Bentley, William, 1759-1819. Papers of William Bentley, 1783-1815: an inventory. Letter from James Winthrop to William Bentley, 1784 April 6. HUG 1203.5 Box 1, Harvard University Archives.

Two folio-sized leaves containing a two-page handwritten letter from Winthrop to Bentley discussing Joseph Priestley's Disquisitions relating to matter and spirit, and possible references to astronomical phenomena in mythological stories. Winthrop briefly mentions a 1769 Harvard student poem attributed to his classmate Jonathan Williams Austin (1751-1779; Harvard AB1769).