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HIS GRACE,

Alexander, Duke of Gordon,

Marquis of Huntly, Earl of Norwich, and Baron Mordaunt of Turvey, K. T. &c.

MY LORD DUKE,

With sentiments of gratitude and the most respectful humility, I now presume to lay under your Grace's honoured protection, the present Edition of a Work, which needs no panegyric to enhance its merit, or establish its celebrity. It has always been deservedly valued and admired as the production of a man of learning and genius;—and, however much I may have failed in my humble endeavours to render this justly popular History, in its present new and enlarged form, more worthy of your Grace's approbation, and of the public esteem, it must still be a cause of the proudest satisfaction to me, that my well-intended efforts have been honoured with the patronage of so distinguished a name; and that I have been allowed to introduce this Volume to the world, under the auspices of a Nobleman, no less exalted in rank, than conspicuous for eminent attainments in Literature, for elegance of Taste, and those qualities of mind, which shed a brighter lustre on the character than the emblazoned escutcheon, or the hereditary title.

To whom, indeed, could I with greater propriety have dedicated this work than to a Noble Duke, whose family, in point of hereditary virtues, as well as of rank, possessions, and antiquity, occupy the most distinguished place, not only in the "History of the Province

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