Excerpt from The British Letter Writers: A Comprehensive Collection of the Best English Letters From the 15th Century to the Present Time In adding a few prefatory sentences to the fifth volume which has passed from the hand of the present compiler into the series in which this volume appears, it may be sufficient to say, in the first place, that the idea of making a collection of the best English letters is not a new one with him. Some years before the issue of Mr. Scoone's admirable Four Centuries of English Letters, to which we have been indebted, the idea had taken shape which has only now been executed. The matter in this volume will be found much greater in quantity, however, than in the work we have mentioned. The compiler has endeavoured to do his best with the materials under command. For any modern names which do not appear, the fact that their works are copyright must be held as a sufficient reason. All that the compiler claims to have done is to have made a collection of English letters from the best sources at command. No attempt has been made at the annotation of the letters beyond a brief explanatory note at the beginning of those letters which seemed to require it. In some cases an authors own words have been used as an explanatory note. The book is arranged in two sections - (1) Familiar and Domestic; (2) Historical, Literary, and Descriptive Letters. Although this distinction has been preserved as closely as possible, in many cases a letter may naturally fall as readily into one division as another, and may have characteristics common to both. Such a collection does not need an apology. As materials for biography and history, letters have always occupied a high and indispensable place. When good and characteristic, as in the lives of Arnold, Dickens, Carlyle, Macaulay, or Kingsley, they constitute the best key to the character of the subject of the memoir, and in all probability lend the chief charm to the work for many a reader. For instance, we see the real Charles Dickens shining less or more through every letter that he wrote. The same is the case in Froude's Carlyle. Looked at as materials for history, letters have always held an important place; we have a part of the Sacred Writings cast in the form of letters; many gems of literature thus exist in which pathos, humour, fine feeling, and good criticism are freely displayed. The heart of a subject is sometimes laid bare in a familiar letter in a way in which we do not find it in the page of sober history; we come, too, into close contact with the mind of the now historical persons who penned them, and catch, as in a mirror, some of then faded lineaments. Of course, just as we have tedious and tiresome people, we have tedious, flippant, and tiresome letters, with small reason for historical existence; but these can be easily avoided. It would take up too much space to mention all the works drawn upon. We have already mentioned our indebtedness to Mr. Scoone's book ;in addition we might mention: A Select Collection of Original Letters written by the most Eminent Persons, 2 vols. (Rivington, and B. J. Dodsley, 1755), up till that time the best selection published; also The Letters of Eminent Persons, selected and illustrated byE. A. Willmott (1839), many of whose valuable and discriminating notes have been adopted for this book. Acknowledgments are due to the following firms and private individuals who have kindly granted the use of valuable letters: Messrs. Longman & Co.; Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co.; Isbister & Co.; Mr. Maclehose; Bickers & Son; T. C. Jack; the Froprietors of Dr. Livingstones Life; Misses Dickens and Hogarth; the late Dr. Hanna; Dr. Peter Bayne; and Mrs. Bishop (Isabella L. Bird). About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com