own _Performance_, which is now submitted to the Public, I have to
wish, that it may gain a candid and strict Examination. It has been
my Endeavour to give _Definitions_ of the Subjects, upon which I have
treated; A _Plan_ the most difficult of all others to be executed by
an Author; But such an one, as I apprehend, deserves to be more
generally introduced, and established. If once it was expected by the
Public, that _Authors_ should strictly _define_ their Subjects, it
would instantly checque an Inundation of Scribbling. The _desultory_
Manner of Writing would be absolutely exploded; and _Accuracy_ and
_Precision_ would be necessarily introduced upon every Subject.

This is the _Method_ pursued in Subjects of _Philosophy_; Without
clear and precise _Definitions_ such noble Advances could never have
been made in those Sciences; And it is by the Assistance of _these_
only, that Subjects of _Polite Literature_, can ever be enlightened
and embellished with just Ornaments. If _Definitions_ had been
constantly exacted from Authors there would not have appeared _one
hundreth_ Part of the present Books, and yet every Subject had been
better ascertained.--Nor will this Method, as some may imagine, be
encumbered with Stiffness; On the contrary, in _illustrating_ the
Truth of _Definitions_ there is a full Scope of the utmost Genius,
Imagination, and Spirit of a Writer; and a Work upon this _Plan_ is
adorned with the highest Charms appearing with _Propriety_,
_Clearness_, and _Conviction_, as well as Beauty.

It is true, that the Difficulties, which attend an able Execution
of this _Method_, are not open to a careless Eye; And it is some
Mortification to an _Author_ upon this _Plan_, that his greatest
_Merit_ is likely to lie concealed; A _Definition,_ or _Distinction,_
which after much Attention and Time he has happily delivered with