TO
THE HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND
SHUTE,
LORD BISHOP OF DURHAM.
My Lord,
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 expect, even from your Lordship's usual goodness towards me.
The contents of these pages were, in a very unfinished state, honoured with the approbation and encouragement of an excellent and lamented lady, to whom they were destined to be offered in their present less unworthy condition. I should have been proud to have sheltered 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
