SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH, KNT.
WHILE you are imparting new light to those regions, so gloriously illuminated by the genius and the virtues of the late Sir William Jones, will you allow a Traveller to express his thoughts to you in contemplating your character and situation? I cannot but felicitate that race of my fellow-creatures who are placed within the protection of your judicial care; yet, in recollecting how many listened to you with delight in this country, I feel your distance from it, in one point of view, a source of national regret. Conscious that these sentiments are sincere, I am encouraged by them to request, that you will honour with indulgent acceptance, a book, whose author has endeavoured to unite amusement and information.
Doubtful of his success in each of his purposes, he is anxious to conciliate favour, by introducing his performance to the Public under the shelter of your name: a name that awakens universally the respect due to the beneficent exertions of know ledge and irresistible eloquence.