Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/To the King

to

THE KING,

sir,

ANIMATED by the gracious approbation, with which Your Majesty was pleased to receive the outline of the present Work, the Editor was encouraged to solicit the Royal Sanction, and to avail himself of every resource, both native and foreign; with a view to render the Domestic Encyclopædia worthy of the attention, and patronage, it now claims from a beneficent Sovereign.

If the numerous useful Facts, contained in these volumes, have been carefully selected; if the various objects of Rural and Domestic Economy have been elucidated with new and interesting discoveries; if the Familiar and Commercial Arts have also been attended to, with sufficient precision; and, if the Natural History of Man, Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals, has been concisely stated, together with the economical purposes to which these objects are individually subservient—the Editor will not regret such deficiencies as may be discovered in the physiological articles occurring in this Work; because he could not, consistently, extend it beyond the prescribed limits.

May Your Majesty, therefore, continue under the tutelary auspices of Providence so favourably situated, in your public and domestic concerns, as to bestow occasionally a few moments of leisure on the perusal of those essential topics, on which the prosperity and happiness of your brave and loyal subjects principally depend:—Such is the unfeigned wish and prayer of

Your Majesty's

most dutiful

⁠and most humble servant,

A. F. M. WILLICH.

James-Street, Covent-Garden,

May 1, 1802.