Transcribed from the 1847 Aylott and Jones edition by DavidPrice,
THE
LIFE AND LETTERS
OF THE
REV. GEORGE MORTIMER, M.A.
RECTOR OF THORNHILL,
IN THE DIOCESE OFTORONTO, CANADA WEST.
COMPILED ANDPREPARED
BY THE REV. JOHN ARMSTRONG,B.A.,
BRITISHCHAPLAIN OF MONTE VIDEO,
SOUTH AMERICA.
“I bear the greatest veneration for thememory of that man (Archbishop Leighton) that I do for any man;and reckon my early knowledge of him, and my long and intimateconversation with him, among the greatest blessings of my life;and for which I know I must give an account to God, at the greatday, in a most particular manner.” BishopBurnet.
LONDON:
AYLOTT AND JONES, PATERNOSTER ROW
MDCCCXLVII.
p. ivLONDON:
J. UNWIN, BUCKLERSBURY.
p.vPREFACE.
Though I feel it to be really aprivilege to be the instrument of introducing to the public thelife and correspondence of the most intimate friend, especiallyof my early life, that I have ever possessed, and of one of thetruly excellent in the earth; yet, from an unfeignedconsciousness of my incompetency for the task, I would mostwillingly have left it to other hands, and to other hands Ioffered it, and urged upon them my earnest desire that they wouldundertake it; but from all I received excuses as to themselves,and pressing invitations to myself to engage in the work. They conceived that I might possess more materials for thepurpose than any other person; but they knew not the slendernessof my capacity to prepare the memoir of one whose generalcharacter, talents and excellences, merit a much abler pen thanmine, to set them forth with perspicuity and advantage.
His old friend and associate at Wellington, the Rev. JohnKing, now Incumbent of Christ Church, p. viHull, to whom I wrote on the subject,thus addressed me:—“But independently of allconsiderations of this kind, I believe you would be much betterqualified than myself, or than any other person I know, to dojustice to the excellent yet peculiar character of thedeparted. Let me beseech you, therefore, to arrange yourcorrespondence and materials with a view topublicatio