y determine; except, as some
will say, from some secret_ Ragion di Stato. _Let the reason be as
t'will; this is certain, so much the more we are obliged unto this
present Author, who though a stranger unto our Nation, yet with that
Candour and Fidelity hath recorded our Actions, as to render the Metal
of our true English Valour to be the more believed and feared abroad,
than if these things had been divulged by our selves at home. From hence
peradventure will other Nations learn, that the English people are of
their Genius more inclinable to act than to write; seeing as well they
as we have lived unacquainted with these actions of our Nation, until
such time as a Foreign Author to our Country came to tell them._

_Besides the merits of this Piece for its curiosity, another point of
no less esteem, is the truth and sincerity wherewith everything seemeth
to be penned. No greater ornament or dignity can be added unto History,
either humane or natural, than truth. All other embellishments, if this
be failing, are of little or no esteem; if this be delivered, are either
needless or superfluous. What concerneth this requisite in our Author,
his lines do everywhere declare the faithfulness and sincerity of his
mind. He writeth not by hearsay, but was an eye witness, as he somewhere
telleth you, unto all and every one of the bold and hazardous attempts
which he relateth. And these he delivereth with such candour of stile,
such ingenuity of mind, such plainness of words, such conciseness of
periods, so much divested of Rhetorical Hyperboles, or the least
flourishes of Eloquence, so hugely void of Passion or national
Reflections, as that he strongly perswadeth all-along to the credit of
what he saith; yea, raiseth the mind of the Reader to believe these
things far greater than what he hath said; and having read him, leaveth
onely this scruple or concern behind, that you can read him no longer.
In a word, such are his deserts, that some persons peradventure would
not stickle to compare him to the Father of Historians_, Philip de
Comines; _at least thus much may be said, with all truth imaginable,
that he resembleth that great Author in many of his excellent
qualities._

_I know some persons have objected against the greatness of these
prodigious Adventures, intimating that the resistance our_ Bucaniers
_found in_ America, _was everywhere but small. For the_ Spaniards, _say
they, in the_ West Indies, _are become of late years noth