Dickory Cronke | Page 3

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This etext was prepared by David Price, email [email protected]
from the 1889 George Bell and Sons edition.

DICKORY CRONKE

THE DUMB PHILOSOPHER, OR, GREAT BRITAIN'S WONDER;
CONTAINING:
I. A faithful and very surprising Account how Dickory Cronke, a
Tinner's son, in the County of Cornwall, was born Dumb, and
continued so for Fifty-eight years; and how, some days before he died,
he came to his Speech; with Memoirs of his Life, and the Manner of his
Death.
II. A Declaration of his Faith and Principles in Religion; with a
Collection of Select Meditations, composed in his Retirement.
III. His Prophetical Observations upon the Affairs of Europe, more
particularly of Great Britain, from 1720 to 1729. The whole extracted
from his Original Papers, and confirmed by unquestionable Authority.
TO WHICH IS ANNEXED HIS ELEGY, WRITTEN BY A YOUNG
CORNISH GENTLEMAN, OF EXETER COLLEGE IN OXFORD.
WITH
AN EPITAPH BY ANOTHER HAND.

"Non quis, sed quid."
LONDON: Printed for and Sold by THOMAS BICKERTON, at the
Crown, in Paternoster Row. 1719.

PREFACE

The formality of a preface to this little book might have been very well
omitted, if it were not to gratify the curiosity of some inquisitive people,
who, I foresee, will be apt to make objections against the reality of the
narrative.
Indeed the public has too often been imposed upon by fictitious stories,
and some of a very late date, so that I think myself obliged by the usual
respect which is paid to candid and impartial readers, to acquaint them,
by way of introduction, with what they are to expect, and what they
may depend upon, and yet with this caution too, that it is an indication
of ill nature or ill manners, if not both, to pry into a secret that is
industriously concealed.
However, that there may be nothing wanting on my part, I do hereby
assure the reader, that the papers from whence the following sheets
were extracted, are now in town, in the custody of a person of
unquestionable reputation, who, I will be bold to say, will not only be
ready, but proud, to produce them upon a good occasion, and that I
think is as much satisfaction as the nature of this case requires.
As to the performance, it can signify little now to make an apology
upon that account, any farther than this, that if the reader pleases he
may take notice that what he has now before him was collected from a
large bundle of papers, most of which were writ in shorthand, and very
ill-digested. However, this may be relied upon, that though the
language is something altered, and now and then a word thrown in to
help the expression, yet strict care has been taken to speak the author's
mind, and keep as close as possible to the