LETTERS

TO

CHARLES BUTLER, Esq.

COMPRISING

ESSAYS ON THE ROMISH RELIGION

AND VINDICATING

The Book of the Church.

BY

ROBERT SOUTHEY, Esq. LL.D.

POET LAUREATE,

HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SPANISH ACADEMY, OF THE ROYAL SPANISH ACADEMY OF HISTORY,
OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF THE NETHERLANDS, OF THE CYMMRODORION, OF THE MASSA-
CHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, OF THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY,
OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY, OF THE BRISTOL PHILOSOPHICAL
AND LITERARY SOCIETY, OF THE METROPOLITAN
INSTITUTION, OF THE PHILOMATHIC

INSTITUTION, &c.

LONDON:

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.

MDCCCXXVI.

The more wit they have spent,
The less they shew'd; not bettering their bad cause.

DANIEL's Musophilus.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY C. ROWORTH, BELL YARD,

TEMPLE BAR.

When I inscribed a poem to you some twenty years ago, in memorial of a friendship which had then subsisted more than half our lives, there was a peculiar propriety in so doing. The subject was one concerning which we had talked when we were boys together; it related to your own country; some of your ancestors were among

of the tale; historical incidents were introduced which I had collected in your Library, and in your company I had visited some of the scenes which are described. For these reasons,