life, that its changes were frequent, and its clofe pathetic. This difpofition of the age concurred fo happily with the imagination of Shakespear, that he had no defire to reform it, and indeed to this he was indebted for the licentious variety, by which he has made his plays more entertaining than thofe of any other author. He had looked with great attention on the fcenes of nature; but his chief fkill was in human actions, paffions, and habits; he was therefore delighted with fuch tales as afforded numerous incidents, and exhibited many characters in many changes of fituation. Thefe characters are fo copiously diverfified, and fome of them fo juftly purfued, that his works may be considered as a map of life, a faithful miniature of human tranfactions and he that has read Shakespear with attention will perhaps find little new in the crowded world. Among his other excellencies it ought to be remarked, because it has hitherto been unnoticed, that his beroes are men, that the love and hatred, the hopes and fears of his chief perfonages are fuch as are common to other human beings, and not like thofe which later times have exhibited, peculiar to phantoms that strut upon the stage. It is not perhaps very neceffary to inquire whether the vehicle of fo much delight and instruction be a story probable or unlikely, native or foreign. Shakespear's excellence is not the fiction of a tale, but the reprefentation of life; and his reputation is therefore fafe, till human nature shall be changed. Nor can he, who has fo many juft claims to praife, fuffer by lofing that which ignorant admiration has unreasonably given him. To calumniate the dead is baseness, and to flatter them is furely folly. From flattery, my lord, either of the dead or the living I wish to be clear, and have therefore folicited the countenance of a patron, whom, if I knew how to praife him, I could praife with truth, and have the world on my fide; whofe candour and humanity are univerfally acknowledged, and whofe judgment perhaps was then first to be doubted, when he condescended to admit this addrefs from My lord, Your lordship's most obliged and most obedient humble fervant, THE AUTHOR. Dedication to PAYNE's Introduction to the GAME at DRAUGHTS, 1756. To the Right Hon. WILLIAM HENRY, Earl of ROCHFORD, &c. MY LORD, WHEN I take the liberty of addreffing to your lordship A Treatise on the Game of DRAUGHTS, I eafily foresee that I fhall be in danger of fuffering ridicule on one part, while I am gaining honour on the other, and that many who may envy me the diftinction of approaching you, will deride the prefent I prefume to offer. I i Had Had I confidered this little volume as having no purpofe beyond that of teaching a game, I should indeed have left it to take its fate without a patron. Triflers may find or make any thing a trifle; but fince it is the great characteristic of a wife man to fee events in their causes, to obviate confequences, and ascertain contingencies, your lordship will think nothing a trifle by which the mind is inured to caution, forefight, and circumfpection. The fame skill, and often the fame degree of skill, is exerted in great and little things, and your lordship may fometimes exercife, at a harmless game, those abilities which have been fo happily employed in the service of your country. I am, my lord, Your lordship's most obliged, most obedient, WILLIAM PAYNE. Dedication to BARETTI'S DICTIONARY of the English and Italian Languages, 2 vols. 4to. 1760. To his Excellency Don FELIX, Marquis of Abreu and Bertodano, Ambaffador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary from his Catholic Majefty to the King of Great-Britain. MY LORD, THAT acutenefs of penetration into characters and defigns, and that nice difcernment of human paffions and and practices which have raised you to your present height of station and dignity of employment, have long shown you that dedicatory addreffes are written for the fake of the author more frequently than of the patron; and though they profefs only reverence and zeal, are commonly dictated by intereft or vanity. I fhall therefore not endeavour to conceal my motives, but confefs that the Italian Dictionary is dedicated to your Excellency, that I might gratify my vanity, by making it known, that, in a country where I am a ftranger, I have been able, without any external recommendation, to obtain the notice and countenance of a nobleman fo eminent for knowledge and ability; that in his twenty twenty third year he was fent as Plenipotentiary to fuperintend at Aix la Chapelle, the interefts of a nation remarkable above all others for gravity and prudence; and who at an age, when very few are admitted to public trust, tranfacts the most important affairs between two of the greatest monarchs of the world. If I could attribute to my own merits the favours which your Excellency every day confers upon me, I know not how much my pride might be inflamed; but when I obferve the extenfive benevolence and boundless liberality by which all, who have the honour to approach you, are difmiffed more happy than they came, I am afraid of raifing my own value, fince I dare not afcribe it fo much to my power of pleafing as your willingness to be pleased, Yet as every man is inclined to flatter himself, I am defirous to hope that I am not admitted to greater intimacy than others without fome qualifications for fo advantageous 112 advantageous a distinction, and shall think it my duty to justify, by constant refpect and fincerity, the favours which you have been pleased to show me. I am, my lord, Your excellency's most humble and most obedient fervant, London, Jan. 12, 1760. J. BARETTI. Dedication to LONDON and WESTMINSTER improved, illustrated by PLANS. Вy JOHN GWYNN. Published 1766. SIR, TO THE KING. THE patronage of works, which have a tendency towards advancing the happinefs of mankind, naturally belongs to great princes; and public good, in which public elegance is comprised, has ever been the object of your Majesty's regard. In the following pages your Majefty, I flatter myself, will find that I have endeavoured at extenfive and general usefulness. Knowing, therefore, your Majesty's early attention to the polite arts, and more particular affection for the study of architecture, I was encouraged to hope that the work, which I now prefume to lay before your Majesty, might be thought not unworthy your |