370 The Difcovery,. Settlement, and Commerce Book L 
Nation, filch as the P or tuguefe, the Englifh, or the Butch •, with Care collected from fome of the "Writers of that Na* 
of which many Inftances might be given : And yet, when 
thefe Books are compiled, though they afford excellent 
Materials for fuch an Hiftory, they are nothing lefs than 
General Hiftories themfelves. 
A third Caufe is, that Love of Amufement which pre- 
vails at prefent in the World, and inclines them to encou- 
rage that Sort of writing which is pleafant and entertaining •, 
but at the fame time leaves the Reader very little wifer 
than he was before *, which is the Reafon that many mo- 
dern Voyages and Travels are written with fuch a Spirit of 
Indolence and Gaiety, and are fo inaccurate in point of 
Dates and FaCts, that we are fometimes apt to miftake 
them for fictitious Adventures and Romances. I could 
like wife fupport this Remark by Abundance of Inftances, 
but that 1 am fenfible my own and the Reader’s Time may 
be much better employed ; and that the FaCt is fo well 
known, that I am in no Danger of being called to an Ac- 
count for the Affertion. 
There are feveral other Caufes that might be added •, but, 
as moft of them will occur to an intelligent Reader, I 
chufe to leave them to his Obfervation, rather than dwell 
too long on an Introduction to a SubjeCt fo copious in it- 
felf, and which will require fo much Time, and fo much 
Room, to handle as it ought to be handled ; even though 
all imaginable Pains be ufed to bring it within Compafs, 
by giving nothing but what is curious and folid, and that 
In the feweft Words poffible. 
3. There is nothing more common in fome Books rela- 
ting to the Indies , than to meet with violent InveCtives 
againft the Ignorance, Credulity, and Folly, of the An- 
tients, as if they had had no Opportunity oi knowing any 
thing with relation to this Country and People, and had 
therefore delivered to Pofterity an Heap of indigefted Fa- 
bles of their own Invention. In fome other Books, again, 
we find this abfolutely contradicted ; the Accounts of the 
Antients commended and fupported ; and thofe who have 
treated them with Contempt, reprefented as weak Men, 
and incompetent Judges. When Books of both Sorts fall 
into the Hands of an English Reader, he knows not what 
to think, or whom to believe : He doubts of every thing •, 
and as he meets with ftrange Stories, and leemingly extra- 
vagant Relations, in all the Voyages and Travels to this 
Part of the World, he is apt to fufpeCt the Whole, and to 
believe that very little Credit is due to any of them. In 
order to clear up this, and to afford him a reafonable Satif- 
faCtion, he is ufually turned over to the voluminous Collec- 
tions of Eden, Hackluit , and Purchas. If he has the Pa- 
tience to run through thefe, and Abundance of Patience it 
requires, his Difficulties are rather increafed than refolved ; 
and, for want of knowing the true Characters of the Wri- 
ters preferved in thofe Collections, and the not meeting 
with many antient Writers, whofe Names are mentioned in 
other Accounts, he is more at a Lofs than ever. 
4. In the Hiftories of the Difcoveries made by the Por- 
tuguefe , they are ufually treated in fuch a manner, that, at 
firft Sight, one would be tempted to imagine, none of the 
Countries mentioned in them were at all known to the 
Europeans , before the Paffage was found by the Cape of 
Good Hope anet yet, upon a clofer Inflection, the con- 
trary is very vifible. This, again, gives the inquifitive 
Reader a great deal of Uneafinefs : He is fenfible, that, be- 
fore that Paffage was found, abundance of Indian Commodi- 
ties were tranfported into Europe , fome of them in greater 
Perfection than they are now. He is anxious to know 
when that Correfpondence began ; how, and by whom, it 
was carried on ; what were the Advantages and Difadvan- 
tages that attended it ; and the Reafons why it was difcon- 
tinued 5 none of which are to be found in thofe Hiftorians, 
who, full of a Defire to magnify their own Country, carry 
the Conquefts and Difcoveries of the Portuguefe to the ut- 
moft Height, and leave the Report of other Nations Suc- 
cefs, in Maritime Affairs and Commerce, to their own 
Writers. 
