I shall be glad to learn whether this charity is still bestowed, and where: any particulars relative to the original donor will be acceptable. Permit me to add the Query,--Is mine the first edition of _The Whole Duty of Man_? if not, when was it first published, and who was the author? W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A. [Mr. Henry Hoare was a son of Sir Richard Hoare, Lord Mayor of London, and an intimate friend of that worthy man, Robert Nelson, author of the _Companion for the Festivals and Fasts of the Church of England_; a work which Dr. Johnson recommends as being a most valuable help to devotion, and as having had the greatest sale of any book ever printed in England, except the Bible. Mr. Hoare's name occurs in several parts of Robert Nelson's will, viz. "I give and bequeath to Mr. Henry Hoare, of London, goldsmith, one of my executors, 200_l._, upon trust to distribute 100_l._, part thereof, in such manner as shall be directed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; and the other 100_l._ to be employed by him in promoting parochial libraries.... I give and bequeath to Mrs. Jane Hoare, wife of the said Mr. Henry Hoare, two pair of little silver candlesticks for her closet." It is also worthy a note in our pages that the first legacy received by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was that of Robert Nelson's, which is thus entered on the minutes of the Society:--"3d Feb. 1714-15. Mr. Hoare reported, that Mr. Nelson, lately deceased, had ordered him by his will, as one of his executors, to pay 100_l._ to the Society for promoting their designs; and also 50_l._ towards supporting the charity-school at St. George's Chapel." The name of Mr. Henry Hoare occurs among the list of subscribers in the first volume of Jeremy Collier's _Ecclesiastical History_, fol. 1708; and some of his letters to John Strype, the historian, will be found among the Additional MSS. in the British Museum, No. 5853. No biographical notice of Mr. Henry Hoare appears to have been preserved. See Herbert's _History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies_, vol. ii. p. 285., for a notice of his gift to the Goldsmiths' Company. The first edition of _The Whole Duty of Man_ was published in 1657. Like the enigmatical Junius, its authorship still remains a problem; but we believe it is now generally supposed to be written either by Lady Packington or Archbishop Sterne. Our correspondent will find the question discussed in the Rev. W. B. Hawkins's Introduction to Pickering's edition of this work, published in 1842; as well as in the valuable communication of J. E. B. Mayor, Esq., of Marlborough College, in our second volume, p. 292.]