[Transcriber's Note: Archaic spellings in the original text have been
retained in this version.]




HIEROGLYPHIC TALES.

_Schah Baham ne comprenoit jamais bien que les choses absurdes & hors de
toute vraisemblance._

Le Sopha, p. 5.



STRAWBERRY-HILL: PRINTED BY T. KIRGATE, MDCCLXXXV.




PREFACE.


As the invaluable present I am making to the world may not please all
tastes, from the gravity of the matter, the solidity of the reasoning,
and the deep learning contained in the ensuing sheets, it is necessary
to make some apology for producing this work in so trifling an age, when
nothing will go down but temporary politics, personal satire, and idle
romances. The true reason then for my surmounting all these objections
was singly this: I was apprehensive lest the work should be lost to