To the Right Honourable HENRY DUNDAS, OF HIS MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARIES OF STATE, AND PRESIDENT OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR PREFACE. THE nature and plan of the Work which we now lay before the Public, have been already unfolded and explained in our general Prospectus; and our idea of its utility has been amply justified, not only by the liberal and almost universal patronage we have met with, but by the approbation of men whose opinions, as they add authority to truth, so they have given confidence to our hopes, as well as energy to our exertions. It would therefore be superfluous, if not improper, to detain the reader with any observations on the merits of our undertaking, or to solicit attention by a declamatory discourse on its importance; but it seems necessary to give a sketch of our original plan, and to state the reasons which have induced us to deviate from it in a few particular parts. |