CHAP. I.
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have ſeen you ſo paſſionately addicted, Pyrophilus to the delightful Art of Limning and Painting, that I cannot but think my ſelf obliged to acquaint you with ſome of thoſe things that have occurred to mee concerning the changes of Colours. And I may expect that I ſhall as well ſerve the Virtuoſi in general, as gratifie you in particular, by furniſhing a perſon, who, I hope, will both improve my Communications, and communicate his Improvements, with ſuch Experiments and Obſervations as may both invite you to enquire ſeriouſly into the Nature of Colours, and aſſiſt you in the Inveſtigation of it. This being the principal ſcope of the following Tract, I ſhould do that which might prevent my own deſign,
if I ſhould here attempt to deliver you an accurate and particular Theory of Colours; for that were to preſent you with what I deſire to receive from you; and, as farr as in mee lay, to make that ſtudy needleſs, to which I would engage you.
2 Wherefore my preſent work ſhall be but to divert and recreate, as well as excite you by the delivery of matters of fact, ſuch as you may for the moſt part try with much eaſe, and poſſibly not without ſome delight: And leſt you ſhould expect any thing of Elaborate or Methodical in what you will meet with here, I muſt confeſs to you before-hand, that the ſeaſons I was wont to chuſe to deviſe and try Experiments about Colours, were thoſe daies, wherein having taken Phyſick, and finding my ſelf as unfit to ſpeculate, as unwilling to be altogether idle, I choſe this diverſion, as a kind of Mean betwixt the one and the other. And I have the leſs ſcrupled to ſet down the following Experiments, as ſome of them came to my mind, and as the Notes wherein I had ſet down the reſt, occurr'd to my hands, that by declining a Methodical way of delivering them, I might leave you and my ſelf the greater liberty and convenience to add to them, and tranſpoſe them as ſhall appear expedient.
3 Yea, that you may not think mee too reſerv'd, or look upon an Enquiry made up of meer Narratives, as ſomewhat jejune, am content to premiſe a few conſiderations, that now offer themſelves to my thoughts, which relate in a more general way, either to the Nature of Colours, or to the ſtudy of it. And I ſhall inſert an Eſſay, as well Speculative as Hiſtorical, of the Nature of Whiteneſs and Blackneſs, that you may have a Specimen of the Hiſtory of Colours, I have ſometimes had thoughts of; and if you diſlike not the Method I have made uſe of, I hope, you, and ſome of the Virtuoſi, your friends, may be thereby invited to go thorow with Red, Blew, Yellow, and the reſt of the particular Colours, as I have done with White and Black, but with farr more ſagacity and ſucceſs. And if I can invite Ingenious men to undertake ſuch Tasks, I doubt not but the Curious will quickly obtain a better Account of Colours, than as yet we have, ſince in our Method the Theorical part of the Enquiry being attended, and as it were interwoven with the Hiſtorical, whatever becomes of the diſputable Conjectures, the Philoſophy of Colours will be promoted by the indiſputable Experiments.