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pations, and for some time interrupted my correspon-dence ; and, although by the blessing of God, and bythe aid of repeated depletion, and powerful reme-dies, I have been restored to such a state of health asto be able to devote a prescribed portion of my timeto the society of my friends and the perusal of mybooks, a result at my time of life (approaching my78th year) scarcely to be expected ; yet it has not beentill of late that I have been able to undertake theperusal of so large a work as yours, which I havenow read, not only without any injurious conse-quences to my health, but with great informationand amusement. At the same, time I have imbibeda very distinct idea and favourable opinion of thetruly great and good man, whose character you haveso admirably depicted, and whose great and variousmerits you have so ably illustrated and explained.Writing, as I now do, under the immediate impres-sions derived from the perusal of your noble tributeto the memory of your friend, it would be unjust inme to suppress the feelings with which I have beenactuated, or to deny that, highly as I estimate such a character in a nation abounding in great men, I con-sider your production as having shown you worthyto have been his biographer, and whilst you haveraised an imperishable monument to his fame, tohave given the surest earnest of your own. In addi-tion to the regret I feel, in not having been able toreply sooner to your letter, 1 am sorry not to havetransmitted you the few documents requested by you,respecting my late highly esteemed friend, ThomasEddy, of whom I have read several very interestingmemorials in your work; but the same calamity that prevented me from writing, also prevented me fromperforming this duty, having taken me when mypapers were in such a state of derangement that theycould not, for a long time, be looked into. I am, how-ever, in some degree, consoled by the consideration,that you will not have been delayed in your intend-