To The Right Honourable
Arthur Onslow, Esq;
SIR,
As you have already been pleased
to honour the Parliamentary Debates of Anchitell Grey, Esq; with
your Patronage, by mentioning them
with Approbation from the Chair of
the House of Commons, they could not,
on this Account only, be addressed with
Propriety to any other Person; but
your long and familiar Acquaintance
with the Subject, your Experience in
the Business of the House of Commons,
during Seven successive Parliaments,
assisted by the Observations and Ex
perience of your Ancestors, who had,
by a kind of Hereditary Merit, represented, almost without Interruption, for
more than a Century past, your native
County, of which, by the same Title,
you at length became the Representative; the Dignity, Integrity, and Sagacity, with which you at once filled
and adorned your late elevated and important Station, to which you were advanced by the unanimous Choice of
the Commons of Great Britain, could
not fail to determine the Editor of this
Work, without any other Motive, to
give it the Sanction of your Name, and
sollicit for it the Honour of your Protection.
It is still remembered with Reverence
and Gratitude, by every Friend to Virtue and his Country, that in all the
Rage of Party Zeal, which in the late
Reign so often threatened to fill the
House in which you presided with
Tumult and Confusion; you sat, like
the guardian Genius of the Place, repressing every irregular Sally with the
calm Dignity of deliberate Wisdom,
and asserting the Rights of every Individual with a Steadiness and Impartiality equally superior to Interest and
to Passion.
A Work, therefore, of which, after
you had perused it, you was pleased
to encourage the Publication, as of general Utility and Importance, cannot
stand in need of any other Recommendation.
The Editor has only to express his
Gratitude for the Notice with which
you have been pleased to honour him;
he does not so much as attempt an
Encomium upon your Character, not
only because, in this, he must be anticipated by the Sentiments of every one
who hears your Name, but because HE
must hold the Panegyric of a Dedicator very cheap, who has received
the Approbation of his Sovereign, and
the public Thanks of his Fellow Subjects, in their collective Capacity, for
the many and important Services which
he has rendered to his Country.
I am, SIR,
With the most profound Respect,
Your most Obliged,
And Devoted Servant,
The Editor.