he Great Scaliger was wont commonly to say, Omnis Historia bona, that all History was good; meaning, that it was worthy of notice, so it were true, and matter of fact, though the Subject of it were never so trivial. This, though but a Pamphlet in bulke, is very considerable for the Matters it containes, and for that it endeavours to informe, and disabuse the World of a current Error, which has mingled, and spread it selfe into divers grave Relations that have been Printed, and confidently published many Yeares without Suspition.
How I came to be enlightned for these Pieces, I have in part declar'd in my Dedicatory Addresses; and if I forbear to publish the Name of that Intelligent Stranger, and that other Person, from whom I received my Informations; You are to know, that it is not out of fear of being detected of Imposture, whil'st we declare against it, and which cannot serve any Interest of the Relators; but because, being Strangers, or Itinerants, and one of them upon his return into his Native Country (which may possibly engage them to passe by Malta, and other Levantine parts obnoxious to these Discourses) it would appear but ingrateful in us to expose them to an Inconvenience. Let it suffice to assure you, that they are Persons of no mean Parts, Ingenuity and Candor; well acquainted with the Eastern Countreys and Affaires, and that have themselves been witnesses of most of these Transactions.
It were to be wish'd that our Christian Monarchs had alwayes near them some dextrous Person of this Gentlemans abilites; were it but to Discover such Cheates as frequently appearing under the Disguise of Distressed Princes, Merchants, &c. are, to truth, but Spies, and bold Impostors, and whom otherwise 'tis almost impossible to detect; not to suggest the many other good Offices, as to the Eastern Commerce and Affaires, they might be useful in. But this is more than I have Commission to say from those who have no other design in what they Relate, than their Affection to Truth. It is not yet a full Year since there went a Crafty Varlet about the Countrey, who pretended himself to be the Brother of the famous Peter Serini (whose brave and Heroick Actions had so celebrated him against the Turkes) and related a Story by his feign'd Interpreter, how he fortun'd to be cast on shore on the West of England, as he was conducting Supplies from abroad. This he perform'd with a confidence and success so happily, as caus'd him to be receiv'd, presented, and assisted (like another Mahomed Bei) by divers Persons of Quality, and some of them my nearest Acquaintance, in his Pretended Journey to Court; But being at last discover'd in a Tipling-house on the Rode, where un-mindful of his Part and Character, he call'd for a Pot of Ale in too good English, and a more natural Tone than became so great a Stranger, and the Person he put on, we heard no more of the Gamester: I wish our Fin-land Spirit, who is of late dropt out of the Clouds amongst us, prove not one of his Disciples; for the Age is very fertile; and I am told, that our Mahomed having receiv'd his Ajuda de Costo from the Bounty and Charity of a great Person of more easie Beliefe, is slipt aside for fear of the Porters-Lodge, and yet 'tis possible you may hear more of him before his Ramble be quite at a period.
You have at the end of the last Impostor an Account of the Jews Exile out of that Vast Empire of Persia, happening but the other day; which, together with the miscarriage of their late Messiah (the Twenty-Fifth Pretender to it as I am credibly inform'd, it stands in their own Records) might, one would think, at last open the Eyes, and turne the hearts of that obstinate and miserable People: But whil'st the Time not yet Accomplish'd, I could wish our modern Enthusiasts, and other prodigious Sects amongst us, who Dreame of the like Carnal Expectations, and a Temporal Monarchy, might seriously weigh how nearly their Characters approach the Style and Design of these Deluded Wretches, least they fall into the same Condemnation, and the Snare of the Devil.
ERRATA.
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