beautiful and inftructive Frontifpieces. And, that thefe Volumes are thus elegantly adorned, without making any other Advance in the Price, than what unavoidably arifes from the additional Number of Sheets, is owing to the Generofity of my honoured Friend, Sir THOMAS DRURY, Bart. who, at his own Expence, furnished thefe coftly Copper-Plates, engraved by one of the finest Hands in the Kingdom: A Favour, which I take a very peculiar Satisfaction in acknowleging, not only as it is a fignal Honour to the Author and bis Performance; but as it is also a pleafing and cuthentic Proof, that Christianity has its Patrons in the Superior Stations of Life; that there are Perfons, who think it no Difgrace to their diftinguifked Rank, and ample Fortune, to countenance every, even the weakest, Attempt to promote the Interests of true Religion.

As for the MONUMENTAL Plate, having confidered moft Things relating to it fo largely (fee Page 34.) I should have faid nothing of it in this Advertisement, had it not been to lead my Readers to remark what feems to me an important MORAL, fuggefted in the ARMS of the two Families, not expreffed in the Monument itself, but purpofely inferted here.-It will on the first Inspection be obferved, that the Ef

cutcheon

cutcheon is rent in funder, to intimate the Diffolution of the near Relation once fo happily fubfifting. The Fragments fall to the Bottom of the Plate, as Things comparatively of very fmall Confequence, and the Motto, SUBLIMIORA PETAMUS *, bas not only a fine Reference to the Device of the Family Arms to which it is annex'd, but may be confidered as standing in a beautiful Gonnection with that Celestial Crown placed at the Top:-placed at the Top, as the GREAT SUBLIME OBJECT, TO THE PURSUIT OF WHICH All, who may in future Generations bear those ARMS, and All, who now behold them, are by thefe elevating Words affectionately invited.

LET US PURSUE SUBLIMER OBJECTS.

The

A 3

The FRONTISPIECE

Prefents the infide View of a Church-The Floor, the Pillars, and the Walls, are interfperfed with fepulchral Stones, and funeral Infcriptions-On one Side, is the Monument of an Infant, adorned with an Urn, with a weeping Statue, and infcribed with the following Epitaph

NASCENTES MORIMUR, No fooner born, than dead. On a more elevated Tomb, and under an Affemblage of military Weapons, is pourtrayed a Warrior; fuppofed to be mortally wounded, expiring in the Attitude of Adoration, and with the Spirit of that noble Line,

2

O! fave my Country, Heav'n! fhall be thy laft: A Youth, beholding the Representation of this gallant Patriot, feems to be ftruck with Admiration, and charmed with Delight. A Minifterdiverts his Attention to an Object of infinitely higher Dignity, and greater Wonder. If the Hero died PRO PATRIA, In Defence of his Country: CHRIST died PRO INIMICIS, For the Salvation of his Enemies. An Inftance of such disinterested, diffusive, and divine Benevolence, as makes all that Heroes have atchieved, and Patriots fuffered, dwindle into Nothing, and fcarce deferve our Notice.

On

On Mr HERVEY'S

MEDITATIONS.

N thefe lov'd Scenes what rapt'rous Graces fhine, Live in each Leaf, and breathe in every Line. What facred Beauties beam throughout the whole, To charm the Senfe, and fteal upon the Soul! In claffic Elegance, and Thoughts-his own, We fee our Faults, as in a Mirrour, shewn : Each Truth, in glaring Characters expreft, All own the Twin Refemblance in their Breaft: His eafy Periods, and perfuafive Page, At once amend, and entertain the Age: Nature's wide Fields all open to his View, He charms the Mind with something ever New: On Fancy's Pinions, his advent'rous Soul Wantons unbounded, and pervades the Whole: From Death's dark Caverns in the Earth below, To Spheres, where Planets roll, or Comets glow. See Him explore, with more than human Eyes, The dreary Sepulchre, where Granvil lies : Converfe with Stones, or monumental Brass, The rude Inferiptions, or the painted Glafs:

To gloomy Vaults defcend with awful Tread,
And view the filent Manfions of the Dead.

To gayer Scenes He next adapts his Lines,
Where lavish Nature in Embroid'ry fhines:
The Jefsmine Groves, the Wood-bine's fragrant

Bow'rs,

With all the painted Family of Flow'rs:
There, Sacharifla! in each fleeting Grace,
Read all the tranfient Honours of thy Face.
With equal Dignity, now fee Him rife
To paint the fable Horrours of the Skies:
When all the wide Horizon lies in Shade:
And midnight Phantoms fweep along the Glade:
All Nature hub'd—a folemn Silence reigns,
And scarce a Breeze disturbs the sleeping Plains.
Laft, yet not lefs, in Majefty of Phrafe,
He draws the full-orb'd Moon's expansive Blaze;
The waving Meteors, trembling from on high,
With all the mute Artillery of the Sky:
Syftems on Systems, which in Order roll,
And dart their lambent Beams from Pole to Pole.
Hail mighty Genius, whofe excurfive Soul
No Bounds confine, no Limits can controul:
Whofe Eye expatiates, and whofe Mind can rove
Thro' Earth, thro' Ether, and the Realms above:
From Things inanimate can direct * the Rod,
In juft Gradation, to afcend to GOD.

Taught

In Allufion to the Cuftom, of fhewing curious Objects, and particularizing their respective Delicacies, by the pointing of a Rod.