hundred letters from his untiring pen which had been preserved at
Castle Howard. No one who has had an opportunity of examining the
originals can fail to recognise the skill and labour with which the
Castle Howard correspondence of Selwyn--wanting in most instances
the date of the year--was arranged by Mr. Kirk on behalf of the
Commission.

A correspondence, however, which illustrates vividly phases of an
interesting and important period of English history, appeared to be
deserving of presentation to the public in a separate volume, and
with the explanations necessary to make the allusions in it fully
understood.

A selection has therefore, in the following pages, been made from
the Castle Howard letters. The aim of the editors has been to choose
those which appeared most interesting and representative, and to
place them in definite groups, supplementing them with such a
narrative, remarks, and notes as would, without enveloping the
correspondence in a quantity of extraneous material, enable the
whole to present the life of Selwyn, and at the same time add
another to the pictures of the age in which he lived.

The dates of the letters are those ascribed to them by Mr. Kirk.

The frequently incorrect spelling of proper names has not been
altered.

The editors desire cordially to thank Lord Carlisle, not only for
the permission to publish this correspondence, but for the kind
assistance which he has given in other ways to the undertaking.