TREATISE Concerning the STATE of Before, and At, and After the Written originally in Latin by the late Rev. Dr. Thomas Burnet, Master of the Translated into English by Mr. DENNIS. The SECOND Edition, Corrected. LONDON: (M.DCC.XXXIX.) the Favour which I received from You; a Favour attended with so many engaging Circumstances, that I know not which of them render'd it most agreeable to me : For it was not only done to one, who was so entirely a Stranger to all of You, but Your Character, and Your Writings, that I whom Time and Fortune have deprived of Sight, unless the Object is very near to me, never had the Honour and Pleasure of seeing You : But it was done at the most seasonable Juncture, and in so handsome and graceful a Manner, as gave me the Pleasure of thinking, that some Things which I had published had not been disagree. able to You, but had gain'd me some little Share in the Esteem of a Gentleman whom every one esteems, whose Merit has shone conspicuously out, both in the Camp, and in the Repub lick of Letters ; in the Council of Trade, and in the great Council of the Nation; who appear'd able to make Cæfar speak like Cæfar, speak in English with thar Spirit with which he conquered France, with which his own Victories were so nobly recorded by him. HE who has uncommon Merit himself, is alone capable of discerning and regarding it in others ; and he, if he had Power equal to his Will, would, by the Encouragement which he would give to them, revive those beautiful and noble Arts, which now feem loft and dead to us. For he who in so obliging a Manner has made his Favour defcend to me, what would he not do for more deserving Lovers of the Muses? But though, SIR, Your Power were equal to Your A 3 Desert, |