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Bayerishe Staatsbibliothek München

To the Right Honourable

CHARLES Lord HALLIFAX.

MY LORD,

S

Imilitude of manners and ftudies is ufually mentioned as one of the strongest motives to af

fection and esteem; but the paffionate veneration I have for your Lordship, I think, flows from an admiration of qualities in You, of which, in the whole courfe of

VOL. IL

Bayeri
Staatsbibliothef
München

thefe

these papers, I have acknowledged myself incapable. While I bufy myself as a stranger upon earth, and can pretend to no other than being a looker-on, You are confpicuous in the busy and polite world, both in the world of men, and that of letters: While I am filent and unobserved in publick meetings, You are admired by all that approach you as the life and genius of the converfation. What an happy conjunction of different talents meets in him whofe whole difcourfe is at once animated by the strength and force of reason, and adorned with all the grace and embellishments of wit: When learning irradiates common life, it is then in its highest use and perfection; and it is to fuch as Your Lordship, that the fciences owe the esteem which they have

with the active part of mankind. Knowledge of books in reclufe men, is like that fort of lanthorn which hides him who carries it, and ferves only to pass through fecret and gloomy paths of his own; but in the poffeffion of a man of bufinefs, it is as a torch in the hand of one who is willing and able to fhew thofe, who are bewildered, the way which leads to their profperity and welfare. A generous concern for your country, and a paffion for every thing which is truly great and noble, are what actuate all Your life and actions; and I hope You will forgive me that I have an ambition this book may be placed in the library of fo good a judge of what is valuable, in that library where the choice is fuch, that it will not be a difparage

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