Southern District of New-York, ss.

BE it remembered, that on the seventh day of September, in the forty-sixth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Wiley & Halsted, of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit:

"The Spy; a Tale of the Neutral Ground.

Breathes there a man, with soul so dead,

Who never to himself hath said,

This is my own, my native land?'

By the Author of Precaution.' In Two Volumes."

In conformity to the Aet of Congress of the United States, entitled, “An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned;" and also to an Act, entitled, "An Act. supplementary to an Act, entitled, An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."

JAMES DILE,

Clerk of the Southern District of New York.

ΤΟ

JAMES AITCHISON.

I AVAIL myself with great pleasure of the opportunity that is offered to me, of again manifesting the esteem which I entertain for you. I repeat the assurances of my regard the more readily, because there are those who are anxious to interpret some of the incidents in this fiction to the disadvantage of the British character. To you, who know my private sentiments on all subjects, it will be unnecessary to say, that national illiberality is not among my foibles; or that I am in the smallest degree insensible to the many valuable qualities which form the ground-work of an Englishman's virtues. I think the book itself is my justification on this point. If there be any individual criminality portrayed, that is not to be traced to the faults of our common nature, under the operation of peculiar circumstances, I am not conscious of it; and I am aware that all Englishmen, who, like yourself, are educated, liberal, and intelligent, will readily admit, that less offensive matter could not easily be introduced in a tale, professedly written with a view to draw the imaginations of our read