

                                 Tobias Smollet

                       The Expedition of Humphry Clinker

                                    Volume I

                   To Mr. Henry Davis, Bookseller, in London

                                                             Abergavenny, Aug. 4
Respected Sir,
    I have received your esteemed favour of the 13th ultimo, whereby it
appeareth, that you have perused those same Letters, the which were delivered
unto you by my friend the reverend Mr. Hugo Behn; and I am pleased to find you
think they may be printed with a good prospect of success; in as much as the
objections you mention, I humbly conceive, are such as may be redargued, if not
entirely removed - And, first, in the first place, as touching what prosecutions
may arise from printing the private correspondence of persons still living, give
me leave, with all due submission, to observe, that the Letters in question were
not written and sent under the seal of secrecy; that they have no tendency to
the mala fama, or prejudice of any person whatsoever; but rather to the
information and edification of mankind: so that it becometh a sort of duty to
promulgate them in usum publicum. Besides, I have consulted Mr. Davy Higgins, an
eminent attorney of this place, who, after due inspection and consideration,
declareth, That he doth not think the said Letters contain any matter which will
be held actionable in the eye of the law. Finally, if you and I should come to a
right understanding, I do declare in verbo sacerdotis, that, in case of any such
prosecution, I will take the whole upon my own shoulders, even quoad fine and
imprisonment, though, I must confess, I should not care to undergo flagellation:
Tam ad turpitudinem, quam ad amaritudinem pæna spectans - Secondly, concerning
the personal resentment of Mr. Justice Lismahago, I may say, non flocci facio -
I would not willingly vilipend any Christian, if, peradventure, he deserveth
that epithet: albeit, I am much surprised that more care is not taken to exclude
from the commission all such vagrant foreigners as may be justly suspected of
disaffection to our happy constitution, in church and state - God forbid that I
should be so uncharitable, as to affirm positively, that the said Lismahago is
no better than a Jesuit in disguise; but this I will assert and maintain, totis
viribus, that, from the day he qualified, he has never been once seen intra
templi parietes, that is to say, within the parish church Thirdly, with respect
to what passed at Mr. Kendal's table, when the said Lismahago was so brutal in
his reprehensions, I must inform you, my good sir, that
