the R E A D E R,

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cimen of the ingenious Enquiries with which the Memoirsof the Academy of Belles-Lettres and Inscriptions at Parisare filed: Enquiries which cannot be carried on eitherso successfully or so agreeably as by a Society of learnedMen united on Purpose. Were there any such Establish-ment here , the Arts and Sciences which we seem generallyto admire and love , would certainly soon come to greaterPerfeSlion among us, than it is possible for them to dowithout such publick Countenance and Assistance; orby fingle Endeavours. And what a Reproach to us isit , that a Nation where Genius, Wit, Learning andfree Enquiries muf of Neceffty labour under very greatDisadvantages , should leave us so far behind themin every Branch of polite Literature, that we havevery little of that Kind in our Language , which isOriginal.

In a Country blessd with the free Conftitutionwe enjoy,there is no doubt that an Academy of Literature would ,be established upon a larger and freer Bottom than itcan be in a despotick enslav’d Kingdom ; and so itwould quickly become an experimental Proof how muchmore naturally ingenious Sciences and Arts grow up totheir Maturity in such a generous Soil, when they areplanted in it and endow d with the necessary Helps fortheir Cultivation and Advancement , than they can anywhere else; how ever much they may be cherish'd or flatter dfor merely political Purposes : An experimental Proofthat it is only under the Sun-shine of Liberty , that theingenious Arts and Sciences can bring forth their best,their beautifulleft , pleafanteft and ufefulleft Fruits, 'sis

not