that has scarcely
occurred. Reports were sometime ago industriously propagated that Dr.
Robertson had turned his attention to a very different subject, and even
when it was generally known that the present work was upon the eve of
publication, it was still questioned by many, whether a writer, so
celebrated for prudence, had not declined the more recent part of the
North American history. The motives of his conduct upon this head as
they are stated in the preface, we shall here lay before our readers.

"But neither the history of Portuguese America, nor the early history of
our own settlements, have constituted the most arduous part of the
present publication. The revolution, which, unfortunately for this
country, hath recently taken place in the British colonies, hath excited
the most general attention, at the same time that it hath rendered the
gratification of public curiosity a matter of as much delicacy as
necessity. Could this event have been foreseen by me, I should perhaps
have been more cautious of entering into engagements with the public. To
embark upon a subject, respecting which the sentiments of my countrymen
have been so much divided, and the hand of time hath not yet collected
the verdicts of mankind; while the persons, to whose lot it hath fallen
to act the principal parts upon the scene, are almost all living; is a
task that prudence might perhaps refuse, and modesty decline. But
circumstanced as I was, I have chosen rather to consider these
peculiarities as pleas for the candour of my readers, than as motives to
withdraw myself from so important an undertaking. I should ill deserve
the indulgence I have experienced from the public, were I capable of
withdrawing from a task by which their curiosity might be gratified,
from any private inducements of inconvenience or difficulty."

We have already said, and the reader will have frequent occasion to
recollect it, that we by no means generally intend an analysis of the
several works that may come before us. In the present instance, we do
not apprehend that we shall lay ourselves open to much blame, by passing
over in silence the discoveries of Vespusius, and the conquests of
Baretto; and laying before our readers some extracts from the history of
the late war. It is impossible not to remark that the subject is treated
with much caution, and that, though the sentiments of a royalist be
every where conspicuous, they are those of a royalist, moderated by
mis