept their ground against all that the ableft and graveft Authors could fay to discredit them; they concluded therefore, the force of ridicule was wanting to quicken their difgrace; which was here in its place, when the abuses had been already detected by fober reasoning; and Truth in no danger to suffer by the premature use of so powerful an inftrument. But the feparation of our Author's friends, which foon after happened, with the death of one, and the infirmities of the other, put a final 'stop to their project, when they had only drawn out an imperfect effay towards it, under the title of the First book of the Memoirs of Scriblerus.

Polite letters never loft more than in the defeat of this scheme, in which, each of this illustrious triumvirate would have found exercise for his own paculiar talent; besides constant employment for that they all had in common. Dr. Arbuthnot was skilled in every thing which related to science; Mr. Pope was a master in the fine arts; and Dr. Swift excelled in the knowledge of the world. WIT they had all in equal measure, and this fo large, that no age perhaps ever produced three men, to whom Nature had more bountifully beftowed it, or Art brought it to higher perfection.