C i6i ] 



It is not eafy to conceive how many and how 

 great the improvements are, which have been made 

 ill this moft important of all arts, in the courfe of 

 the prefent century. A patriotic fpirit of uncomr 

 mon ardour hath gone forth ; and our nobility and 

 gentry, like the Senators of Rome, have fet, as it 

 were, their hands to the plough, and excited their 

 tenants and neighbours to pradlices of which they 

 had no idea before. Yea, they have done more; 

 they have inftituted focieties, and made them thie 

 receptacles and dirtributors of ufeful knowledge; 

 they have raifed fubfcriptions, and added marks of 

 honour, and pecuniary advantages, to the rewards 

 which naturally refult from the attention and in- 

 duftry of the ingenious artift. Surely the greateft 

 refpedl is due to the members of all thofe inflitu- 

 tions, whofe motives are — public good and univer- 

 fal ufefulnefs. 



But it mufl be allowed, tha;t, although much 

 has been done, there ftill remains much more to do. 

 Experimenters have not always (perhaps but feldom) 

 entered into the views, and ably feconded the in- 

 tentions of thofe valuable inftitutions. Animated 

 with the hope of obtaining the premiums held out, 

 by dint of extraordinary exertions, expenfive ma- 

 nures, and a concurrence of fortunate circumftances, 

 more the effed: of chance than of dcfign, they often 



Vol. III. M have 



