The circumstances under which it was written are certainly peculiar. It seems that his wife, to whom he appears to have been tenderly attached, had been dangerously ill, but was now recovering. During her sickness he had been from home, laboring among the Indians; and while absent, he wrote this little treatise in the form of a letter to her, his object being simply to promote her spiritual improvement. At the request of his friends, it was published in London; and a dedication was prefixed to it, addressed to Lady Vane the Younger. In this dedication, occurs the following remarkable passage: "The form and stile I know will seem to this refined age too rude and barbarous, and the truth is, the most of it was penned and writ, (so as seldom or never such discourses were,) in the thickest of the naked Indians of America, in their very wild houses, and by their barbarous fires, when the Lord was pleased this last year (more than ordinarily) to dispose my abode and travel among them." As a writer, Roger Williams has generally borne the reputation of a violent and bitter controversialist. I believe that in this respect he has suffered great injustice. It would seem from this tract, that, on the contrary, his spirit was eminently candid and catholic, and that controversy was to him a painful duty. In the same dedication he says: "It is true, I have been sometimes prest to engage in controversies, but I can really and uprightly say, my witness is on high, how harsh and dolefull the touch of these strings are, [is,] and especially against such worthies both in old and New England, in whom I joyfully, before the world, acknowledge (in many heavenly respects) a lively character and image of the love of God." Every thing in this tract is in harmony with such a declaration. STEPHEN RANDALL, Esq., a descendant of Roger Williams, a gentleman who cherishes a proper respect for the memory of his great ancestor, has been at much pains to procure the use of one of the only two known copies of this work, and at his instance it is now re-published. It is nearly a _fac simile_ of the original copy, retaining, unchanged, all the obsolete words and phrases, with all the peculiarities of orthography. In this form it will be more interesting to the public, and especially to antiquarians, than it could be made by any change whatever. In the hope, that, after the lapse of more than two centuries, it will again be acceptable to christians of all denominations, and exhibit in a new light the character of a great and good man, it is now presented to the descendants of the Puritans. F. W. _Providence, December 1st, 1862._ [Illustration] To the truly Honorable the Lady _Vane_, the Younger. Madam,