CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER AND FIRST

LORD OF THE TREASURY.

SIR,

WH

HILE Musick softens the pal

sions, and Poetry illumines the understanding at ease and in silence, Oratory ruling over both, calls them forth to action on the most arduous and critical junctures.

Oratory with the tongue of Demosthenes defended Athens against the invasions of Philip; by that of Cicero, it delivered Rome from the conspiracy of Cataline, and in You, Sir, steps forward with superior vigour to stem the tide of Opposition,

and

and save the SOVEREIGN and his People from unprecedented attempts, dangerous to the peace of the community, and subversive of the Conftitution in Church and State.

Joining therefore with the nation at large, in earnest Prayer for the speedy restoration of HEALTH to the KING happily resuming his authority, and in ardent wishes that you may continue to discharge the high trust and duty of a Statesman, with that uncommon, unheard of and unrecorded wisdom and integrity you have hitherto done, in diffusing universal prosperity through the whole British Empire, I have the honor to subscribe myself, With all due respect and admiration,

enus

OF the following sheets it need

only be said by way of Preface, that whether estimable or not, they have one property, that of originality.

They are indebted very little to the ancients, such as Ariftox

on Musick, Aristotle and Horace on Poetry, and Cicero on Oratory, or to the moderns, Bossu, Dryden, Pope, Addison, or any other writer whatever, on those subjects.

The observations on Musick and Oratory are the result of many years experience, and on Poetry, of studying the originals themselves, Homer,* the father and preceptor of musick, poetry and oratory, and Virgil and Milton, his fons and pupils.