Excerpt from The British Plutarch, Vol. 1 of 6: Containing the Lives of the Most Eminent Statesmen, Patriots, Divines, Warriors, Philosophers, Poets, and Artists, of Great Britain and Ireland, From the Accession of Henry VIII. To the Present Time; Including, a Complete History of England From That Era IN an age of general difiipation, when all the powers of nature and art are exerted to gratify the votaries of pleafure, and to extend the baneful influence of luxury to all orders of' the people, we ihould be in danger of lofing our national character, and of forget ting the virtuous manners of our ancefisors. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.