PREFACE. xiii 



collated, and more thoroughly digested, than they 

 would have been under ordinary drcumstances. 



In order to escape the tedious circumlocution, 

 which, from the nature of the subject, could not 

 otherwise have been avoided, the name English is 

 applied, throughout the volume, to the British 

 American colonists, as well as to the people of the 

 mother country. The necessity is somewhat to be 

 regretted, since, even at an early period, clear dis- 

 tinctions were visible between the offshoot and the 

 parent stock. 



Boston, August 1, 1851. 



