_May it please your Majesty!_
_The Condescension of the late Emperor of ~Germany~ to patronize this
~WORK~ in the ~Original~, could not have incited me to the Presumption
of laying the ~Translation~ at Your Royal Feet; had not the ~Art~ of
~PERSPECTIVE~, of which it treats, been so nearly ally’d to the Noble
Arts of ~PAINTING~ and ~ARCHITECTURE~. The ~First~ of these Your Majesty
has been pleas’d to honour, as well in expressing a Satisfaction with the
Performances, as in extending Your Royal Munificence to that great Master
thereof, Signor ~Verrio~._
_AND although Affairs of higher Consequence have hitherto deferr’d Your
Majesty’s Commands for Raising ~WHITE-HALL~ from its Ruins; yet has not
~Architecture~ been without Encouragement, under ~Your Majesty’s~ Most
Auspicious Reign: Witness the great Dispatch lately given to those Noble
Fabricks of S. ~PAUL’s~, ~Greenwich~-Hospital, and ~Blenheim~._
_THESE seem to presage, that a Time is coming, when, through the
Blessing of Peace, and the Happy Influence of Your Majesty’s Government;
~WHITE-HALL~ shall become a Structure worthy its Great ~Restorer~, and
its Name as much Celebrated among ~Palaces~, as Your Royal Vertues
are Illustrious among ~Princes~: When Your Majesty’s Subjects shall
exert themselves as much to their Country’s Honour, in the ~Arts~ of
~Design~, and ~Civil Architecture~; as they have already done in the ~Art
Military~, and ~Personal Valour~._
_PRELIMINARY to such Happy Season, I presume this ~Art of Perspective
made Practicable~, may not be improper; being One of the most Useful,
though hitherto the most Obscure and Confus’d, of all the Lineary Arts.
I therefore, with all Submission, beg Leave to supplicate Your Majesty’s
Pardon for this Address, and Your Gracious Protection of this Specimen
of ~English~ Graving; to which if ~Your Majesty~ vouchsafe ~Your~ Royal
~PATRONAGE~, it will effectually animate the future Endeavours of,_
May it please Your Majesty!
_Your Most Obedient Subject_,