Читать книгу The Antiquities of Constantinople - Gilles Pierre - Страница 1

ТО Richard Banner, Esq;

OF PERRY-HALL, IN THE County of STAFFORD

Sir,

No sooner had my Inclinations prevail’d upon me to publish this Author, but my Gratitude directed me where I should make the Dedication. These Labours are yours by many Obligations. Your Services to me demand them, you have express’d a particular Esteem for Pieces of this Kind, you have assisted me with a valuable Collection of Books in the Translation of them, and you have encourag’d the Performance by the Interest of your Friends; so that if there be any Merit in the Publication of it, ’tis you who are entitled to it.

The Knowledge of Antiquity was always look’d upon as a Study worthy the Entertainment of a Gentleman, and was never in higher Estimation among the Nobility and Gentry of Great Britain than it is now. And this Regard which the present Age pays to it, proceeds from a wise Discernment, and a proportionable Value of Things. For we never entertain our Curiosity with more Pleasure, and to better Purposes, than by looking into the Art, and Improvement, and Industry of antient Times, and by observing how they excited their Heroes and great Men to virtuous and honourable Actions by the Memorials of Statuary and Sculpture; the silent Records of their Greatness, and the lasting History of their Glory.

The great Discoveries made of late, and publish’d by a 1Society of Gentlemen, united in the Search of Antiquity, will be lasting Monuments of their Fame in future Times, and will be look’d upon as Arguments of an ingenious Curiosity, in looking into the delectable Situations of Places, in preserving the beautiful Ruines of Antient Buildings, and in setting Chronology in a truer Light, by the Knowledge of Coins and Medals.

But, Sir, what I principally intend in this Dedication, is to do Justice to Merit, and to acquaint the World, That you never look’d upon Licentiousness, and Infidelity, to be any Part of the Character of a fine Gentleman, That Virtue does not sit odly upon Men of a superior Station, and That in you we have an Example of one, who has Prudence enough to temper the innocent Freedoms of Life with the Strictnesses of Duty, and Conduct enough to be Merry, and not Licentious, to be Sociable, and not Austere; a Deportment this, which sets off your Character beyond the most elaborate Expressions of Art, and is not to be describ’d by the most curious Statue, or the most durable Marble. I am, Sir, with very great Regard,

Your most Oblig’d,

And most Obedient Servant,

John Ball.