Excerpt from The Life of George Romney, Esq.

A large mass of his own papers, to collect and prepare for me, whatever could tend to illustrate the life of his generous brother; of whose kind ness and liberality to himself, and also to the younger artist of his fami ly, who painted, and died at Manchester, he spoke in terms of the most cordial gratitude, and veneration. Lt was the purpose of the Colonel to return to me with collected documents of various kinds but his servi ces abroad had undermined his health; and his letters from Bath and Clifton, soon led me to apprehend, that he would hardly have strength to accomplish any part of his benevolent design. This amia ble man is now sunk into the grave; and I have reason to believe, that he died without finding any of those long letters of cordiality and confi dence, written to him in India by the painter, which I hoped might enable me to give more interest, and variety; to this history of my friend; and to remedy what appears to me its principal defect, namely that it says too much of myself, m proportion to what it says of others so that parts of it might rather be entitled, annals of friendship, than the life of an artist. The decease of the Colonel has precluded me from remedying the defect, that] pcrce1ved; yet it has made me eager to close, and deliver the volume to the public, lest death, which has repeat edly, and by some very unexpected and severe strokes, interrupted and perplexed, the progress of this performance, should ultimately strike the pen from the hand of the biographer, without allowing him to terminate what he has so long regarded as a sacred duty of friendship. It is more gratifying to the heart to suspend even an unfinished wreath of flowers over the tomb of a friend, than to leave it utterly destitute of due deco ration. The impediments and delays that have inevitably occurred, in.

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