I thank you heartily for your Life of John Goodwin,

(which reached me two days ago) & for the gratifying letter that accompanied it.

Your book is written in a fair & manly spirit, & is a valuable addition to the history of those times. You have done justice to the merits of a good man, while at the same time you have not dissembled his errors. If history were always written in this spirit, the world might be better than it is. I endeavoured so to write concerning M^r Wesley,

– believing that those readers who might not approve my views, would do justice to my motives. You have done so, & I thank you for it.

I shall consult your book with advantage when I arrange my materials for the Life of Cromwell;

it will give me pleasure to acknowledge my obligations to it, & to express my sense of your civility by sending you the volume. But a considerable time must elapse before this can be ready for the press. Meantime if any circumstances should bring you into this part of the North, I hope you will give me an opportunity of shaking you by the hand.