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iv PREFACE

Patron than the public, I would inscribe
this work to a Statesman, who, in a long,
a stormy, and at length an unfortunate
administration, had many political opponents,
almost without a personal enemy:
who has retained, in his fall from power,
many faithful and disinterested friends;
and who, under the pressure of severe
infirmity, enjoys the lively vigour of his
mind, and the felicity of his incomparable
temper. LORD NORTH will permit
me to express the feelings of friendship
in the language of truth: but even truth
and friendship should be silent, if he
still dipended the favours of the crown.

In a remote solitude, vanity may still
whisper in my ear, that my readers,
perhaps, may enquire, whether, in the
conclusion of the present work, I am
now taking an everlasting farewell. They
shall hear all that I know myself, all that
I could reveal the most intimate friend.
The motives of action or silence are now
equally balanced; nor can I pronounce