 | Arts, manufactures, and commerce |  |
DEDICATION.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENTS, AND MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY, FOR THE Encouragement OF ARTS, MANUFACTURES, AND COMMERCE.
My Lords, and Gentlemen,
When I consider, that the ultimate, and (I may say) sole Design of all your Meetings, and Assiduity, is to serve your Country in the truest Sense; and with an unparalleled Generosity, to bestow not the Property of others intrusted to your Management, but your own Money, on the deserving of either Sex: to stimulate by Honorary Expectations the Nobility, to excel in the Use of the Pencil, and to that more noble Undertaking, of raising Groves of Britain's native Oaks, and Elms, to be in future Days launched forth, the floating Bulwarks of our Land, to bear Britannia's vengeful Thunder against every insidious Foe, and to prove a Legacy of Utility, and Public Safety to Posterity: and when I reflect that your Pecuniary Premiums, are bestowed to incite the Artists, Manufacturers, Mechanics, &c. to Competition in their several Professions; and the Mercantile Traders of England, to attempt new Schemes, by which to set our Commerce on a more beneficial Footing; my Mind is at once filled and Captivated with the Grandeur of the Plan, its Apititude for Success, and the Munificence of its Supporters: Honor, and Gain, being undoubtedly the Motives to every sublunary Undertaking.
These Reflections on the Laudable Transactions of your Honourable Society, instituted solely for the Public Good, and which has incontestably proved its vast Utility, irresistibly impelled me to dress my Sentiments in poetic Numbers, and to usher them into the World under your Protection.
With all due Reverence then for so Respectable a Body, it is to you, my Lords, and Gentlemen, with an humble Confidence, that I address the following Poem; and beg the Liberty I have taken may not give Offence; accept it with Complacency, adn as I have been so happy thus far to give Satisfaction in my Station, and you have hitherto been pleased to favour me with a benign Aspect, (of which I shall ever retain the most grateful Remembrance) be pleased to condescend to bestow a Smile on my Offspring; the Sanction of your Approbation being the Summit of my Ambition, who am, My Lords, and Gentlemen, with the greatest Respect, your much obliged, and most Obedient humble Servant, GEORGE COCKINGS.
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