Ixvi INTRODUCTION. 



and arguments were to be mentioned, they were noted the 

 inftant afterwards ; for, contrary I believe to what is often 

 the cafe, I can allure the reader thefe ipeeches and conver- 

 fations are abfolutely real, and not the fabrication of after- 

 hours. 



It will perhaps be faid, this work hath faults; nay, per- 

 haps, great ones too, and this I readily confefs. But I mud 

 likewife beg leave to fay, that I know no books of the kind 

 that have not nearly as many, and as great, though perhaps 

 not of the fame kind with mine. To fee diltinctly and ac- 

 curately, to defcribe plainly, difpaffionarely and truly, is all 

 that ought to be expected from one in my fituation, con- 

 ilantly furrounded with every fort of difficulty and dan- 

 ger. 



It may be faid, too, there are faults in the language %. 

 more pains mould have been taken. Perhaps it may 

 be fo ; yet there has not been wanting a confiderable de- 

 gree of attention even to this. 1 have not indeed confined 

 myfeif to a painful and ilaviui nicety that would have pro- 

 duced nothing but a difageeable Uiilnefs in the narrative. 

 It will be remembered likewife, that one of the motives of 

 my writing is my own amufement, and I would much ra- 

 ther renounce the fubjecl altogether than walk in fetters 

 of my own forging. The language is, like the fubject, rude 

 and manly.. My paths have not been flowery ones, nor 

 would it have added any credit to the work, or entertain- 

 ment to the reader, to employ in it a fiile proper only to 

 works of imagination and pleafure. Thefe trifling faults 

 I willingly leave as food to the malice of critics, who per- 



hapsj. 



