XVI INTRODUCTION. 



compendious account of the early expeditions to that 

 country, as well as of the habits and manners of the 

 people, it has been deemed, especially in its new 

 shape, an appropriate document for insertion in this 

 collective volume. 



We may here take occasion to insert a curious 

 epitaph, indited after the death of the author, apropos 

 of the instability of his religious opinions: — 



"La Peyrere ici git, ce bon Israelite, 

 Huguenot, Catholique, enfin Preadamite, 

 Quatre religions lui plurent a la fois, 

 Et son indifference etoit si peu commune 

 Qu'apres quatre-vingt ans qu'il eut a faire un clioix, 

 Le bon-homme partit et n'en choisit pas une." 



We find, however, from an extract from the registers 

 of the parish of Ambervilliers, where he was buried, 

 that he abjured all his heresies at the feet of Pope 

 Alexander VII, and died " muni de tons ses sacre- 

 mens" on the 31st of January 1676, at the venerable 

 age of eighty-three. 



The interesting document which closes the volume, 

 entitled, " God's Power and Providence, showed in 

 the Miraculous Preservation and Deliverance of eisrht 

 Englislnnen left by mischance in Greenland, anno 

 1630, nine moneths and twelve dayes," is now very 

 scarce. A copy, with the map, which is frequently 

 wanting, is quoted by Lowndes as being sold for four 

 pounds. Hence, although reprinted in Churchill's 

 Collection, it has, from its interesting character and 

 intimate connection with the subject, been considered 

 a fitting document to insert in the present volume. 



