ADAMS'S TREATISE on the GLOBES. 1767. SIR, To the KING. It is the privilege of real greatness not to be afraid of diminution by condescending to the notice of little things: and I therefore can boldly solicit the patronage of your Majesty to the humble labours by which I have endeavoured to improve the instruments of science, and make the globes on which the earth and sky are delineated less defective in their construction, and less dif ficult in their use. Geography is in a peculiar manner the science of Princes. When a private student revolves the terraqueous globe, he beholds a succession of countries in which he has no more interest than in the imaginary regions of Jupiter and Saturn. But your Majesty must contemplate the scientific picture with other sentiments, and consider, as oceans and continents are rolling before you, how large a part of mankind is now waiting on your determinations, and may receive benefits or suffer evils, as your influence is extended or withdrawn. The provinces which your Majesty's arms have added to your dominions, make no inconsiderable part of the orb allotted to human beings. Your power is acknowledged by nations whose names we know not yet how to write, and whose boundaries we cannot yet describe. But your Majesty's lenity and beneficence give us reason to expect the time when science shall be advanced by the diffusion of happiness when the desarts of America shall become pervious and safe: when those who are now restrained by fear shall be attracted by reverence: and multitudes who now range the woods for prey, and live at the mercy of winds and seasons, shall by the paternal care of your Majesty enjoy the plenty of cultivated lands, the pleasures of society, the security of law, and the light of revelation. I am, Sir, Your Majesty's most humble, most obedient, and most dutiful Subject and Servant, GEORGE ADAMS. Bishop. ZACHARY PEARCE'S Posthumous Works. 2 vols.4°. Published by the Rev. Mr. DERBY, 1777. SIR, To the KING. I PRESUME to lay before your Majesty the last labours of a learned bishop, who died in the toils and duties of his calling. He is now beyond the reach of all earthly honours and rewards; and only the hope of inciting others to imitate him, makes it now fit to be remembered, that he enjoyed in his life the favour of your Majesty. The tumultuary life of Princes seldom permits them to survey the wide extent of national interest without losing sight of private merit: to exhibit qualities which may be imitated by the highest and the humblest of mankind: and to be at once amiable and great. Such characters, if now and then they appear in history, are contemplated with admiration. May it be the ambition of all your subjects to make haste with their tribute of reverence: and as posterity may learn from your Majesty how kings should live, may they learn, likewise, from your people how they should be honoured. I am, May it please your Majesty, with the most profound respect, Your Majesty's most dutiful and devoted Subject and Servant. HOOLE'S Translation of TASSO'S JERUSALEM DELIVERED. 1763. MADAM, To the QUEEN. To approach the high and the illustrious has been in all ages the privilege of poets; and though translations cannot justly claim the same honour, yet they naturally follow their authors as attendants and I hope that in return for having enabled Tasso to diffuse his fame through the British dominions, I may be introduced by him to the presence of your Majesty. Tasso has a peculiar claim to your Majesty's favour, as follower and panegyrist of the House of Este, which has one common ancestor with the House of Hanover; and in reviewing his life it is not easy to forbear a wish that he had lived in a happier time, when he might among the descendants of that illustrious family have found a more liberal and potent patronage. I cannot but observe, Madam, how unequally reward is proportioned to merit, when I reflect that the happiness which was withheld from Tasso is reserved for me; and that the poem which once hardly procured to its author the countenance of the Princes of Ferrara, has attracted to its translator the favourable notice of a BRITISH QUEEN. Had this been the fate of Tasso, he would have been able to have celebrated the condescension of your Majesty in nobler language, but could not have felt it with more ardent gratitude, than, SIR, Madam, Your Majesty's most faithful and devoted Servant. Dr. JAMES'S MEDICINAL DICTIONARY. 3 vols. folio. 1743. TO DR. MEAD. THAT the Medicinal Dictionary is dedicated to you, is to be imputed only to your reputation for superior skill in those sciences which I have endeavoured to explain and facilitate; and you are, therefore, to consider this address, if it be agreeable to you, as one of the rewards of merit; and if otherwise, as one of the inconveniencies of emi nence. However you shall receive it, my design cannot be disappointed; because this publick appeal to your judgment will show that I do not found my hopes of approbation upon the ignorance of my readers, and that I fear his censure least, whose knowledge is most extensive. I am, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant, The FEMALE QUIXOTE. By Mrs. LENNOX. 1752. To the Rt. Hon. the Earl of MIDDLESEX. MY LORD, SUCH is the power of interest over almost every mind, that no one is long without arguments to prove any position which is ardently wished to be true, or to justify any measures which are dictated by inclination. By this subtil sophistry of desire, I have been persuaded to hope that this book may, without impropriety, be inscribed to your Lordship; but am not certain that my reasons will have the same force upon other understandings. The dread which a writer feels of the publick censure; the still greater dread of neglect; and the eager wish for support and protection, which is impressed by the consciousness of imbecility, are unknown to those who have never adventured into the world; and I am afraid, my lord, equally unknown to those who have always found the world ready to applaud them. 'Tis therefore not unlikely that the design of this address may be mistaken, and the effects of my fear imputed to my vanity. They who see your lordship's name prefixed to my performance will rather condemn my presumption than compassionate my anxiety. But, whatever be supposed my motive, the praise of judgment cannot be denied me: for, to whom can timidity so properly fly for shelter, as to him who has been so long distinguished for candour and humanity? How can vanity be so com |