Francis Bacon

observes, that a well-written Book, compared with its Rivals and Antagonists, is like

Moses's

Serpent, that immediately swallow'd up and devoured those of the

Ægyptians

. I shall not be so vain as to think, that where the

Spectator

appears, the other publick Prints will vanish; but shall leave it to my Readers Consideration, whether, Is it not much better to be let into the Knowledge of ones-self, than to hear what passes in

Muscovy

or