Hortus Kewensis (1st edition)/Volume 1/Dedication
TO THE
KING.
Permit, Sir, a servant rendered happy by Your Majesty's benevolence, to obey the impulse of gratitude, which urges him to lay at Your Majesty's feet, this attempt to make public the present state of the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew.
Small as the book appears, the composition of it has cost him a large portion of the leisure allowed by the daily duties of his station, during more than fifteen years: in all that time it has been thought worthy the assistance of men more learned than himself; a circumstance, which flatters him with the hope, that it may not be found utterly unworthy of Your Majesty's inspection.
As throughout his life he has unremittingly attended to the studies of Horticulture and Botany, he may, without presumption, expect to have the fruits of his labours received with candour, by the cultivators of those valuable sciences; should they be approved, his gratification will be extreme; but his ambition has still a higher aim: the approbation of a Royal Master, to whom he is attached by every tie that gratitude, as well as duty, can impose, is what he seeks to deserve; and, should Your Majesty be graciously pleased to crown his labours by a single sentiment of applause, it will satisfy, to the utmost, the most elevated wishes of his heart; who is,
- with unfeigned humility,
- and uninterrupted attachment,
- Your Majesty's most devoted servant,