this play. He was the eldest son of Dr. GLOSTER RIDLEY*, the biographer of his great ancestor Dr. NICOLAS RIDLEY, bishop of London, and martyrt.

No. 184, On the lawfulness of labouring in one's own vocation, is from the pen of Mr. GATAKER, an eminent surgeon, and the author of some professional works, published about 1760. He was a surgeon to the king's household, and died on the 17th of November, 1768.

No. 122, On the distresses of a physician without patronage, was furnished by Mr. HERRING, rector of Great Mongeham, Kent.

No. 166, On false honour, was written by Mr. MOYLE, and No. 198, on the difficulty of getting rid of one's self, by Mr. BURGESS. The Rev. JAMES SCOTT, D.D. is the author of the Ode to Sculpture, in No. 200.

Forty-one papers in the WORLD are unclaimed, and unassigned. Of these, Mr. CHALMERS has selected Nos. 62, 63, 64, 66, 135, 150, 175, 177, 190, and 208, as daring a competition with the best essays in its volumes. The name of Lord CHESTERFIELD long lay concealed under four asterisks, and his share was not finally ascertained, till the publication of his miscellaneous works. The second edition of the WORLD was printed in six volumes, with a dedication to each, and very few corrections and additions.' It was after

See CHALMERS.

† He was born on board the Gloster Indiaman, as his mother was returning from the East Indies, and so received his name from that accident.

wards contracted into four, and a list of the contributors' names appended to the last volume. Its numerous reprints have not served to slacken the demand, and it may dispute the palm of popularity with any of its fellow classics*.

In the volume of Public Characters for 1805, published by Sir RICHARD PHILIPS, Major TOPHAM is represented as having been, for five years, the principal proprietor, and even conductor of the WORLD. It is there asserted, that Major TOPHAM was also the original projector of this Paper, which he set on foot solely to bring into notice and popularity the celebrated theatrical beauty, Mrs. WELLS, of Drury-lane. When it is remarked that these affirmations are at once anonymous and unsupported,a farther observation becomes superfluous.-ED..

ORIGINAL DEDICATIONS.

me.

I. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

PHILIP, EARL OF CHESTERFIELD.

MY LORD,

THAT I presume to dedicate the first volume of The World to your Lordship, will I hope be forgiven It is not enough that I can flatter myself with having been frequently honoured with your correspondence; I would insinuate it to the public, that under the sanction of your Lordship's name, I may hope for a more favourable reception from my readers.

If it should be expected upon this occasion, that I should point out which papers are your Lordship's, and which my own, I must beg to be excused; for while, like the cuckoo in the fable, I am mixing my note with the nightingale's, I cannot resist the vanity of crying out, How sweetly we birds sing!

If I knew of any great or amiable qualification that your Lordship did not really possess, I would (according to the usual custom of dedications) bestow it freely; but till I am otherwise instructed, I shall rest satisfied with paying my most grateful acknowledgments to your Lordship, and with subscribing myself, your Lordship's

XXVI.

Obliged, and most obedient servant,
ADAM FITZ-ADAM.

B

II. TO THE HONOURABLE

HORACE WALPOLE, ESQ.

SIR,

I TAKE the liberty of prefixing your name to a vo-
lume of the World, as it gives me an opportunity,
not only of making you my acknowledgments for
the essays you have honoured me with, but also of
informing the public to whom I have been obliged.
That you may
read this address without a blush,
it shall have no flattery in it. To confess the truth,
I mean to compliment myself; and I know not how
to do it more effectually, than by thus signifying to
my readers, that in the conduct of this work, I have
not been thought unworthy of your correspondence.
I am, Sir,

Your most obedient, humble servant,
ADAM FITZ-ADAM.

III. ΤΟ

RICHARD OWEN CAMBRIDGE, ESQ.

SIR,

As you have been so partial to these papers, as to think them in some degree serviceable to morality, or at least to those inferior duties of life, which the French call les petites morales; and as you have shewn the sincerity of this opinion, by the support you have given to them, I beg leave to prefix your name to this third volume, and to subscribe myself, Sir, your obliged, and most faithful

humble servant,

ADAM FITZ-ÁDAM.

IV. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE EARL OF CORKE.

MY LORD,

Ir is usual in churches, when an organ, an altarpiece, or some other valuable ornament, is given by the bounty of any particular person, to set forth in very conspicuous characters the name of the benefactor. In imitation of this custom, I take the liberty of prefixing your Lordship's name to a volume of the World, that I may signify to the public by whose bounty it has been ornamented.

But your Lordship is not the only one of your family to whom the World has been indebted; and it is with great pleasure that I embrace this occasion of making my acknowledgments to the Earl of Corke, as it gives me an opportunity at the same time of confessing my obligations to Mr. Boyle.

I will not offend your Lordship with the common flattery of dedications, having always observed that praise is least pleasing, where it is most due: a consideration that obliges me to add no more, than that I am, my Lord,

Your Lordship's obliged, most humble, and most obedient servant, ADAM FITZ-ADAM.