from which he afterwards formed the portrait which is now annexed to this volume. It is scarcely necessary to observe that, if any profit should arise to the editor, from the publication of Mr. Murray's Memoirs, it will, in conformity with his practice, be applied, like that on all his other works, to charitable and benevolent purposes. I present to the public the Memoirs which my friend has written of his life, with a firm, but humble confidence, that they will meet a favourable reception; and that few readers will find any thing to regret in them but their brevity. They will perhaps not be unacceptable or uninteresting, as a correct and pleasing specimen of the epistolary style, and as the last composition that will be produced to the world, of an esteemed and highly useful writer; for with respect to the few manuscripts which he has left, none are prepared, or designed, for publication; and in regard to his letters, his request will, I doubt not, be held sacred. But this little volume possesses stronger and more important claims to favour and approbation than any I have yet mentioned. To the philosopher, it affords a striking instance of a character formed to a high degree of excellence, and rising into eminence, not by adventitious advantages, but chiefly by its own native energy and exertion; to the moralist, the virtuous principles which it recommends, and which, in some degree, it exemplifies from the earliest dawn of reason to the latest period of life, will doubtless be highly gratifying; to the young, it will, I trust, prove a stimulus to the due improvement of their intellectual and moral powers, and the dedication of them to the glory of their great Creator, and the benefit of their fellow-creatures: and on all, it will, I hope, forcibly inculcate the important lesson of pious acquiescence in the Divine Will, and the duty and happiness of cultivating, even under trying and discouraging circumstances, a contented, cheerful, and benevolent disposition. The Mount, York, August, 1826, MEMOIRS, &c. LETTER I. My dear Friend, I HAVE not forgotten the repeated and urgent requests which have been made to me, to communicate some memoirs of my life, especially of its earlier periods, for the gratification of friendship. But a reluctance to write so particularly on the subject of myself, and my own concerns, has hitherto prevented me from engaging in a work of this nature. I can not, however, any longer refuse to comply with a proposal, which is supported by the soothing recommendations of esteem and regard, and by a friendship which has subsisted between us for |