selves are the sole
objects of attraction, the part of an editor is necessarily subordinate,
nor can his humble pretensions aspire beyond the merit of rigid
adherence to facts as they are stated to him. This has been very
diligently attempted, and for this, in its full extent, the editor deems
himself responsible.

The present volumes, it will be perceived, comprise only the narrative
of the journey. Those parts of the work which relate to the various
objects of natural history, observed or collected during the journey,
as well as the alphabets of the Indian languages, are in the hands of
professor Bartou, and will, it is understood, shortly appear.

To give still further interest to the work, the editor addressed a
letter to Mr. Jefferson, requesting some authentic memoirs of captain
Lewis. For the very curious and valuable information contained in his
answer, the public, as well as the editor himself, owe great obligations
to the politeness and knowledge of that distinguished gentleman.

PAUL ALLEN.
PHILADELPHIA, January 1, 1814.

LIFE OF CAPTAIN LEWIS.

_Monticello, August 18, 1813._
SIR,

In compliance with the request conveyed in your letter of May 25, I have
endeavoured to obtain, from the relations and friends of the late
governor Lewis, information of such incidents of his life as might be
not unacceptable to those who may read the narrative of his western
discoveries. The ordinary occurrences of a private life, and those also
while acting in a subordinate sphere in the army, in a time of peace,
are not deemed sufficiently interesting to occupy the public attention;
but a general account of his parentage, with such smaller incidents as
marked his early character are briefly noted; and to these are added, as
being peculiarly within my own knowledge, whatever related to the public
mission, of which an account is now to be published. The result of my
inquiries and recollections shall now be offered, to be enlarged or
abridged as you may think best; or otherwise to be used with the
materials you may have collected from other sources.

Meriwether Lewis, late governor of Louisiana, was born on the eighteenth
of August, 1774, near the town of Charlottesville, in the county of
Albemarle, in Virginia, of one of the distinguished families of that
state. John Lewis, one of his father's uncle