Those Charms Of Liberty And Right, The Darlings Of An English Nature,
Which Your Lordships Grant And Maintain, Make You Appear Noble Patrons
In The Eyes Of All Men, And We A Happy People In A Foreign Country;
Which Nothing Less Than Ingratitude And Baseness Can Make Us Disown.
As Heaven has been liberal in its Gifts, so are Your Lordships
favourable Promoters of whatever may make us
An easy People;
which, I hope, Your Lordships will continue to us and our Posterity;
and that we and they may always acknowledge such Favours,
by banishing from among us every Principle which renders Men
factious and unjust, which is the hearty Prayer of,
My Lords,
Your Lordships most obliged,
most humble,
and most devoted Servant,
JOHN LAWSON.
PREFACE.
'Tis a great Misfortune, that most of our Travellers, who go to
this vast Continent in America, are Persons of the meaner Sort,
and generally of a very slender Education; who being hir'd by the Merchants,
to trade amongst the Indians, in which Voyages they often spend
several Years, are yet, at their Return, uncapable of giving
any reasonable Account of what they met withal in those remote Parts;
tho' the Country abounds with Curiosities worthy a nice Observation.
In this Point, I think, the French outstrip us.
First, By their Numerous Clergy, their Missionaries being obedient
to their Superiors in the highest Degree, and that Obedience
being one great Article of their Vow, and strictly observ'd
amongst all their Orders.
Secondly, They always send abroad some of their Gentlemen
in Company of the Missionaries, who, upon their Arrival,
are order'd out into the Wilderness, to make Discoveries,
and to acquaint themselves with the Savages of America; and are oblig'd
to keep a strict Journal of all the Passages they meet withal,
in order to present the same not only to their Governors and Fathers,
but likewise to their Friends and Relations in France;
which is industriously spread about that Kingdom, to their Advantage.
For their Monarch being a very good Judge of Mens Deserts,
does not often let Money or Interest make Men of Parts give Place
to others of less Worth.
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