6

LETTER L

begin at the beginning of them: the exprelKionmay be odd, but it is fignificant. We muff examinefcrupuloufly and indifferently the foundations onwhich they lean : and when we find thefe eitherfaintly probable, or grofsly improbable, it wouldbe foolifh to expedt any thing better in the fuper-flrudlure. This fcience is one of thofe that aretc a limine falutandse. ” To do thus much may beneceffary, that grave authority may not impofe onour ignorance: to do more, would be to aflift thisvery authority in impofing falfe fcience upon us.I had rather take the Darius whom Alexanderconquered, for the fon of Hystaspes , and makeas many anachronifms as a Jewifli chronologer,than facrifice half my life to colledt all the learnedlumber that fills the head of an antiquary.