expose. I therefore send it naked into your hands; and if I have not been deceived in those ideas which I have been accustomed to associate with the name of Mr. Whitaker, he will give it a patient and impartial perusal. Were it in print, I would solicit mercy; as it is not, I now ask nothing but that candour which rigorous justice will allow; and can only say

'Consent, it lives; it dies if you refuse !'

I would not wish to direct your attention to the anomalies which float upon its surface, but to the solidity of its contents, and to the rotundity of its figure. Mark those pages which are inconclusive; and separate the ore from the dross. Pardon, dear sir, the liberty which I take. The only apology I can make is, that I address myself to a gentleman who has more than called himself the friend of his friend and servant,

"SAMUEL DREW."

"P.S.Should you recommend it to the world, I shall be under the same necessity of soliciting you to examine the polish of its surface, that I am now of requesting a deeper investigation.

"I had almost forgotten to observe, that I have purposely omitted to give any title, till I have the result of your opinions. The subject divides from immateriality to immortality at the seventy-ninth page."

In the letter which follows, addressed to another literary clergyman in the neighbourhood of St. Austell, from whom Mr. Drew had received various marks of kindness, the opinion of Mr. Whitaker relative to the MS is intimated. It supplies a vacancy, which the loss of Mr. Whitaker's own expression of his sentiments would otherwise occasion.

"To the Rev. Philip Lync, LL.D.

"REV. SIR,

"St. Austell, October 29th, 1801.

I

"After a delay for which I know not how either to account or apologize, I return you your book. A treatise of that kind I had never seen before, but have found, on its perusal, a mirror in my mind. have found it of great service to me in methodising, and arranging my ideas, and in separating those ideas which nature had made distinct, but which habit and prejudice had associated together. In addition to that benefit which I have received from the perusal of Dr. Watts's Logic,' I have to acknowledge my obligation to Dr. Lyne, for his kindness in favouring me with it, and for assuming that manly fortitude which he has manifested, in noticing a person in my situation, and complimenting with marks of approbation a man whom sordid minds would shun with abhorrence and contempt.

"You will remember, that, when I was at your house, I hinted, that I had a MS in a state of forwardness, on the Immateriality and Immortality of the Human Soul; and that I had reserved the perusal of the MS for Mr. Whitaker.' On his return from Bath, I presented it to him; since which he has examined and returned it, with an opinion which it would discover vanity in me to express, and ingratitude to conceal.-Judge, therefore, into what a dilemma I am brought. If you, sir, feel a wish to peruse it, you have only to signify your desire, when it shall be readily forwarded by him, who wishes you happiness in time and in eternity.

"SAMUEL DREW."

Guided by Mr. Whitaker's advice, and authorized to use his name to any extent, in the way of recommendation, Mr. Drew, early in the year 1802, issued

his proposals for publishing by subscription. These were received in the most flattering manner; and within a few months, his subscription list comprised a large proportion of the nobility and gentry of Cornwall.

While the Essay on the Soul was in this stage, Mr. D. became acquainted with Mr. Britton, whose name has just been mentioned. This gentleman was then engaged on his Beauties of England and Wales,' and was preparing his Cornwall' for publication. Arriving at St. Austell, he called on Mr. Drew, as a man of literary note in the town; and this call laid the foundation of future intimacy and reciprocal acts of kindness. Alluding to their interview, Mr. Britton says, in a letter to Mr. Drew, Believe me, I felt peculiarly happy in your company, and longed for further conversation. I found your remarks and suggestions replete with thought, and gladly observed that you darted out of the common-place track of prejudice and illiberality which nine-tenths of mankind rigidly pursue."

66

In a letter to Mr. Britton, dated July 26, 1802, Mr. Drew observes, "My work goes on slowly, but regularly; about 60 pages will be finished this day. I'intend to dedicate it to Mr. Whitaker, if he will permit. 700 copies are printing, and about 640 are subscribed for; so that I expect to have but few on sale after the work enters the world. I have been sanctioned, beyond my most sanguine expectation, by all orders and ranks in Cornwall. I can repay them with gratitude, which is all that poverty has to

bestow. The sanction of the Rev. John Whitaker has given me a celebrity which I fear I cannot support; and I have my doubts whether expectation be not raised to be disappointed."

His book being nearly through the press, Mr. Drew asked permission of Mr. Whitaker to dedicate the work to him, and received the following manly and characteristic reply.

"DEAR SIR,

66

"Saturday, September 4, 1802.

I

I received your letter, and perused your address, some days ago; but I deferred to write, because I wished not to write by the post. I am, however, compelled to do so at last; and I now reply, with my free leave for you to do as you propose. am always happy to serve you, and shall always be happy. I might, indeed, object to some expressions of gratitude towards me. But to object would look like affectation; and I feel myself superior to all affectation. In that spirit, I wish you all imaginable good from your publication, and subscribe myself, very cordially,

"Your friend and servant,

"JOHN WHITAKER."

"Mr. Samuel Drew, Shoemaker, St. Austell."

If the patron were above the affectation of humility, the affectation of gratitude will scarcely be alleged against the protegée. Never did Mr. Drew speak or write of Mr. Whitaker but in terms of the highest respect and admiration. "It must be obvious," he says, "to all, that I stand indebted to Mr. Whitaker for my literary existence, by his publicly avowing himself my friend at a moment when recommenda

U

tion or a want of it must have finally determined my fate. I was then in a critical situation; insomuch that a single dash of his pen might have doomed me to perpetual silence and obscurity, and made me feel an aversion from those studies in which before I had so ardently delighted."* To no one, therefore, could he have dedicated his book with so much propriety as to this gentleman; and he made it a point to retain the dedication in every edition of the work.

This address, characterized by the reviewers as exhibiting a strain of manly and grateful acknowledgment which reflects much honour on the patron and the writer, can scarcely be deemed out of place in our pages.

"TO THE REV. JOHN WHITAKER, RECTOR of RUAN-LANYHORNE, CORNWALL.

"When this Dedication meets your eye, it will be unnecessary for me to say, that I am a stranger to all ingenious modes of address, and that the polite arts of pleasing are a species of learning which I have not yet acquired: but silence is not justifiable, when gratitude forbids an acknowledgment to be suppressed. It is a full conviction of your favours which dictates to my pen; and I intend nothing more, in this address, than publicly to tell the world to whom I am indebted, while I express to you the warm effusions of a grateful heart.

"When, without patron or friend, I abandoned my

Essay on Identity of the Body. Address to the Reader.