PREFACE. 



vii 



public attention. It has passed through the hands of the Rev. 

 Joseph Bowden, who has partly remodelled it, and removed 

 sentences and paragraphs to situations whence they have 

 derived greater perspicuity and interest. If there be any 

 merit in the arrangement it belongs to that Gentleman. — 

 All the faults of composition and style are the Author's own, 

 for he has refused to adopt many suggestions of improvement 

 because they would have produced a slight shade of difference 

 in the representation of facts. Truth has been invariably pre- 

 ferred to the harmony of a period and the chaste elegance of a 

 metaphor. 



At the commencement of his labours the Author intended 

 to have dedicated the Volume to his Majesty the King of Brazil, 

 as a testimony of gratitude for the protection and notice 

 received from him while residing in his dominions; as a proof 

 of sincere regard for his person and government ; as a mean of 

 promoting the prosperity of his Dominions ; — but, on mentioning 

 this intention to a Brazilian friend, it was thought almost impossi- 

 ble to write such a dedication without giving rise to a suspicion of 

 interested motives, and it was therefore laid aside ; although, in 

 the writer's opinion, the freedom which he has used in the 

 delineation of character might have been deemed a sufficient 

 guarantee. The Ring, he is happy to re[)eat, is a good man, 

 and a good sovereign, but it would not have been right to 

 represent him as superior to human nature, entirely iree from 

 those weaknesses and failings of which all partake. He has 

 been surrounded occasionally, it was thought, by men who did 

 not merit his confidence, either for their talents or their integrity, 

 and has been called to govern in a country where ignorance and 

 vice prevailed in an unusual degree. 



