Excerpt from The Autobiography of the Rev. William Jay: With Reminiscences of Some Distinguished Contemporaries, Selections From His Correspondence, Etc The Editors have a few words, and but a few, to express - and those chiefly for the satisfaction of the reader - that in the following pages he may feel assured he will read what Mr. Jay left for his perusal. It was the anxious wish of his family, and especially of his executors, that the manuscripts here published should pass, precisely as he left them, into the hands of the Editors, one of whom was selected by Mr. Jay before his death, and the other subsequently by his family. To them the papers were committed entire, and without alteration, restriction, or condition, to edit them for the press, according to their best judgment, and to make such additions as might seem desirable to complete the narrative; carefully, however, distinguishing, as they have done, between such additions and the original work. In undertaking this task they did not feel that they were required to write a Memoir, but simply to complete an Autobiography, which was necessarily left, as to time, unfinished; and to gather up such other portions of information, respecting Mr. Jay, and his course through life, as might seem desirable for the purpose of perpetuating the memory of so much excellence, usefulness, and wisdom. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.