The first of them was the fruit of his retirement, during the remains of
the _Civil War_ in Africa; and was composed in the form of a Dialogue. It
contains a few short, but very masterly sketches of all the Speakers
who had flourished either in Greece or Rome, with any reputation of
Eloquence, down to his own time; and as he generally touches the principal
incidents of their lives, it will be considered, by an attentive reader,
as a _concealed epitome of the Roman history_. The conference is supposed
to have been held with Atticus, and their common friend Brutus, in
Cicero's garden at Rome, under the statue of Plato, whom he always
admired, and usually imitated in his dialogues: and he seems in this to
have copied even his _double titles_, calling it _Brutus, or the History
of famous Orators_. It was intended as a _supplement_, or _fourth book_,
to three former ones, on the qualifications of an Orator.

The second, which is intitled _The Orator_, was composed a very short time
afterwards (both of them in the 61st year of his age) and at the request
of Brutus. It contains a plan, or critical delineation, of what he himself
esteemed the most finished Eloquence, or style of Speaking. He calls it
_The Fifth Part, or Book_, designed to complete his _Brutus_, and _the
former three_ on the same subject. It was received with great approbation;
and in a letter to Lepta, who had complimented him upon it, he declares,
that whatever judgment he had in Speaking, he had thrown it all into that
work, and was content to risk his reputation on the merit of it. But it is
particularly recommended to our curiosity, by a more exact account of the
rhetorical _composition_, or _prosaic harmony_ of the ancients, than is to
be met with in any other part of his works.

As to the present Translation, I must leave the merit of it to be decided
by the Public; and have only to observe, that though I have not, to my