Besides his valuable support, I have acknowledgments to make to many other of Mr. Sharp's friends, for the ready and obliging assistance which I have received from them: particularly to the Rev. Mr. Owen, for much useful information;-to Zachary Macaulay, Esq., for his great attention in supervising the historical narrative of the colony of Sierra Leone;-to Thomas Clarkson, Esq., for the most cordial interest in my inquiries on several occasions ;-to Stephen Catley, Esq., Chairman of the Protestant Association; Thomas Harrison, Esq., Secretary to the African Institution; William Wilberforce, Esq.; the Rev. John Hutton; Granville H. Wheeler, Esq.; the Rev. John R. Williams; Thomas Allan, Esq.; Sir Watkin Lewes; William L. Newman, Esq., City Solicitor; Mr. Chamberlain Clarke; John Poynder, Esq.; Mr. Deputy, Box; Robert H. Inglis, Esq.; William Tooke, Esq.; the Rev. Dr. Hamilton,—for various communications.

I am likewise indebted to his Excellency Richard Rush, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America; Archibald Impey, Esq.; Charles Few, Esq.; and other friends, for.

attentions by which they have had it in their power to advantage my work.

In the obituary tributes which were paid to Mr. Sharp's memory in several respectable publications, I observed, together with a general desire for a just biographical detail, the expression also of a wish, that, in the performance of such a task, the writer (whoever he might be) should draw a veil over some peculiarities of Mr. Sharp's character.

This sentiment entirely coincided with my own feelings at my commencement of the Memoirs; but in the further contemplation of the life and conduct of the Subject of them, I felt his character to be of that high and dignified nature, to leave no necessity for such a precaution, but sufficient to bear him safely above the little cavils which may be levelled at any excess of benevolent zeal. I own I see nothing to veil; and if I am wrong, it is an error of my deliberate judgment. He was himself without disguise," walking always before God,"-the delight of his family, and the benefactor of his race.

If circumstances or opinions appear at times tinged with no slight degree of human

weakness, they are no just cause of alarm to his biographer. The sensibilities of the heart have no tendency to lower the standard of a virtuous character, more especially when those sensibilities are excited by the fervent impulses of religious faith.

I have, therefore, endeavoured boldly to delineate him, such as he stood in the face of man, and have merely abridged, of his own records, what I thought might be deemed tedious in the recital.

Of the memoirs of good men, it may be said, as of their tombs, that " as honours are paid to the dead in order to incite others to the imitation of their excellence, their principal intention is to perpetuate the examples of virtue, that the history of a good man may supply the want of his presence, and veneration for his memory produce the same effect as the observation of his life*."

It only remains to notice a circumstance which might otherwise appear to be an oversight. Besides the numerous letters selected

* Dr. Johnson's Essay on Epitaphs.

from Mr. Sharp's correspondence, and inserted in the course of the narrative, the reader will find a reference to some few others which do not appear with it. They were at first designed for insertion with the Appendix; but it having since been judged desirable, by Mr. Sharp's friends, that the whole of his Correspondence should be collected together, to form the materials of a future publication, they have been relinquished for that purpose.

The present Memoirs, being ready for publication, have been directed to be delivered to the Subscribers, without further delay.

May 1820.

PREFACE

TO THE

SECOND EDITION.

THE favour with which the Quarto Edition of these Memoirs has been received, both in respect of the gratifying approbation of many who were acquainted with the subject of them, and of the profitable result to the African Institution, has induced me to offer to the Public a new Edition in Octavo, in the hope of extending more widely the example of a good man, and of rendering it familiar to a more numerous class of readers; and also again to devote the profits (if any should accrue) to a Benevolent Establishment.

On reviewing my Work and the documents from which it was formed, although I find much of imperfection to regret, I do not discover that I have omitted any circumstance important to the character and fame of a man