he tells us is wanting in the ingenious Syftem of the celebrated Mr. Newton. This Gentleman, inferior, at leaft in this Inftance, to our French Virtuofo, pretended to account for this amazing Property, upon his favourite but groundless Principle of Attraction, which led him into an Error, that our Author avoided. It must be own'd, he does not infult over Sir Ifaac upon this Score, but lets him off (to ufe a very genteel Phrafe) pretty eafily," not treating him with Contempt, but with a Sort of Compaffion: He fays, " Happy in Experiments, in"defatigable in obferving, fublime in his Calculations, Mr. Newton fucceeded ill in his physical So"lutions!"

..

Mr. Banieres is an utter Infidel, with regard to Attraction, and he is under a great Concern to fee the World running mad afrer a Philofophy, founded on fo chimerical a Principle. In Compaffion to fuch a Number of deluded Creatures, many of which are his own Countrymen, he has, towards the Clofe of this Preface, taken fome Chriftian Pains to expose the Weakness and Falfhood of those Arguments, whereby a Multitude of young Students have been, and yet daily are perverted from Cartefianifm, and drawn into a blind Attachment to this Monfieur Newton, (whom M. Fontenelle, Voltaire, and others have audacioufly prefum'd to prefer to Defcartes) and induced to embrace the Illufions of his Syftem, to the Neglect of the Doctrine of Vortice's firft, fecond, and third Elements, and all the ineftimable Truths of this illuftrious Inventor's Principia. I have often heard, fays he, a Sort of Reafoning in Favour of Newtonianifm, which has deceived a great many young Beginners, and I judge it will not be unufeful to examine the Solidity of it. Accordingly he goes on, firft, to recite what he has heard, and fecondly, to fhew how little it was worth hearing.

First, "The Syftem of Attraction, it is faid, "perfectly quadrates with Obfervation and Experi"ence, it agrees exactly with the Principles of "Geometry, the Laws of Mechanicks, and Alge"braick Computation. Is not all this an evident "Proof that there is in Matter a Property, which was unknown till Mr. Newton detected it, an " Attraction that produces all the Phænomena "which we daily behold, which harmonifes all the "Parts of the Univerfe, and retains them in the "admirable Order which we fee them preserve?

cr

Is it poffible the Frame of the World Thould fo "precifely coincide with an occult Quality, a Pro

perty that does not really exift? No certainly. "To deny Attraction therefore, is to renounce our Reafon; to treat it as a mere Suppofition, is al"together unjuft; for how can we give that Title to Facts, demonftrated over and over? Befides, "all Geometers throughout Europe feem to be abfolutely convinc'd of it, and are to a Man profeffed Newtonians. Is it poffible that fo many "great Scholars fhould be in an Error?"

Such are the Arguments employed by the Advocates of Attraction, and which, together with an Affectation of Singularity, have made more Newtonians, Mr. Banieres affures us, than any real Knowledge of Mr. Newton's Demonftrations. But now, Secondly, To fhew the Vanity of this Train of Paralogifm, he would have it to be obferved, "That as the System of Attraction is nothing but "that of Impulse inverted, fo we ought not to "wonder if all that has been demonftrated of the "latter agrees with the former. Do we not know, "in Effect, that the Science of Mechanicks is the "fame, whether we fuppofe Bodies to be impell'd downwards by the Stroke of a Battledore, or "drawn downwards by a Cord.

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"Let not the Newtonians fay, We are in the wrong for treating their Attraction as a

I 4

mere

Suppo

Suppofition, for there never was a more trifling "one, than that of a Property of Matter, which "is not material, and acts independently of Mat"ter; a Property that they will have to be univer"fal, but which nevertheless they multiply at every

Turn, and of which they invent as many dif "ferent Kinds, as they have Phænomena to folve by it: They have central Attractions, and fu"perficial ones; fome that operate afar off, and "others that have no Influence beyond the very "Point of Contact: They have Attractions fm

pathetick and antipatbetick, and of I know not "how many Sorts befides; but the moft ftrange of all are thofe that are Attractions only at one deter minate Distance, and are Repulfions at all others; "fo that to make every Thing depend on Attraction, and to render that occult Quality univerfal, "they do fo change, disfigure, disguise, and multiply it, that there is no diftinguifhing what it is "about which thefe Gentlemen make fuch a Clatter.

rr

"We are justified in our Reflections upon this "Point, by no lefs an Authority than that of the "learned M. Bernoulli the Father. His Teftimony

66

is not to be fufpected. He was no Stranger to "Mr. Newton, and was perfectly acquainted with his Syftem. See how he expreffed himself in "the Year 1701. twenty fix Years before that Philofopher died: "Mr. NEWTON, fays he, ex"plains neither the Nature nor the efficient Caufe of Attraction, but supposes both: Granting him thefe, it must be confeffed, his Hypothefis is very "elegant, and may fully fatisfy a Mathematician. "It is in this Manner that Geometers reafon, it is "in this Sense that all the Geometers of Europe are "Newtonians, and on this Footing we glory to be "fo alfo, but let us proceed no further, let us not "offer to introduce this Suppofition into Phyficks,

nor

"nor pretend to make it the Foundation of the "various Appearances of Nature.

Mr. Banieres finishes his Preface with the Motives that engaged him to undertake the fubfequent Work, and a Plan of the Method he has obferved in the handling of his Subject. Of these fomewhat has been mentioned in the forepart of this Article. I at first intended a brief Analysis of the EXAMINATION itself; but that Purpose vanished before I got to the End of the preliminary Difcourfe, wherein I met with too much Froth and Garrulity to be fond of meddling with the rest of the Performance.

ARTICLE

ARTICLE IX.

A Differtation upon the Uncertainty of the Roman Hiftory during the first five hundred Years. In two Parts. Part I. A critical Inquiry concerning the original Records, Memorials, Treaties, and other Monuments, from whence proper Materials could be drawn for compiling the Hiftory of the first Ages of Rome; and of the Hiftorians who compiled the fame. Part II. An Examination of Some of the principal Events that are said to have happen'd during that Period; wherein the Inconfiftency of the Hiftorians with one another, and with the few original Pieces that were fav'd when Rome was burnt by the Gauls, is prov'd. Tranflated from the French. London: Printed for T. Waller, in the Temple-Cloysters, and at his Shop in Westminster-Hall. 1740. 12mo. Pages

HE firft Part of this Work confifts of twelve

Chapters. In the foremost of these our Author takes notice of the Obfcurity of the first Times of History in general, and particularly of the Roman Hiftory. It is almost impoffible to offer any thing new or uncommon upon this Head; and our Author has only mentioned thofe Points on which others have often expatiated. At the Clofe of this Chapter he exhibits a fummary View of the Grounds whereon he builds the Doctrine of this Book, and of the Method in which he handles his Subject. His Words are thefe, "Altho' the fabu

"lous