[_double rule_] AN ANTIQUARY I²S one that has his Being in this Age, but his Life and Converſation is in the Days of old. He deſpiſes the preſent Age as an Inno- vation, and ſlights the future ; but has a great Value for that, which is paſt and gone, like the Madman, that fell in Love with _Cleopatra_. He is an old frippery-Philoſopher, that has ſo ſtrange a natural Affection to worm-eaten Speculation, that it is apparent he has a Worm in his Skull. He honours his Forefathers and Fore-mothers, but condemns his Parents as too modern, and no better than Upſtarts. He neglects himſelf, becauſe he was born in his own Time, and ſo far off Antiquity, which he ſo much admires ; and repines, like a younger Brother, becauſe he came ſo late into the World. He ſpends the one half of his Time in collecting old inſignificant Trifles, ------------------------------------------------------------------------ and the other in ſhewing them, which he takes ſingular Delight in ; becauſe the oftener he does it, the further they are from being new to him. All his Curiouſities take place of one another according to their Seniority, and he values them not by their Abilities, but their Standing. He has a great Veneration for Words that are ſtricken in Years, and are grown ſo aged, that they have out-lived their Employments---Theſe he uſes with a Reſpect agreeable to their An- tiquity, and the good Services they have done. He throws away his Time in enquiring after that which is paſt and gone ſo many Ages ſince, like one that ſhoots away an Arrow, to find out another that was loſt before. He fetches things out of Duſt and Ruins, like the Fable of the chymical Plant raiſed out of its own Aſhes. He values one old Invention, that is loſt and never to be recovered, before all the new ones in the World, tho’ never ſo uſeful. The whole Buſineſs of his Life is the ſame with his, that ſhows the Tombs at _Westminster_, only the one does it for his Pleaſure, and the other for Money. As every Man has but one Fa- ther, but two Grand-Fathers and a World of Anceſtors ; ſo he has a proportional Value ------------------------------------------------------------------------ for Things that are antient, and the further off the greater. He is a great Time-ſerver, but it is of Time out of Mind, to which he conforms exactly, but is wholly retied from the preſent. His Days were ſpent and gone long before he came into the World, and ſince his only Buſineſs is to collect what he can out of the Ruins of them. He has ſo ſtrong a natural Affection to any Thing that is old, that he may truly _ſay to_ _Duſt and Worms you are my Father, and to Rot-_ _tenneſs thou are my Mother_. He has no Provi- dence nor Fore-ſight ; for all his Contempla- tions look backward upon the Days of old, and his Brains are turned with them, as if he walked backwards. He had rather interpret one obſcure Word in any old ſenſeleſs Diſ- courſe, than be the Author of the moſt ingenious new one ; and with _Scaliger_ would ſell the Empire of _Germany_[1] (if it were in his Power) for an old Song. He devours an old Manuſ- cript with greater Reliſh than Worms and Moths do, and, though there be nothing in it, values ------------------------------------------------------------------------ it above any Thing printed, which he accounts but a Novelty. When he happens to cure a ſmall Botch in an old Author, he is as proud of it, as if he had got the Philoſophers Stone, and could cure all the Diſeaſes of Mankind. He values things wrongfully upon their Anti- quity, forgetting that the moſt modern are really the moſt ancient of all Things in the World, like thoſe that reckon their Pounds before their Shillings and Pence, of which they are made up. He eſteems no Cuſtoms but ſuch as have outlived themſelves, and are long ſince out of Uſe ; as the _Catholics_ allow of no Saints, but ſuch as are dead, and the _Fanatics_, Op- poſition, of none but the Living. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [1] _And with_ Scaliger _would ſell the Empire of Germany_] This al- ludes to a ranting Exclamation of _Scaliger_’s upon an Ode in _Horace_, which he was particularly pleased with.