Jablonski*, concerning the business herein related." -The work was dedicated "To the most High, the most Mighty, and most "Excellent Monarch, Frederic III. King of Prussia, and Elector of Brandenburg. "Sir, "As the following sheets, containing the letters of "an eminent Prussian Divine, relate to a scheme "patronised by your Royal Grandfather, they require no other apology for being laid at your Majesty's "feet. The descendants of an English Prelate, in "whose hands alone the original papers are lodged, "which are as yet unknown to the world, have pre"sumed to do this; well knowing that your Majesty "will not judge of the gift by the obscurity of the * "Le Dr. Daniel Ernest Jablonski étoit Premier Chapelain du Roi de Prusse, et Surintendant de l'Eglise Protestante de Pologne. Il avoit dans sa jeunesse été fort prevenu contre l'Eglise Anglicane, mais ayant fait deux voyages en Angleterre, dans lesquels il sejourna assez long tems à Oxford, ses conversations avec plusieurs de nos Ecclesiastiques, et une étude appliquée de notre Discipline et de notre Liturgie, lui avoient inspiré une veritable admiration pour la constitution de notre Eglise."-Muysson, Traducteur. Dr. Jablonski thus delivers his opinion of our Protestant Church, to a friend (Dr. Nicholls), in a letter dated January 10, 1708. .......... inde in eâ sententiâ confirmatus fui, Ecclesiam Anglicanam inter omnes Ecclesias Reformatas ad exemplar Ecclesiæ Primitivæ proximè accedere, meritoque audire Sydus in Cœlo Christiano lucidissimum, Decus Reformationis primarium, et Evangelii adversus Papatum propugnaculum firmissi.' mum." persons who make it; but that, if there be any thing in it which can be made conducive to the public good, your Majesty will bring it to perfec"tion: under which persuasion it is, with all humi"lity, offered to your Majesty, AS THE FRIEND OF "MANKIND." The offering was graciously received by the King; and the work was greatly approved by the clergy both of Prussia and Holland*. His third publication was "A Short Introduction to Vocal Music," of the merits of which the approbation of men of acknowledged judgment and professional eminence furnishes the most decisive testimony †. * Some Letters preserved in his Correspondence explain the farther course of the transaction. + From Joah Bates, Esq. to Granville Sharp, Esq. "Dear Sir, "Hinchinbrook, Dec. 27, 1768. "A party of very musical people are assembled at this place, most of whom are very desirous of improving themselves in the art of singing at sight. It was natural for me to mention to them your little Treatise, as the best calculated for this purpose of any thing I had ever seen; and curiosity is so greatly raised, that I promised to write to you, and beg the favour of one or two copies, if you have any to spare. Besides considerably improving the art itself, you will make a great many people happy, and we shall all be bound to remember you with gratitude. "With best respects," &c. 66 JOAH BATES." A no less valuable testimony from our eminent native com His fourth work, "On the Pronunciation of the English Tongue," was printed in the year 1767. He gives the following account of it in a letter to his brother, Dr. John Sharp, dated January 3, 1786. "The few hours of leisure that I was able to spare from business, in September and October last, were chiefly spent in drawing up a short treatise on the English Tongue, to render the reading and pronunciation of the same more easy to Foreigners. Dr. Gregory Sharp, Dr. Birch, and my brothers here, have read, and approve of it, and advise me to print it. Dr. Sharp would have me print it in Latin, French, and English. "I believe the whole (except the preface) may, when printed, be contained in a sheet of paper. "Dr. Lowth does not treat upon the English pronunciation in his Grammar; neither do I know of any author that has (except Wallis) to any purpose. An honest Scotchman, Mr. Buchanan, has indeed lately attempted it, but with so many refinements by way of polite pronunciation, that he makes it ten times more difficult and irregular than it really is. Wherefore I flatter myself that my little treatise will be the more acceptable to the public, especially as the extreme difficulty and uncertainty of the English pronunciation is universally complained of," &c. &c. poser, Mr. Shield, will be found in the Appendix, containing, in addition to several interesting anecdotes, a critical examination of the "Introduction to Vocal Music." The reader is referred to it both for amusement and instruction. There are two separate editions of this work; one in English only, and one in English and French*. In 1768, he published a tract entitled "Remarks on several important Prophecies." The immediate motives of this publication are not known to his friends. He describes it, in the catalogue of his works, only as "written in answer to Dr. W-ms.' Its object is, to defend the received interpretation of certain passages, in the Prophetical Writings, which declare the miraculous birth of Christ t. His two next works have been already mentioned. He edited "A short Account of that Part of Africa "inhabited by Negroes" (originally printed in America), "and of the Endeavours of the Society "for Propagating the Gospel to instruct Negro "Slaves in New York;" adding to his publication, "A Conclusion, by the Editor:" and to this succeeded the celebrated "Representation of the In"justice and dangerous Tendency of tolerating "Slavery in England, 1769." By what methods he had acquired a sufficient knowledge of French to venture on a publication in that language, is uncertain; but in the correspondence which he afterward carried on with the principal members of the first French Revolution, the rough copies of some letters, entirely in French, with great alterations and interlinings in his own hand-writing, prove him to have possessed a considerable knowledge of that tongue. + See "Additional Notes" at the end of Appendix. In the year 1771 appeared a tract on a subject entirely distinct from any yet mentioned. It is called "Remarks concerning the Encroachments on "the River Thames near Durham Yard," and is noticed by him in a letter, already quoted, to Dr. Rutherforth :-" One public affair has likewise taken up some of my time; viz. the rights of the city of London upon the river Thames, which, as a citizen, I am bound by oath to maintain. A little tract on this point I am now printing." In 1772 he printed "An Appendix" to the Representation against Slavery. Similar motives to those just described by himself, springing from a sense of social duty, gave rise to his next production, "On Duelling;" of which he gives the following account to his friend Benezet: [EXTRACT.] 7th January, 1774. "Towards the end of last summer, when I had set about to finish my tracts, I was undesignedly drawn off by a particular subject, the pernicious practice of duelling, which occurred to me in the course of one of my tracts, viz. that relating to the Necessity of Submission to Personal Injuries,' in which it was proposed to show the true meaning of the several texts usually cited for the lawfulness of slavery among Christians. "My intention, indeed, was only to touch lightly on duelling; but, in examining the subject, I found it so perplexed with contradictions, and false precedents cited by the law writers, that I was gradually and imperceptibly led |