But as it was communicated with the air of a
secret, it soon found its way into the world. An imperfect copy having
been offered to a bookseller, you had the good-nature for my sake to
consent to the publication of one more correct: this I was forced to,
before I had executed half my design, for the machinery was entirely
wanting to complete it.
The machinery, Madam, is a term invented by the critics, to signify that
part which the deities, angels, or demons are made to act in a poem: for
the ancient poets are in one respect like many modern ladies: let an
action be never so trivial in itself, they always make it appear of the
utmost importance. These machines I determined to raise on a very new
and odd foundation--the Rosicrucian doctrine of spirits.
I know how disagreeable it is to make use of hard words before a lady;
but 'tis so much the concern of a poet to have his works understood, and
particularly by your sex, that you must give me leave to explain two or
three difficult terms.
The Rosicrucians are a people I must bring you acquainted with. The best
account I know of them is in a French book called 'Le Comte de Gabalis,'
which both in its title and size is so like a novel, that many of the
fair sex have read it for one by mistake. According to these gentlemen,
the four elements are inhabited by spirits, which they call _Sylphs,
Gnomes, Nymphs_, and _Salamanders_.
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