Ixxii LETTER OF DEDICATION TO THE DUKE OF KENT. 



plac'd you in one of the first Posts of the British Empire, and 

 one of the nearest to Her Majesties Sacred Person and Favour. 

 1 coiLcl not have forgiv'n my self, if any Foreigner shoit'd 

 have sheion more Pesj)eet for your Lordship than an English- 

 man, or if a Traveller in rude and elesolate Islands should be 

 more ambitious of your Protection, than one ivho has had the 

 honour at other times to frequent the delicious Plai7is of 

 Parnassus, a Region that is immediately under your Lord- 

 ship's Government, and that has visibly flourished, since you 

 have condescended to make it a part of your Care, which is 

 othertvise more nobly employ d for the Service of the best of 

 Princes, and the best of Countries. Let it be said, my Ijord ; 

 Notunthstanding our unhap'py Divisions} against whicli all 

 your Lordship s moderate Couneels have vigorously declared, 

 and endeavour'd to unite us all in our Duty to Her Majesty, 

 and Peace among our selves; hut Division is so ncdurcd to 

 Mankind, that who can hope to see an end of it in his Time? 

 We find the solitary Inhabitants of Bodrigo had their Debates 

 and Disputes; and 7 Men united by co7miion Interest, and 

 common Danger, luere divided by their Passions. 



May Your Lordship's eminent Worth ahcctys meet with the 

 Prosperity it deserves, may it never be wrong' d by Jeedousy, 

 nor reached by Envy, too Common in this degenerate Age, to 

 the prejudice of the most Heroiek Virtue. This my Lord trill 

 always be the hearty Prayer of. 



Your Lordship's most Humble, 

 most obedient, 



and most Devoted Servant. 



' This is, apparently, in allusion to the piart taken by the Marquess 

 of Kent in the recent Union of the Parliaments of England and Scot- 

 land, and to the Tory opposition encountered by the "Whig Cabinet of 

 Queen Anne to which he belonged. The Scottish Estates sat for the 

 last time in March 1707, and the Union was effected five months before 

 this dedication was printed. 



Maximilian Misson in his preface to the New Voijcuje to Itali/, 



