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After the publication of the Dormant and Extinct Baronage of England, in 3 Vols. 4to. in the years 1807, 8, and 9, the interest which they had excited, led me to imagine that as not any account had theretofore been ever printed of many eminent persons who had been Summoned to Parliament, either as, or among the Earls and Barons of the realm, but whose names alone were to be found in Dugdale's Lists of Summons, without any mention of them in his History of the Baronage, it might be a desirable addition to the preceding Volumes, to bring them into notice, and with that view I published in 1825, a supplement intitled Stemmata Anglicana.As Piracy, or Plagiarism among Authors has been a pretty usual practice, it is not matter of surprise to me, that what I have brought forward should be adopted by any of them as their own - thus whosoever shall peruse Mr. Burke's Octavo Edition, of what he is pleased to denominate the Dormant and Extinct Baronage, will find it almost a literatim Copy of my previous publication, and in such respect a base plagiarism, but when a man is destitute of gratitude to those who may have rendered him services, he is generally a stranger to the principles of honour. Yet as he has added to his work the Titles of the Dormant and Extinct Peerage of Scotland, and Ireland, I am most willing to give him due credit for that useful addition; and had he corrected the Errors I may have committed, by following with too much confidence the authority of Dugdale, and other Heraldic Authors, he would have had my approbation, notwithstanding the flagrancy of his Piracy; which probably he reconciles as a Highwayman would the Robbery he had made upon another's property; but if he himself was afterwards robbed, he would complain of it as an heinous offence.So far with respect to Mr. Burke.
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