narrators, those whose opportunities to know the fact in question seemed to be the best. This he has done, without the slightest intention to throw a shadow of suspicion on the credit of any gentleman who has been so obliging as to answer his inquiries; but merely from the necessity which he was under, either of making some selection, or abandoning the work altogether; and because he knew of no better rule of selection, than that which he has adopted. Although it has been so long since the collection of these materials was begun, it was not until the summer of 1814 that the last communication was received. Even then, when the author sat down to the task of imbodying his materials, there were so many intricacies to disentangle, and so many inconsistencies, from time to time, to explain and settle, and that, too, through the tedious agency of cross-mails, that his progress was continually impeded, and has been, to him, most painfully retarded. Other causes, too, have contributed to delay the publication. The author is a practising lawyer; and the courts which he attends, keep him perpetually and exclusively occupied in that attendance through ten months of the year; nor does the summer recess of two months afford a remission from professional labour. In Virginia, the duties of attorney, counsellor, conveyancer, and advocate, are all performed by the same individual; hence, the summer vacation, instead of being a time of leisure, is not only the season of preparation for the approaching courts, but is subject, moreover, to a perpetual recurrence of what are here called office duties, which renders a steady application to any other subject impossible. These sketches are now submitted to the public, with unaffected diffidence; not of the facts which they detail, for on them the author has the firmest reliance; but of the manner in which he has been able to accomplish his undertaking. For (to say nothing of his inexperience and want of ability for such a work) he has been compelled to write (when he was suffered to write at all) amidst that incessant professional annoyance which has been mentioned, and which is known by every man who has ever made the trial, to forbid the hope of success in any composition of this extent. Could the writer have looked forward, with any reasonable calculation, to a period of greater ease, his respect for the memory of Mr. Henry, as well as his regard for himself, would have induced him to suspend this undertaking until that period should have arrived. But having no ground for any hope of this kind, he has thought it better to hazard even these crude sketches, than to suffer the materials, which he had accumulated with so much toil, and for an object which he thought so laudable, to perish on his hands. These remarks are not made with the view of deprecating the censures of critics by profession; but merely to bespeak the candour of that larger portion of readers, who are willing to be pleased with the best efforts that can be reasonably expected from the circumstances of the case. The author, however, is well satisfied that the most indulgent reader (although benevolently disposed to overlook defects of execution) will be certainly disappointed in the matter itself of this work; for, notwithstanding all his exertions, he is entirely conscious that the materials, which he has been able to collect, are scanty and meager, and utterly disproportionate to the great fame of Mr. Henry. It is probable, that much of what was once known of him had perished, before the author commenced his researches; and, it is very possible, that much may still be known, which he has not been able to discover; because it lies in unsuspected sources, or with persons unwilling, for some reason or other, to communicate their information. It is the conviction, that he has not been able to inform himself of the whole events of Mr. Henry's life, and that his collection can be considered only as so many detached SKETCHES. If, in this humble and unassuming character, it shall give any pleasure to the numerous admirers of Mr. Henry, in Virginia, the author will have attained all that he has a right to expect. RICHMOND, VA., Sept. 5th, 1817. |