OR THE LIMITS OF POETRY AND PAINTING. Translated from the German of G. F. LESSING, BY WILLIAM ROSS. Ύλη και τρόποις μιμησεως διαφοροῦσι. Πλουτ. π. Α.Θ. TO HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF SUTHERLAND, ETC., ETC. MY LADY DUCHESS, Belonging, as you do, to a Family in which a taste for Poetry and Painting seems almost to be hereditary, and which counts among its kindred one of the greatest of modern Bards,-connected too, as you are, by the tenderest ties, with one of Britain's most distinguished VIRTUOSI, it might be difficult to select an individual whose name could, with greater propriety than yours, be associated with such a work as the Laocoon of Lessing. I esteem it, therefore, most fortunate, that, in availing myself of your flattering permission to dedicate this volume to your Grace, I am at once enabled to secure for it a distinction so appropriate to the merits of the original, and to gratify my feelings by this public testimony of the deep respect and lively gratitude which must ever be entertained towards your Grace, by, My Lady Duchess, Your Grace's ever faithful and devoted Servant, GLASGOW, May, 1836. WILLIAM ROSS. |