Berlin, 24th March, 1777.
Dear Sir,
YOUR kind letter of the 10th instant, for which I owe you the greatest obligation, arrived here by the last post; and I am truly grieved to find so material a perversion and misrepresentation of your just opinion on the case of young Blumenthal, as is made in the French translation of it. In apology for which, I have only to say, that as I am not sufficiently master of the French to publish in that language, I put my English manuscript into the hands of a gentleman, an intimate friend, who is distinguishedly eminent for his knowledge, both of French and English, and who was formerly, for some time, a most eminent preacher, in London, to the French refugees; so that I had no doubt of his capacity or attention to do the whole justice, and therefore trusted it to him, with a most strict injunction, whatever liberties he took in other parts, to be particularly exact in translating the letters, and quotations, without varying the sense of them in any part, for the sake of being florid. And as this gentleman lives in Dresden, where the book was printed, and not at Berlin, I left it to him to complete it, without any controul, whereby, till I received your letter, I had not the least knowledge of the fault you so justly complain of having been committed; and you may, Sir, be very certain, that if I had, I should not have sent an exemplary of it to you, in hopes of its passing unobserved. Hence I trust, that you will be fully convinced, it was quite unintentional; and in order to make you the utmost reparation, and prevent any injury to your judgment, in the opinion of the public, from the error committed, I beg leave to inform you, that as yet the French edition of the book has not been published in this country, and that none of them have been disposed of, except a few I have distributed gratis to my friends, to all of whom I will next week send a fresh printed leaf, which is now in the press, of the pages No. 51, and 52, wherein the fault is fully corrected, and which you shall be sure to have in a post or two after you receive this. I have the pleasure to add, that in the German translation, which has been sometime published, and which are all sold, the error has not been committed, and the translation of your letter is literal and exact. And as both the German and French are but translations of the original, further to secure the whole from being misunderstood, if you think that the pamphlet is sufficiently interesting, and worthy of being printed in English, I will send the manuscript by the first opportunity to London, and order it to be printed under the inspection of any person you shall recommend to me for that purpose. Flattering myself, that this answer to your last, will be fully satisfactory to you,
I am, with the most true esteem and respect,
Dear Sir,
Your most obliged,
And most obedient humble servant,
WILLIAM BAYLIES.