The studies presented in this volume concentrate on aspects of Late Modern English correspondence in the usage of individuals belonging to different social classes writing for different purposes and finding themselves in different social contexts both in Britain and in its colonies. As the growing body of research published in recent years has shown analysing the language of letters presents both a challenge and an opportunity to obtain access to as full a range of styles as would be possible for a period for which we only have access to the language in its written form. It is an area of study in which all the contributors have considerable expertise which affords them to present data findings while discussing important methodological issues.