After this declaration of the sense I entertain of the general addresses of this fort, I found myself under no difficulty in applying to you, THE FRIEND OF HUMAN NATURE, for permission to send into the world, under the sanction of

your name, the works of an author, who, through life, had a strict claim to that character; and whose substitute, since his death, you are in fome fort become, by the alliance of one of your family with that person whom, by the last solemn act of his life, he appointed his repre

sentative.

Give me leave to acknow

ledge the sense I entertain of your kindness, in granting me this permission, since it satisfies my feelings as to the execution of the trust committed to me by the author, of collecting and superintending the publication of all his works; by warranting me to do that, which, could he have foreknown, would have had the sanction of his highest approbation.

Having thus far discharged the trust reposed in me by the author, I cannot satisfy, so far as is in my power, a debt of gratitude I owe to you, without availing myself of this opportunity to declare publicly (and that, I trust, not without an honest and becoming pride) howmuch I am bound to you

for the kind and uninterrupted friendship with which

you

have been pleased to favour me thro' a very long course of years; an obligation which hath been extended to such a length, by

your constant and affectionate watchfulness over a constitution, the existence of which, under Providence, your great professional knowledge and experience have prolonged far beyond that period, which, from the infirmities long attending it, could ever have been expected, or hoped for, by

DEAR SIR,
Your sincere,
Affectionate,

And obliged,

CHARLES NALSON COLE, Lincoln's Inn Fields,

Feb, 1, 1799,

W

HE N the amiable author of

these volumes, by one of the last acts of his life, bequeathed to me all the copy-rights of what he had published, and consigned to my care the literary papers which he left behind him, with a desire that I would collect together and superintend the publication of all his works, I considered this trust as a mark of his confidence, of which, after a friendship between us for near half a century, he thought me deserving. Impressed with this sentiment, from gratitude I undertook the trust with great pleasure; in the execution of which, as far as I could, I have acted