h the first appearance of it.

In the regions of science, however, there is not the same indulgence:
the understanding and the judgment travel there in the pursuit of Truth,
whom they always expect to find in one simple form, free from the
disguises of dress and ornament: and, as they travel with laborious step
and a fixed eye, they are content to stop, when the shades of night
darken the prospect, and patiently wait the radiance of a new morning,
to lead them forward in the path they have chosen, which, however
thorny, or however steep, is severely preferred to the most pleasing
excursions that bring them no nearer to the object of their search. The
plea, therefore, that nature is exhausted, and that nothing is left to
gratify the mind, but different combinations of the same ideas, when
urged as a reason for multiplying unnecessary labours, among the sons of
science, is not so readily admitted: the understanding, when in
possession of truth, is satisfied with the simple acquisition; and not,
like fancy, inclined to wander after new pleasures, in the
diversification of objects already known, which, perhaps, may lead to
errour.

But, notwithstanding this general disinclination to accumulate labours,
for the sake of that pleasure which arises merely from different modes
of investigating truth, yet, as the mines of science have been
diligently opened, and their treasures widely diffused, there may be
parts chosen, which, by a proper combination and arrangement, may
contribute not only to entertainment but use; like the rays of the sun,
collected in a concave mirror, to serve particular purposes of light and
heat.

The power of arithmetical numbers has been tried to a vast extent, and
variously applied to the improvement both of business and science. In
particular, so many calculations have been made, with respect to the
value and use of money, that some serve only for speculation and
amusement; and there is great opportunity for selecting a few that are
peculiarly adapted to common business, and the daily interchanges of
property among men. Those which happen in the publick funds are, at this
time, the most frequent and numerous; and to answer the purposes of that
business, in some degree, more perfectly than has hitherto been done,
the following tables are published. What that degree of perfection above
other tables of the same kind may be, is a matter, not of opinion and
taste, in which many might vary, but of accurac