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in which Dr. Kennedy felt the deepest interést, he regularly took notes, for his own satistion, of all that passed; but it was not till after Lord Byron's death, that he conceived the idea of giving them to the world; and so little had the thought crossed his mind before, that he kept no copies, either of some dissertations, which at his lordship's desire he had written on certain religious points discussed between them in the course of the Conversations, or of his own letters to Lord Byron after his arrival at Missolunghi. As the recovery of these papers seemed necessary to the satisfactory completion of his object, he addressed a letter, dated May 26th, 1824, to the Honourable Douglas Kinnaird, whom he conceived, though erroneously, to be one of his lordship's executors, in which he took the opportunity, whilst making the request that these documents might be returned to him, of explaining the nature and object of his proposed publication. In reply to a letter written by Mr. J. C. Hobhouse, Dr. Kennedy entered so fully into the circumstances which gave rise to these Conversations, the nature of the Conversations themselves, and his own

motives in intending to bring them before the public, that little more will be required than to give this letter as it stands.

Mr. Hobhouse has, however, taken no notice of the application which was then, and has since been made.

SIR,

Ithaca, November 11th, 1824.

I RECEIVED your letter a few days ago, ' and thank you for your politeness and can'dour. It cannot be supposed that I ima'gined that I was about to do any thing pre'judicial to the character or fame of Lord 'Byron, when, in my letter to Mr. Kinnaird, 'whom I addressed by mistake as an exe'cutor, I stated that my reasons for resolving ' to publish an account of the Conversations ' with his lordship on religion were, that I believe such an account would be interesting ' in itself; would tend to remove much of that obloquy which many Christians attach to his lordship; and would not be injurious nor 'offensive to any one, whilst it might possibly ⚫be useful to many.

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My objects are still the same; but as you ' are entitled from your long friendship with his lordship, as well as from your office, to 'inquire into every thing that may affect his character, I shall more fully explain the ' nature of my intended publication, by which 'means you can judge whether my design be praiseworthy or not, and whether you can approve or condemn it. I shall certainly hesitate before I publish any thing ' derived from a private or confidential inter'course with Lord Byron, at least such an 'intercourse as implied no right to publish 'what took place, which can in any way appear to you or his friends calculated to injure his reputation.

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A few days after his lordship's arrival in Cephalonia, I became acquainted with him in consequence of his having expressed a 'desire to be present at a meeting of some of my acquaintances, who wished to hear me ' explain, in a logical and demonstrative man

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ner, the evidences and doctrines of Christianity. He attended the first meeting, but ' was not present at several others which were held, partly because he was busy in the country, and partly because he was not expressly invited. He took, however, an 'interest in the discussions carried on, and

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repeatedly expressed his wish through the 'medium of a friend, that I would go out and 'converse with him on these subjects. I 'therefore visited him several times, and had very long conversations with him. The con'versation was chiefly on religion, but it ' turned occasionally on literature, authors, books, the character of living individuals, and sometimes on his own views and plans, works, and private concerns. On religion

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his lordship was in general a hearer, proposing his difficulties and objections with 'more fairness than could have been expected from one under similar circumstances, and with so much candour that they often 'seemed to be proposed more for the purpose of procuring information or satisfactory an

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swers, than from any other motive. These 'difficulties and objections were neither original nor new, and proved that his lordship, though tolerably well acquainted with the 'historical and poetical parts of Scripture, had ' no understanding of them as the means of 'salvation. On other topics, I was for the 'most part a hearer, and heard from him

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many anecdotes and opinions which, though ' interesting and expressed in his character'istic manner, I never intended to publish, 'not only from a consideration of the circum

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'stances under which they were communi'cated, but from their having no immediate ' relation with the object of my work. Opi'nions, however, on authors who have been long dead, and on their writings, may or may not, I imagine, be mentioned, according as they may fall within my plan.

'I intend, in the first division of the work, to give an account of the conversations 'with my friends; and as I was the principal speaker, this part will contain my arguments in favour of religion, while the objections and difficulties that were started, 'will be stated and examined, without ascribing this to this, or that to that individual. As all these friends are alive, delicacy requires that I should be general and brief in all that relates to them, not from an 'idea that any shame will accrue to them for wishing to hear and understand religion, but from deference to the repugnance 'which every one has to appearing before the public unnecessarily. The second di⚫ vision will attempt to convey a view of the 'chief external evidences, but, above all, of the internal evidences of Christianity, drawn ' entirely from the Scriptures themselves, and 'divested of all theological theories and 'technicalities, in the most simple and per

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