, as being the only method they have of making their way to
persons of your lordship's high station without struggling through
multitudes for access. I may possibly fail in my respect to your lordship,
even while I endeavour to show it most; but if I err, it is because I
imagined I ought not to make my first approach to one of your lordship's
exalted character with less ceremony than that of a dedication. It is
annexed to the condition of eminent merit, not to suffer more from the
malice of its enemies, than from the importunity of its admirers; and
perhaps it would be unjust, that your lordship should hope to be exempted
from the troubles, when you possess all the talents, of a patron.

I have here a fair occasion to celebrate those sublime qualities, of which
a whole nation is sensible, were it not inconsistent with the design of my
present application. By the just discharge of your great employments, your
lordship may well deserve the prayers of the distressed, the thanks of
your country, and the approbation of your royal master: this indeed is a
reason why every good Briton should applaud your lordship; but it is
equally a reason why none should disturb you in the execution of your
important affairs by works of fancy and amusement. I was therefore induced
to make this address to your lordship, by considering you rather in the
amiable light of a person distinguished for a refined taste of the polite
arts, and the candour that usually attends it, than in the dignity of your
public character.

The greatness and solemnity of the subjects treated of in the following
work cannot fail in some measure to recommend it to a person who holds in
the utmost veneration those sacred books from which it is taken; and would
at the same time justify to the world my choice of the great name prefixed
to it, could I be assured that the undertaking had not suffered in my
hands. Thus much I think myself obliged to say; that if this little
performance had not been very indulgently spoken of by some, whose
judgment is universally allowed in writings of this nature, I had not
dared to gratify my ambition in offering it to your lordship: I am
sensible that I am endeavouring to excuse one vanity by another; but I
hope I shall meet with pardon for it, since it is visibly intended to show
the great submission and respect with which I am, my lord, your lordship's
most obedient and most humble servant,