Among Old Book.                  303



                           III.
       AMONG OLD BOOKS.-THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF
                  IGNATIUS SANCHO.

  Not very long ago a friend placed in my hand a quaint old
volume yellow with age, scarred by hard knocks and torn
asunder in the middle. A careless glance at its pages added to
my first impulse to lay it aside unread, for the text contained
the old-fashioned f-like s-es of the last century. But the
amusing result of my attempt to decipher a few lines led me
on till suddenly I discovered I had stumbled upon a book of
absorbing interest, and a very rare one besides. Turning back
to the title page, I saw these words: "Letters of the Late
Ignatius Sancho, an African. To which are prefixed Memoirs
of His Life." The date of publication was 1784, and this was
the third edition. Facing the page was an oval cut of a man
of color.
  I was soon immersed in the story of his life as told by the
nameless editor of a worthy record of a remarkable man. The
pleasure I enjoyed shall be shared with the readers of the
Review; and that it may lose nothing of its quaintness and
stately dignity, the account is given in the exact words of the
author:
   "Quamvis ille niger, quamvis tu candidus effet."--Virgil.
  The extraordinary Negro, whose Life I am about to write,
was born A. D. 1729, on board a ship in the Slave-trade, a
few days after it had quitted the coast of Guinea for the Span-
ish West Indies; and, at Carthagena, he received from the
hand of the Bishop, Baptism, and the name of Ignatius.
  A disease of the new climate put an early period to his




			

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 17, Num. 4

Among Old Books.--The Life and Letters of Ignatius Sancho

T.

Volume:  17
Issue Number:  04
Page Number:  303
Date:  04/1901