Of all the letters placed at my disposal, those addressed to his early friend and patron, Mr. Davies Gilbert, are, in my judgment, the most interesting: it is true, that as specimens of epistolary style they have but slender pretensions, and are far less pleasing than those written to Mr. Poole and others, in later life; but let it be remembered that, as yet, their writer had never enjoyed the advantages of literary correspondence. For the defects, however, of style, there is more than sufficient compensation; they speak from the heart;--they carry with them internal evidence of the honest simplicity of his mind, and they throw a light upon the peculiarities of his genius, which without such aid might be less perfectly understood; above all, they evince an ardour which no difficulties could repress, and a confidence which no failures could extinguish. We clearly discern from his first letters, that he entered upon his career of experiment with an almost chivalrous feeling, flushed with the consciousness of native strength, and exulting in the prospect of destined achievements. I am aware that there are those who still object, with Dr. Sprat, to the practice of publishing letters which were never intended for the public eye, and I experience the inconvenience, while I respect the delicacy, of such an opinion. I confess, on my own part, I have always considered, with Mr. Mason, that the objections urged by the learned historian of the Royal Society are wholly untenable. He talks of "the souls of men thus appearing undressed, or in a habit too negligent to go abroad in the streets, although they might be seen by a few in a chamber." But the undress he would condemn, is the nakedness of Truth--the negligent attire, the simple and unadorned expression of those natural and significant traits, whose value incomparably exceeds the premeditated and artificial exhibitions of mind and manner. "_Nam in ingenio quoque sicut in agro, quanquam alia diu serantur atque elaborantur, gratiora tamen quæ sua sponte nascuntur._"[18] [18] Dialogus de Oratoribus,--_Tacit._