",The letters a nd papers printed in these volumes fo r med a part of the commercial co r respondence of four generations of a Newpo r t mercantile house. The earlier letters were of the Redwood family. The house of Ayrault of Newpo r t entered about the middle of the eighteenth century, as also that of Lopez. To the second half of the century, the firms of Lopez a nd Champlin contributed the larger part.",--Prefato r y note, v. 1