TO 

 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND 



SHUTE, 

 LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM. 



Mr Lonj), 

 THE circumstances which induce me to solicit your 

 Lordship's protection for the following pages are such, 

 that I trust they will ensure pardon for myself, and 

 more indulgence for my performance than, I might ex- 

 pect, even from your Lordship's usual goodness to- 

 wards me. 



The contents of these pages were, in a very unfinish- 

 ed state, honoured with the approbation and encourage- 

 ment of an excellent and lamented lady, to whom they 

 were destined to be offered in their present less unwor- 

 thy condition. I should have been proud to have shel 

 tered them under her patronage, because I have always 

 found the most intelligent critics the most indulgent. 

 Their general tendency at least, as calculated to render 

 an interesting and useful science accessible, and in eve 



