Their great Condescension to Dr. _Hickes_ in allowing him to have been
a very curious Inquirer into those _obsolete Tongues, now out of use,
and containing nothing valuable in them_, is a Compliment for which I
believe you, Sir, will give me leave to assure them, that he is not at
all obliged; since if it signifies any thing, it imports, no less than
that he has employ'd a great deal of Time, and a great deal of Pains,
to little purpose. But we must at least borrow so much Assurance from
them, as to tell them, that your Friends, who consist of the most
learned sort of your own Countrey-men, and of Foreigners, do not think
those Tongues so obsolete and out of use, whose Significancy is so
apparent in Etymology; nor do they think those Men competent Judges to
declare, whether there be any thing contained in them valuable or not,
who have made it clear, that they know not what is _contain'd_ in
them. They would rather assure them, that our greatest Divines[A],
and Lawyers[B], and Historians[C] are of another Opinion, they wou'd
advise them to consult our Libraries, those of the two Universities,
the _Cottonian_, and my Lord Treasurers; to study your whole
_Thesaurus_, particularly your _Dissertatio Epistolaris_, to look into
Mr.
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