Duke of _Ancaster_ and _Kesteven_,
Hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain of
ENGLAND, _&c. &c._
_May it please your_ GRACE,
To accept of this attempt to illustrate one of the noblest antiquities
now left upon earth. I am confident your Grace will not dislike it,
either because it is a religious antiquity, or because it belongs to
our own country.
Your Grace best shews your regard to religion, by a constant attendance
on its duties, in the service of the church; and by a regular practice
of its precepts, in their whole extent. And as you are justly sensible,
the foundation of religion rests on a careful observance of the
sabbath: you not only study to encourage it, by your own great example;
but likewise discountenance, that too fashionable custom of travelling
on Sundays, and other profanations thereof: which are the sure root of
national corruption, the sure presage of national ruin.
Nor are your Grace’s virtues more conspicuous, in your religious and
moral character, than in the love of your country. This you inherit
with the blood that runs in your veins; this you derive from an
immemorial series of noble ancestors, renowned in our annals, for
their steady allegiance to the sovereign power; for their vigor in
support of the constitution both in church and state; that have often
hazarded and ruined their fortunes, and poured out their blood, in its
defence. I might instance particularly, the great part they bore in the
Reformation, the Restoration and the Revolution.
After the honour I have enjoyed of having been long known to your
Grace: I could enlarge upon the amiable qualities of your private
life, your domestic and social virtues, your humane and beneficent
disposition to all around you, friends or dependants, or those of your
own family. With truth I might say, that you never refused to serve any
person that applied to you, where it was in your power: that you never
knowingly did an unkind, an injurious thing to any person: that no one
ever withdrew griev’d from your presence. I can safely affirm, and fear
no contradiction, that justice, honour and honesty are some of the real
jewels, that adorn your Grace’s coronet. And they, at this time of day,
receive a seasonable lustre, from your high station, and illustrious
birth.
But the agreableness of the subject insensibly drew me from my main
purpose, which was to make this publick acknowledgment, of the great
favours your Grace has confer’d upon me: and to beg leave to profess
myself,
_May it please your_ GRACE,
_Your_ GRACE’S _most humble_,
_And most devoted servant_,
_Jan. 1. 1739–40._
William Stukeley.