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The brief notices of Dr. LETTSOM* are the result of a sincere regard, arising from a very long and uninterrupted friendship.-The short account of Mr. NEILD, the Visitor of Prisons, has the same origin.

The Portrait of Dr. Lettsom had been engraved under his own immediate direction, but was never till now used: I purchased it at the sale of his Library and Curiosities.-The striking resemblance of Mr. Neild has been kindly contributed by his only surviving Son.

The Memoir of Mr. CAPELL is by my late very accomplished friend Samuel Pegge, Esq.

The Life of the Rev. JOHN CLARKE was presented to me by the late truly venerable Prebendary of Durham, Dr. Thomas Zouch; who, after refusing a Mitre, died universally honoured and respected.

With the Memoirs of Mr. MIDGLEY and Mr. Archdeacon PEARSON, and the Portrait of Mr. Midgley, I have been favoured by my worthy and intelligent Friend the Reverend William Layton.

The Memoir of Dr. BURTON (with his Portrait) is extracted from the "History of Surrey" by the late Rev. Mr. Manning and Mr. Bray; that of Mr. BARNARD from Dr.Whitaker's "History of Craven.” Mr. FARRER'S was communicated by J. Hixon, Esq.

The brief outline of the character of Governor ELLIS was furnished by Francis Ellis, Esq. his immediate Representative.

* Subsequently to the printing of my Memoir, but previous to its publication, a much fuller account of that very excellent Man and skilful Physician has been published, from authentic materials, by his intelligent young Friend Mr. Pettigrew; who has also given a more ample Memoir of Mr. Neild, from a Letter written by himself in 1806 to Dr. Lettsom.-Mr. Neild was born May 24, 1744, at Knutsford in Cheshire, where he received his education; was placed apprentice to a Jeweller in London, and began business for himself in St. James's Street in 1770. He married, in 1779, the eldest daughter of John Camden, of Battersea, Esq. In 1791 he lost his wife; and, in the next year, "having only two sons to provide for, retired from business with an ample fortune." His zeal for visiting Prisons commenced in his boyish days, and continued to the end of his life; which had been much endangered in 1781 by the Gaol Fever, leaving behind it a perpetual asthma. He died Feb. 14, 1914, aged nearly 70.

The

The well-written Characters of Mr. WINDHAM

and Mr. WILLIAMSON, with the Portrait of Mr.

Windham, are borrowed from Mr. Archdeacon

Coxe's Life of Benjamin Stillingfleet, Esq.

The Portrait of Lord Chief Baron SMITH I

owe to my very good Friend William Collins, Esq.

of Greenwich; who gave it me as an ornament to the

History of Leicestershire."

The articles not above enumerated are either ac-

knowledged in the places where they appear, or are

to be answered for by the Editor.

I cannot conclude without once more offering my

acknowledgements to the friendship and advice I

have constantly received from that true Friend, and
generous Patron of Literature, James Bindley, Esq.
But, after all, my stores of information, let me
proudly add, are far from being exhausted.

To the illustrious Luminary of Science, Dr.
PARR, I look with confidence for a Memoir of Dr.
ROBERT SUMNER, and Anecdotes of many of his
Contemporaries; which, from the capacious mind of
the benevolent Writer, I venture to predict, will
delight, instruct, and improve, the rising generation.

And, though I have deeply to deplore the loss of
Mr. Justice Hardinge, his spirit survives in his very
respectable Relatives; and I still hope to preserve some
pleasing fruits of his ingenuous and elegant studies
accompanied by a Biographical Memoir of Mr.
Hardinge, a good Portrait of him by Dance, and a
specimen of his Epistolary Correspondence.

It remains only to request that indulgence, at the

opening of my seventy-third year, which I have

happily experienced in the reception of the literary

exertions of more than half a century *.

"In a variety of Readers, some will be pleased with what
others will despise; and that man who presumes to give a public
dinner, must provide, as well as he is able, a dish for each par-
ticular palate; so that if I have given too much, it is at my own risk,
and from an earnest desire to satisfy every one." NORTHCOTE.

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