Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. To the royal and noble personages, and the numerous friends, who have honoured this volume by their names and patronage, I beg leave, in an especial manner, to offer my tribute of respectful gratitude; for it is to their kind encouragement and protection of it, that I am, in a very principal degree, indebted for its public cation.