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, IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: Printed for J. and J. RIVINGTON, in St. Paul's M.DCC.LV. Staatsbibliothek PREFACE. Select Collection of Letters, written by the most eminent. Wits, Statefmen, and Phi lofophers 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 Paffages of Hiftory, however acceptable they might be to the Curious, would be very little relished by the Majority of Readers; yet if all fuch were to have been thrown afide, many Letters in which Wit, Humour, and Entertainment were blended with graver A 2 Matters, |