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and has o f late indeed been fo generally approved arid
purfued, it feems extraordinary that among the many
merely defcriptive works on Britifln Plants, no fuccefsful
attempt has hitherto been made to illuftrate them by
original figures on a cheap and compendious plan * more
efpecially as the advantage o f good figures* in promoting
the knowledge of plants, is fo generally allowed. It is true
indeed that moft o f our native vegetables are already
figured in fome book or other, and thole books are
quoted by our fyftematic writers; but, not to mention
the frequent miftakes in fuch citations, the ftudy o f
Englifh botany on this plan could not be attempted
without a collection o f all the books, however voluminous
and expenfive* that treat o f European plants: fo
that* whatever might be thought o f a very large and ex-
penfive work o f figures o f all the plants o f Great Britain,
it is hoped the prefent reafonable and commodious
publication will by no means be copfidered as a burthen
on the public.
T o avoid that imputation as much as poffible* the
author has in his letter-prefs declined copying what
others have faid * and means in general only to refer to
the moft popular and ufeful defcriptive and fyftematic
books, as the Species Plantarum o f Linnaeus, and the
different Floras o f Hudfon, Curtis, Lightfoot, Withering,
Relhan, Ray, & c . He will fpare no pains to have
his botanical characters and fynonyms accurate* and as
he is fo fortunate as to have accefs to the firft fources o f
information, he hopes this part o f his plan will be executed
fo as to deferve approbation, and alfo that in his
remarks he may fometimes have an opportunity o f pre-
fenting his readers with matter altogether new.-