'When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your Lordship,
I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your
address; and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself Le
vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre;--that I might obtain that regard for
which I saw the world contending; but I found my attendance so little
encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continue
it. When I had once addressed your Lordship in publick, I had exhausted
all the art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly scholar can
possess. I had done all that I could; and no man is well pleased to have
his all neglected, be it ever so little.
'Seven years, my Lord, have now past, since I waited in your outward
rooms, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been
pushing on my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to
complain, and have brought it, at last, to the verge of publication,
without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile
of favour.
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