COLLECTION

OF

ORIGINAL LETTERS;

Written by the most

EMINENT PERSONS,

ON VARIOUS

ENTERTAINING SUBJECTS,
And on many

Important Occafions :

From the Reign of HENRY the Eighth,
to the present Time.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

Printed for J. and J. RIVINGTON, in St. Paul's
Church-Yard, and R. and J. DODSLEY, in Pall-Mall.

M.DCC.LV.

PREFACE.

Select Collection of Letters, written by the most eminent Wits, Statesmen, and Philofophers of our own Nation, has been greatly wanted. But in making fuch a Collection, the chief Difficulty lay in knowing what to reject. Remarks on Religion and Government, foreign Negotiations, and dry Passages of History, however acceptable they might be to the Curious, would be very little relished by the Majority of Readers; yet if all fuck were to have been thrown afide, many Letters in which Wit, Humour, and Entertainment were blended with graver Matters

A 2