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MEMOIRS of the extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of MARTINUS SCRIBLERUS.

INTODUCTION TO THE READER.

N the reign of Queen ANNE, (which, notwithftanding thofe happy times which fucceeded,

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every Englishman may remember), thou may'st poffibly, gentle reader, have seen a venerable perfon who frequented the outfide of the palace of St. James's, and who, by the gravity of his deportment and habit, was generally taken for a decayed gentleman of Spain. His ftature was tall, his vifage long, his complexion olive, his brows were black, and even his eyes hollow, yet piercing, his nofe inclined to aquiline, his beard neglected and mixed with grey. All this contributed to spread a folemn melancholy over his countenance. Pythagoras was not more filent, Pyrrho more motionless, nor Zeno more auftere. His wig was as black and fmooth as the plumes of a raven, and hung as ftrait as the hair of a river-god rifing from the water. His cloak fo completely covered his whole perfon, that whether or no he had any other cloaths (much lefs any linen) under it, I fhall not fay; but his VOL. VI. fword

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fword appeared a full yard behind him, and his manner of wearing it was fo ftiff, that it seemed grown to his thigh His whole figure was fo utterly unlike any thing of this world, that it was not natural for any man to afk him a question without bleffing himself firft. Thofe who never faw a Jefuit, took him for one, and others believed him fome high-priest of the Jews.

But under this macerated form was concealed a mind replete with fcience, burning with a zeal of benefiting his fellow-creature, and filled with an honeft confcious pride, mixed with a scorn of doing or fuffering the leaft thing beneath the dignity of a philofopher. Accordingly, he had a foul that would not let him accept of any offers of charity, at the fame time that his body feemed but too much to require it. His lodging was in a fmall chamber up four pair of ftairs, where he regularly paid for what he had when he eat or drank; and he was often obferved wholly to abstain from both. He declined fpeaking to any one, except the queen, or her first minifter, to whom he attempted to make fome applications; but his real bufinefs or intentions were utterly unknown to all men, This much is certain, that he was obnoxious to the queen's ministry; who, either out of jealoufy or envy, had him fpirited away, and carried abroad as a dangerous perfon, without any regard to the known laws of the kingdom.

One day, as this gentleman was walking about dinner-time alone in the Mall, it happened that a manufcript dropt from under his cloak. which my fervant picked up, and brought to me. It was written in the Latin tongue, and contained many most profound fecrets, in an unusual turn of reafoning and ftile. The firft leaf was infcribed with thefe words, Codicillus, feu Liber Memorialis, Martini Scribleri. The book was of fo wonderful a mature, it is incredible what a defire I conceived

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that moment to be acquainted with the author, who, I clearly perceived, was fome great philofopher in disguise. I feveral times endeavoured to fpeak to him, which he as often industriouly avoided. At length I found an opportunity (as he stood under the piazza by the dancing room in St. James's) to acquaint him in the Latin tongue, that his manufcript was fallen into my hands; and faying this, I prefented it to him, with great encomiums on the learned author. Hereupon he took me afide, furveyed me over with a fixed attention, and opening the clafps of the parchment cover, fpoke (to my great furprise) in English, as follows.

"Courteous ftranger, whoever thou art, I em*brace thee as my best friend; for either the ftars "and my art are deceitful, or the deftined time is "come, which is to manifeft Martinus Scriblerus

to the world, and thou the perfon chofen by fate for this talk. What thou feeft in me, is a *body exhausted by the labours of the mind. I "have found in Dame Nature not indeed an un“kind, but a very coy mistress. Watchful nights,

anxious days, flender, meals, and endless la "bours, must be the lot of all who pursue her "through her labyrinths and meanders. My firft

vital air I drew in this ifland (a foil fruitful of "philofophers), but my complexion is become a"duft, and my body arid, by vifiting lands (as "the poet has it), alio fub fole calentes. I have, "through my whole life, paffed under several "disguises and unknown names, to fcreen myselt "from the envy and malice which mankind ex"prefs against thofe who are poffeffed of the Ar

canum Magnum. But at prefent I am forced to "take fanctuary in the British court, to avoid the "revenge of a cruel Spaniard, who has pursued "me almoft through the whole terraqueous globe. Being, about four years ago, in the city of Ma

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drid,

"drid, in queft of natural knowledge, I was in"formed of a lady, who was marked with a pom

granate upon the infide of her right thing, which "bloffomed, and, as it were, feemed to ripen in "the due feason. Forthwith was I poffeffed with an infatiable curiofity to view this wonderful phænomenon. I felt the ardour of my paffion "increase as the feafon advanced, till, in the month "of July, I could no longer contain.. I bribed "her duenna, was admitted to the bath, faw her "undreffed, and the wonder difplayed. This was "foon discovered by the hufband, who finding "fome letters I had writ to the duenna, contain"ing expreffions of a doubtful meaning, fufpected ་ me of a crime most alien from the purity of my "thoughts. Incontinently, I left Madrid by the "advice of friends; have been purfued, dogged, "and way laid through feveral nations, and even "now fcarce think myself secure within the facred "walls of this palace. It has been my good for"tune to have feen all the grand phænomena of "nature, excepting an earthquake, which I wait"ed for in Naples three years in vain; and now," "by means of fome British fhip (whofe colours no Spaniard dare approach*), I impatiently expect a fafe paffage to Jamaica, for that benefit. "To thee, my friend, whom fate has marked for my hiftoriographer, I leave these my Commen"taries, and others of my works. No more"be faithful and impartial."

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He foon after performed his promife, and left me the Commentaries, giving me alfo further light by many conferences; when he was unfortunately fnatched away, as I before related, by the jealoufy of the queen's miniftry.

Though I was thus, to my eternal grief, depriv ep, of his converfation, he, for fome years, con

This marks the time when the Introduction was written.

finued his correfpondence, and communicated to me many of his projects for the benefit of mankind. He fent me fome of his writings, and recommended to my care the recovery of others, ftraggling about the world and affumed by other men. The last time I heard from him, was on occafion of his ftrictures on the Dunciad; fince when, feveral years being elapfed, I have reafon to believe this excellent perfon is either dead, or carried by his vehement thirst for knowledge, into fome remote, or perhaps undiscovered region of the world. In either cafe, I think it a debt no longer to be delayed, to reveal what I know of this prodigy of fcience, and to give the history of his life, and of his extenfive merits, to mankind; in which I dare promife the reader, that, whenever he begins to think any one chapter dull, the Aile will be immediately changed in the next..