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Montbard, In Burgundy, September 19th, 1783.
Dear Sir,
I have been here some weeks with my amiable and justly celebrated friend M. le Comte De Buffon. Although his health has not been this summer such as his friends wish, it has not prevented him entirely from applying to his useful and sublime studies. Words cannot express his gratitude to you, for favoring [favouring] him with the printed tables of the inclination and declination of the needle; which are to be given with Capt. Cook's voyage, which the public longs much to see. He has already examined these tables, but thinks that there are a few mistakes in them, which must have proceeded either from the carelessness of the printer, or the inaccuracy of the manuscript. Monsieur de Buffon therefore desires me to transmit you the inclosed note, in order that you may cause the three articles, which he suspects to be erroneous, and if so, of consequence, to be examined before the work is published, that, if his conjecture is right, they may be corrected by an errata.
Sensible of your desire to promote Science, I have presumed to send you likewise a note of a book, which M. de Buffon anxiously wishes to see, viz. M. Wales astronomical observations made aboard the Re[solution]