ANTICIPATION: Containing the Substance of HIS M⸻Y’s Most Gracious Speech TO BOTH H⸻S of P⸺L⸺T, ON THE Opening of the approaching SESSION, TOGETHER With a full and authentic Account of the DEBATE which WILL take Place in the H⸺E of C⸻S, on the Motion for the ADDRESS, and the AMENDMENT. With NOTES. “_So shall my Anticipation_ _Prevent your Discovery._” HAMLET. _LONDON_: Printed for T. BECKET, the Corner of the Adelphi, in the Strand. 1778.] _ADVERTISEMENT._ Several reasons concurred to urge the Editor to this publication. The critical situation of public affairs seemed to require an extraordinary diffusion of political knowledge; yet, in the common course, but few of the millions, who are so deeply interested in the result of parliamentary debates, can be admitted to an audience of them. Sometimes, the Members shut their galleries against the intrusion of any of their Constituents; and it is always a standing order, from the opening of the session, to prohibit the publication of their debates. Under these circumstances, an authentic account of the first day’s debate, put forth at this date, will clearly avoid any breach of that order, and, without exposing the Constituents to crowding in the gallery, to furnish them with their Representatives Speeches, taken down with the strictest fidelity, cannot but afford them some amusement, and indeed real use. Besides, the first day’s debate is generally a kind of outline of the debates of the whole session; so that a critical observer, by contemplating the buds and seedlings of this early eloquence, may calculate what degree of radical strength they possess, how far they will expand and bloom, and whether they are hardy enough to stand the winter. The Editor cannot but seize this opportunity to thank those Gentlemen who have furnished him with the _most authentic materials_ for some of the speeches, which, they will immediately see, he has copied _verbatim_ from their manuscripts—and he sincerely hopes, their having appeared in print _before_ they are spoken, will not deter the several Gentlemen from delivering them with their usual appearance of _extempore_ eloquence. November 23, 1778.