Page:A Sketch of the Life of George Wilson, the Blackheath Pedestrian.djvu/6



, UNSKILLED as I am in the language of Dedications, yet, ambitious to present an humble tribute of my profound veneration and respect to those Gentlemen, by the decrees of whose united wisdom and authority, I am propelled to the business of an Author, I feel it my duty to lay at your Reverend and Worshipful feet the first fruits of my humble talents in that way; and to intreat your acceptance of the offering, as a small but sincere token of my respect. From the pen of an untutored man, little can be expected, in point of language, worthy the notice of high-placed patrons. I am but too sensible of my own deficiency in the polished terms of composition and eloquence, to aim at any flights of panegyric worthy to tickle the ears of grave and learned gentlemen, in the exalted situations you so wisely and so worthily fill. To eloquence I have no pretensions. , and not talking,