THE LUCUBRATIONS OF Ifaac Bickerstaff, Efq; VOL. III. LONDON: Printed for H. LINTOT, J. and P. KNAPTON, то тнЕ RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM, Lord COWPER, Baron of WINGHAM. My LORD, A FTER having long celebrated the fuperior Graces and Excellencies, among Men, in an imaginary Character, I do myself the Honour to fhew my Veneration for tranfcendent Merit under my own Name, in this Addrefs to your Lordship. The juft Application of thofe high Accomplishments of which you are Mafter, has been an Advantage to all your Fellow-Subjects; and it is from the common Obligation you have A 2 have laid upon all the World, that I, though a private Man, can pretend to be affected with, or take the Liberty to acknowledge, your great Talents and publick Virtues. IT gives a pleafing Profpect to your Friends, that is to fay, to the Friends of your Country, that you have paffed through the Highest Offices, at an Age when others ufually do but form to themselves the Hopes of them. They may expect to fee you in the House of Lords as many Years as you were afcending to it. It is our common Good, that your admirable Eloquence can now no longer be employed, but in the Expreffion of your own Sentiments and Judgment. The fkilful Pleader is now for ever chang'd into the juft Judge; which later Character your Lordship exerts with fo prevailing an Impartiality, that you win the Approbation even of those who diffent from you, and you always obtain Favour, becaufe you are never moved by it. THIS gives you a certain Dignity peculiar to your present Situation, and makes the Equity, even of a Lord High Chancellor, appear but a Degree towards the Magnanimity of a Peer of Great Britain.. FORGIVE me, My Lord, when I cannot conceal from you, that I fhall never hereafter behold you, but I fhall behold you, as lately, lately, defending the Brave and the Unfor tunate. WHEN we attend to your Lordship, engaged in a Difcourfe, we cannot but reflect upon the many Requifites which the vainglorious Speakers of Antiquity have demanded in a Man who is to excel in Oratory; I say, My Lord, when we reflect upon the Precepts by viewing the Example, though there is no Excellence propos'd by thofe Rhetoricians wanting, the whole Art feems to be refolved into that one Motive of Speaking, Sincerity in the Intention. The graceful Manner, the apt Gesture, and the affumed Concern, are impotent Helps to Perfuafion, in Comparison of the honeft Countenance of him who utters what he really means. From hence it is, that all the Beauties which others attain with Labour, are in your Lordship but the natural Effects of the Heart that dictates. IT is this noble Simplicity, which makes. you furpafs Mankind in the Faculties, wherein Mankind are diftinguished from other Creatures, Reafon and Speech. IF thefe Gifts were communicated to all Men in Proportion to the Truth and Ardour of their Hearts, I fhould fpeak of you with the fame Force as you exprefs yourself on any other Subject. But I refift my prefent Impulfe, as agreeable as it is to me; though, indeed, |