DEDICATION. TO THE HONORABLE CÆSAR A. RODNEY, LATE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, COMMISSIONER TO THE SPANISH PROVINCES, &c. &c. DEAR SIR, It is now nearly four years since you were so kind as to cheer the literary efforts of one who was altogether personally unknown to you, and who sensibly feels how feeble were his claims to such condescension from such a character. May I beg of you to impute my silence on the subject to any thing rather than a spirit of ingratitude, and to believe, that in requesting you to accept the dedication of this volume, I mean rather to acknowledge than repay the obligation. The voice of encouragement from a distant hemisphere-from an utter stranger-and that stranger amongst the eminent of his nation, might excuse some sentiment of vanity even in the most modest. In the young Irish candidate for distinction, perhaps the excuse might be carried even to indulgence. Indeed |