Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/15

m pr vd &. f: a", c: ei » a coof critical drlcemment of gehiiis to rectify th4 general hmofjJ " bf their fcbiiritrjr, fhould be thc' : particttfer ftuefy- 6f all good dnti-* matiati^ 9 's^ , wdti!H : b&^ confiscable Honour -WfihfeMfc:- But (he aim of tfic auttior is Mo bfk mote deKeate atd pleftfing fta* tare. - He wiflies- ; to'- catcir iK6 gefafefal apjtear&ircdS <# ; the $flati<J the county .anc^he tcfwp;, ( ks'it varies in thi/feVeral flages offcheir hiftories. , He' ' defies ' to> delineate ' the gradual prpgrefs of the arts aftd to trace the ^ubceffive ; gfoivth of civility m allV Ami his ptopoCts to mark the/ public the pirate matinee of every pe} Hod as they *rife in ah agreeable virietyT^efore him; The mod ftriking parts of ^hiftory tb a phHofophical fpiriti are the ctfriouft ever-vairiegated amikls of the human mind. — Tadefign all this i is certainljrboid. r To execute alt thisi is probably impra&icable^ "But to tferigti bpidlyHs abfolutely neceflhry, eithfer iti moi^Hty bt 'in literature, in order tb execute tolerably. We always iitaaMfe^ ilably fink below the ffctndard in pra&ke.- A«<fc a great plan Frequently kindles a new fpirit in the ibiil, frequently ealls gut unknown powers in the mind, and raifcs the writer and the man confiderabty luperiour to himfelf m the execution* t Nbr mufl the general difquifitiora and the . geheral narraiavtt of the prefent work be ever uonfidered as aSSfrtally di^dfionAry hi their natures, and as merely ufeful in their notices. They are all united with the reft, and form proper parts of the whote. They have feme of them a neceflary comiextbn with the hi&ory .of MaftcJhefter. They have many of tfiemt an fcAittate' teladoft, they have all of them a natural affinity, la it. An& the.' author has endeavoured, byHa judicious diffributibn of tfoem through tlie work, to prevent that difgufthfg uniformity, and to take off that uniiiterefting locality, which muft necei&rity refiilt firom the merely barren and private! annals tif a town. He has th^isin foaafe measure adopted the elegant principles of modem gardening. Jfe has thrown down the clofe hedges and the high walls that have Tritherto confined the antiquarians of our towns in their view*. He has called in the fcenes of the «eighboWrkig country to his aid* and has happily eombirie&thetrf into-hi* 4*vni plan. He has -drawn off the attention to the I tSftOjy of Utaqcheft^r before it • ' i «:became