Foreword 



sented to the archdeaconry of Leicester. He suc- 

 ceeded to large estates in Huntingdonshire on his 

 father's death in 1767, but Baggrave Hall, Leicester- 

 shire, the inheritance of his wife Anna, daughter of 

 John Edwyn, whom he married in 1770, was his 

 favorite place of residence. He died at Blackheath, 

 on March 9, 1812, and within a fortnight his wife 

 followed him to the grave. One of his descendants 

 in the fourth generation was Frederick Burnaby, the 

 soldier and traveller, who was killed in 1885 at the 

 battle of Abu Klea in the Soudan. 



Burnaby tells in his introduction how the record 

 of his travels through the American colonies found 

 its way into print. First published in 1775, it 

 reached a second edition within a year and was 

 speedily translated into French and German. The 

 original was reissued in much enlarged form in 1798, 

 and from that edition the present reprint is made. 

 Burnaby's book well deserves a new lease of life, for 

 he was an acute though kindly observer, and his visit 

 to the colonies fell in an interesting and critical time: 

 the Seven Years' War which wrought the downfall 

 of the French power in America was just drawing to 

 a close, and in the political sky was heard the low, 

 insistent rumblings of the storm which was to break 

 at Concord and Bunker Hill. 



It should be remembered that the author's point 

 of view was that of a devoted minister of the Church 

 of England and loyal supporter of the crown. Thus 



[8] 



