Page:An account of the English colony in New South Wales.djvu/13

 PREFACE.

HE Author of the History of the English Colony in New South Wales, having been flattered by the idea that a Second Edition of that work would not prove unacceptable to the Public, and feeling it incumbent on him to shew the grateful sense which he entertained of the favourable reception of the first, had for some time deliberated on the propriety of giving the new Edition in a form which, without lessening the interest of the work, might render it less expensive to the purchaser. A careful Abridgment appeared most likely to answer the end desired; as much of the matter contained in the first publication was now no longer of importance; though at that period curiosity was awake to the most trivial circumstance occurring in a new world, where the actions of two distinct sets of people were to appear in contrast; the one, the children of rude uncultivated nature, just entering upon the stage; the other, the disciples of vice in its most refined state, driven from more polished scenes. The