The Englijh and Butch purfue pretty much the fame 
Track •, and tho’ they fometimes run out violently againft: 
the Pride, Luxury, and Tyranny, of the Portuguefe in the 
Indies , yet they omit many curious Particulars, in relation 
to the Decline of the Portuguefe Empire, which may be 
I 
tion. Thus we have only partial Reprefentations, and 
fuch as, inftead of inftruCting us, as to the true State of 
Things, ftiew us only fuch Pictures as, for the Honour of 
their refpeCtive Countries, thefe Writers have finifhed, to 
the higheft Degree their Abilities would allow them. 
5. The Senfe that many able Authors of Voyages and 
Travels have had of thefe Imperfections and Difficulties, 
and the Defire they had to remove them, has engaged 
them in frequent Cenfures, long Difputes, and tedious Di- 
greffions ; which render their own Works heavy and tire- 
fome, and, at the fame time, very indifferently anfwer the 
End for which they were intended. I would not have the 
Reader imagine, that I am giving him a bad Opinion of 
other Peoples Books, that I may recommend my own ; for, 
in Truth, there is nothing farther from my Intention than 
fuch a ConduCl. I am very fenfible, that there are Abun- 
dance of excellent Writers on each of the different Parts of 
the SubjeCt which I am to handle ; and I freely profefs, 
that I have no Hopes of fucceeding, but from the Ufe I 
make of their Labours. But what I would ftiew him is 
this, that how excellent foever thefe may be, take them 
feparate, and with regard to the Defigns by them refpeCti 
ively propofed, they cannot, however, even by the moft 
laborious Courfe of Reading, be brought to anfwer the End 
of fuch a general and connected Hiftory, as has been men- 
tioned. 
They are, indeed. Materials for fuch a Building, and 
Materials without, which it would be Madnefs to attempt 
raffing fuch a Structure •, but ftill they are Materials only, 
and muft be drawn together, and properly framed, before 
they can become Parts of fuch a Building. It is very happy 
for the Reader, as well as for me, that there are fuch Plenty 
of excellent Materials ; and it will be very eafy for him to 
decide how well they are ranged, and how far they occupy 
their proper Places. Thefe Materials are to be collected 
from Writers of different Ages, in different Languages, 
and who wrote with very different Purpofes : T he great Dif- 
ficulty therefore lies, in making thefe ferve an End which 
none of them ever propofed, and to unite them in fuch a 
manner, as that the Piece may be whole and intire, with- 
out any Mark of Patchwork. 
In order to this, the Deficiences of fome muft be fup- 
plied from the Abundance of the others : The true Senfe of 
the Antients muft be collected from the beft Commentaries 
of the Moderns ; where any thing is dark, it muft be ex- 
plained ; and where great Writers have erred, from their 
Fondnefs for particular Opinions, their Errros muft be fet 
right with Candour and Decency. When, after all the 
Care that can be taken, no Materials can be found, this 
muft be fairly confeffed, and the Reader plainly told, what 
is known, and what is likely to be buried in perpetual Qb- 
fcurity. This may, indeed, feem to injure the Beauty, 
and deftroy the Symmetry of our Work ; but it is much 
better, that the Things fhould be left fo, than that, after 
the Manner of French Hiftorians, we fhould fupply FaCts 
with Inventions, and fo build up a regular Hiftory, deficient 
in nothing but Truth ; which ought to be the Foundation 
of all Hiftory, and without which it is mere Romance. 
6 . But to defcend from Generals to Particulars, and to 
reprefent, in few Words, what the Reader is to cxpeCt in 
this Chapter, as we did in the laft, and to fecure him from 
any Apprehenfion of our forgetting, that this is a Library 
of Voyages ; and, therefore, ought to confift principally of 
thefe ; we will enter into an exprefs Detail of the capital 
Points that are to be treated in the enfuing Sections. It is 
the more neceffary for us to do this, becaufe, without con- 
fidering them as the Parts of the fame Work, they might 
appear, at leaft many of them, to be placed in a wrong 
Order of Time *, whereas, when the Defign of this Chapter 
is fully difclofed, I hope it will appear, that th,ey are^di- 
gefted in the moft natural Order, and fo, as that they 
explained and enlightened each other. This is certainly 
the great Ufe of Method ; without which, it is fimply im- 1 
poffible, that there fhould be any Perfpicuity •, and yet it ; 
is not impoffible, that a Writer, by adhering too clofely to \ 
Method, may fall into that very Error which he endea- • 
vours to avoid : And, therefore, as the End is always to be : 
preferred to the Means, I fliall in this, as in the formei 1 
r ~ Chapter^ r 
