BE THE NEW YOR 93760 ASTOR, DISTRICT OF NEW-YORK, 98. E IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-third day of September, in the thirty-fourth year of the Independence of the United States of America, ISAAC RILEY, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit: "The Yankey in London, being the first part of a series "of letters written by an American youth during nine "months' residence in the city of London, addressed to his "friends in and near Boston, Massachusetts. Volume I. 66 Έγραψα, το μη τινας ζητησαι Ποτε. "THUCYD." IN CONFORMITY to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the "authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times "therein mentioned;" and also to an act, entitled, "An "act, supplementary to an act, entitled, an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, "charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such "copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending "the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and "etching historical and other prints.” CHARLES CLINTON, Clerk of the District of New-York, PREFACE. WHEN a new book is about to be published, the early solicitude of the author is to pave his way to public favour by apologizing for his presumption in appearing in print; but the writer of the following letters cannot, or, rather, will not, speak for himself: it remains therefore for his friends to make known to the reader, all that they are permitted to communicate respecting the author, his work, and the motives for publication. The writer of these letters, now collected and presented to the public under the title of The Yankey in London, is a native of Boston, in Massachusetts, known to his fellowtownsmen as a young man of modest merit, and only known to a few particular friends as a gentleman of an active and inquisitive mind, and of quaint, and ofttimes original remark. The letters now submitted to the candour of his countrymen, were, with numerous others in possession of his correspondents, written, during his abode in London, to several of his friends and connections in his native town, without the most distant view of their ever being printed. On his return, they solicited permission to publish them, perhaps, in the ardour of friendship, vainly imagining that what had delighted them would please others, but he repeatedly declined their soli citations. In the course of the last winter the originals of these letters, with many others addressed from London, were deposited with an amanuensis who faithfully transcribed them, and the manuscript was submitted, in confidence, to a clergyman of taste; he approved the design of publication, and lent his friendly aid to overcome the diffidence of the writer, but in vain. The manuscript was afterwards perused, with the author's permission, by an English gentleman, visiting Boston; he made light of the author's modesty, and advised the publication, observing, that as the writer had imbibed a large share of local prejudice, his work would be read by his own countrymen, and should it make its way to London it might, perhaps, be PREFACE. read, even there, as a curious specimen of transatlantic sentiment upon English manners. A reluctant consent was then obtained from the writer, upon the express condition of expunging such passages as might lead to a discovery of the author, and of selecting a few of the letters, and those the least likely to give offence to English people, for whom, after all his freedom of remark, he professes a high veneration. We have therefore directed the printer to issue these letters as volume the first, and are not without hope that the approbation of the public will give confidence to our friend to publish the remainder of his letters from London and other parts of the British isles, and his tour in Europe, with his own name. The Friends of the Writer. a 2 |