TO
THE REV. ROBERT NARES, A. M.
ARCHDEACON OF STAFFORD
AND
CANON RESIDENTIARY OF LITCHFIELD.
Dear Sir,
If Patronage has a demand upon the gratitude of an author, Friendſhip has a claim of equal validity, which the ungenerous alone will refuſe to acknowledge. But an uninterrupted friendſhip of forty years continuance impoſes obligations of ſuperior importance: it considers advice on the one part, and attention on the other, as reciprocal duties, and interchangeable according to the exigencies which may occur.
I had concluded my Commentary on Ancient Commerce, I had relinquished my purſuits connected with the subject, and I had promiſed to intrude no more upon the indulgence of the public: but you have conſtantly maintained, that the Commentary, without the Originals, was incomplete; and that the Original in one inſtance was either not procurable, or, if procured, that the value was inadequate to the price.
