THE

UNIVERSAL

LETTER WRITER;

OR,

NEW ART OF

POLITE CORRESPONDENCE.

TO WHICH ARE ADDED

THE COMPLETE PETITIONER,

FORMS OF LAW, &c.

ALSO,

A NEW ENGLISH GRAMMAR.

BY THE REV. T. COOKE, A. B.

HALIFAX:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM MILNER,

CHEAPSIDE.

MDCCCXLV.

PREFACE,

THE great utility of Epistolary Writing is so well known, that the necessity of being acquainted with an art replete with such advantages, it is needless to insist upon. Those who are accomplished in it, are too happy in their knowledge to need farther information concerning its excellence. And such as are unqualified to convey their sentiments to a friend, without the assistance of a third person, feel their deficiency so severely. that nothing need be said to convince them, it is their interest to become acquainted with what is so necessary and agreeable.

Had letters been known at the beginning of the world, Epistolary Writing would have been as old as love and friendship; for, as soon as they began to flourish, the verbal messenger was dropped,-the language of the heart was committed to characters that faithfully preserved it,-secrecv was maintained. and social intercourse rendered more free and agreeable.

Some of the most ancient compositions were written in this manner; and the light of the Gospel was delivered by the Holy Apostles in the Epistolary way.

The Romans were perfect masters of this art; as Cicero's Letters sufficiently evince; nor are the moderns less sensible of its excellencies. Some of the finest French writers have built their fame upon their Epistolary correspondence; and the English are at present so convinced of the advantages attending this method of conveying their sentiments, that it seems to have triumphed over almost every other species of composition: the historian has adopted it; we have the Greek and Roman histories, as well as that of our own nation, admirably executed in letters. Almost every thing dedicative and preceptive, is delivered in this way; the novelist finds it better adapted to his purpose than any other mode of writing. No great poet is without his familiar epistle to his friend; and the traveller seemed lost, till he found the method of conveying his intelligence in letters. To conclude: Letters are the life of trade- the fuel of love the pleasure of friendship-the food of the politician -and the entertainment of the curious.

To speak to those we love or esteem, is the greatest satisfaction we are capable of knowing; and the next is, being able to converse with them by letter