The opening of Preface
Six Lives of Wesley have been already published, besides sketches almost innumerable. What then justifies the present writer in publishing another?
Hampson’s, ready for the press when Wesley died, is extremely meagre, and was the work of an angry writer. Coke and Moore’s, issued in 1792, was a hasty publication, written currente calamo, to get possession of the market; and, like most things done in haste, was exceedingly imperfect. Whitehead’s, dated 1793-6, was composed in the midst of disgraceful contentions, and was tinged with party feeling. Southey’s, printed in 1820, has literary charms; but, unintentionally, is full of errors, and, for want of dates and chronological exactitude, is extremely confusing. Moore’s, published in 1824, is the fullest and most reliable; but, to a great extent, it is a mere reprint of Whitehead’s, given to the public about thirty years previously. Watson’s, issued in 1831, was not intended to supersede larger publications, but was “contracted within moderate limits, and” avowedly “prepared with special reference to general readers.”