Memoirs Of Granville Sharp Esq. Composed From His Own Manuscript And Other Authentic Documents In The Possession Of His Family And Of The African Institution.

Abstract

About the time that a Monument to Mr. Granville Sharp's memory was erected in Westminster Abbey by the African Institution, it was understood to be the intention of that body to publish an account of the services which he had rendered to the cause of African freedom. This intention being communicated to Mr. Sharp's family; they were desirous of enlarging the proposal so far as to include a memorial of his whole life; and the plan being determined, the task of performing it was assigned to an intimate friend, . Whose abilities and professional character' rendered him eminently suited to the undertaking. ‘The pressure of other occupations induced him after a time to relinquish it; and I received a request from the Executrix that I would take the charge on myself. Obligations of gratitude to the Family precluded refusal on my part; and my high respect for the Person whose life was to be the subject of the Memoirs, made me accede cheerfully to the proposal: . But in giving my consent, I did not form an adequate idea of the task in which I was about to engage. The most voluminous and diffuse documents were consigned to my care~ from which I had to extract whatever might be thought useful to the public, and (what was far more difficult) in which I was to discover and trace a connected thread of Mr. Sharp's progressive actions through his long and important life. That such a task would be tedious, it was easy to anticipate. But it has been further. Protracted by causes which could not he foreseen,-by the suffering of repeated illness since the period when I first printed my Prospectus-of illness aggravated not unfrequently by an apprehension that, as the real cause of the delay could be known only to a few, I might suffer no slight imputation, of neglect in the performance of what I had undertaken.

Description

Heritage

Keywords

Memoirs, Manuscript, African Institution

Citation

Endorsement

Review

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