THE MATERIALS FOR HOWE'S BIOGRAPHY COMPARATIVELY SCANTY. -REASONS OF THIS.-DESTRUCTION OF HIS MSS.-PROBABLE REA-. SONS OF HIS CONDUCT.-CHIEF DESIGN OF THE PRESENT VOLUME.PRINCIPAL ASPECTS UNDER WHICH HOWE'S CHARACTER IS TO BE CONTEMPLATED. VALUE OF A CERTAIN SPECIES OF BIOGRAPHY. -THIS MODE OF PRESENTING IMPORTANT TRUTH ILLUSTRATED BY THE STRUCTURE OF THE SCRIPTURES.
I AM ambitious, I confess, of rendering this volume something more than a bare detail of facts and dates. Indeed, if a simple narrative had been my only object, a volume so large as the present would have been quite unnecessary; since all that has descended to us of the personal history of John Howe, might have been comprised within half the compass. The materials for his biography are far more scanty than is usual in the case of men, who have occupied stations so prominent, and taken a part in scenes so interesting.
This, it is true, was his own fault. If he had not in his last moments laid sacrilegious hands on the voluminous manuscripts which contained