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WOLSEY, I have prefumed to Dedicate it to You; because (Pardon me, if I am mistaken) you feem to have pay'd a most remarkable Regard to his Memory, by preferving, with the greatest Exactness, the Structure and Form of an Antient, Beautiful, and Magnificent Building,* that once had fo Eminent a Founder.

THIS is (to me) an evident Demonftration of Your Efteem for that Great Man, and was the Reafon of my being ambi

tious

At Efher in Surry.

tious to prefix your Honourable Name to this Collection; hoping it may meet with your favourable Reception, which will cer tainly give it a confiderable Weight with the Publick, and add a fingular Pleasure to,

SIR,

Your moft Humble, and

Moft Obedient Servant.

April 26, 1742.

THE

PREFACE.

HERE is nothing, either more Useful or Entertaining, than to be placed in the great Theatre of human Life, (of which History gives us the most extenfive and compleat Representation) and,by beholding herein the great Actions and Engagements, the frequent Calamities and Diftreffes of others, we may become fo cautious and wife, as to fhun the Shoals and Rocks on which many have split, It is here, that we see whole Ages exhibited to us in one View; with the various Operations of mortal Paffions; the different Principles by which our Fellow-Creatures are acted; the different Objects they are in Pursuit of; and the different If

fues

fues and Events which their Actions at laft meet with. It is here, we see the Beginning, the Progrefs, and the Conclufion of the greatest Empires; and the probable Caufes both of their Rise and Declenfion; both of their Grandeur, and their Ruin; how the haughtieft States and Kingdoms have rofe and flourish'd, from the humblest and most uncultivated Simplicity of Life and Manners; and how from these, being grofly corrupted and depraved by Profperity and Luxury, they have gradually declined, and totally perished. It is History that furnishes us with Examples of all Kinds, and all Qualities, whether indifferent, vicious, or virtuous; that ftrikes the deepest Impres fions on those, who are conscious of its tranfmitting the Memoirs of their own Management to Pofterity; that encourages good Men in Power to be ftill more useful, and often makes evil ones lefs hurtful to Mankind; while both confider, that their Deeds will be foon viewed by the Eyes of the whole World, and Ages to come the Judges, who

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