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Life of Thomas Eddy

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to its accomplishment. And had I not complied with your request, I should also have lost the pleasure which I have, my dear sir, in assuring you of the sincere respect with which I am your friend and obedient CADWALLADER D. COLDEN. To DAVID HOSACK, LL. D., F. R. S. and E. New York, April 20, 1833. DEAR SIR, Knowing the intimacy which once existed between you and the late Thomas Eddy, whose memoirs I have undertaken to pre-pare for the public, from papers in my possession, and from such other sources as may be afforded me, I take the liberty to request you to favour me with any passage of his life which may be fresh in your memory, accompanied with such remarks as you may think proper to make.I am aware of the value of your time, to yourself and to others ; but I will not offer you any idle apo-logy for taxing you, as I believe you will agree with me in opinion, that if it be a duty, as we are in the habit of thinking it to be, to attend the funereal rites of a departed friend, that it is a higher duty, and of more importance to the living, to assist in giving currency to his virtues. Most respectfully, your friend and humble servant, SAMUEL L. KNAPP. To Professor JOHN W. FRANCIS, M. D. New York, May 1, 1833. DEAR SIR, A personal acquaintance of more than twenty years with the late Mr. Thomas Eddy, might justify me in answering at some length your several interrogatories concerning his life and public services; but I have deemed it most judicious to restrict this com-munication to a few particulars, inasmuch as you are so amply furnished with authentic materials for your contemplated biogra-phy. Mr. Eddy was so intimately and for so long a period asso-ciated with the men and measure of most of our humane, bene-volent, and literary institutions, that his career is in no small degree connected with the history of those establishments, and demonstrates that a cardinal object of his pursuit, was to melio-rate the condition of human society.