I cannot intrude this volume on the public without informing them, what all my friends will vouch for the truth of, viz. - that on my return from America, in 1797, I wrote the work in its present form for their perusal, and, that conscious of my want of talent as a writer, I resisted all their entreaties for its publication, till within these three months. The public, I presume, will not be wholly disappointed, the extracts I have made from Jefferson, Belknap, and other american writers, are worthy their attention: I have no other merit than having placed them in a tolerable point of view.