Page:History, Design and Present State of the Religious, Benevolent and Charitable Institutions.djvu/7

Rh has frequently been had to original sources. The labour of its composition, therefore, has, for the greater part, been confined to the condensation of information previously communicated to the public in a more detailed form, or which was scattered in voluminous though authentic documents which have never been published. By the indulgence of the Government, I have had access, among other official papers, to the Re ports of the Public Officers, who have been appointed to mature and digest the plans of the Government for the diffusion of the benefits of Education throughout these Provinces, and to superintend the various Institutions for that purpose supported or aided from the public resources. In this branch of my undertaking, I have necessarily confined myself to what has been fixed and determined, omitting all speculative or unsettled points, which it would have been improper, as well as useless to introduce. The Members of the Committee of Public Instruction will quickly discover the ample use which I have made of their Reports, in some parts of the articles relating to education. Excepting the requisite abridgement, and the adaptation of the materials to the narrative form, I have seldom departed from the language of the original documents. It would indeed have been presumption, unnecessarily to alter, much more to attempt to improve, the productions of superior intellect: consequently, if that portion of the work should prove interesting, the principal cause will at once be ascertained.

To those who may be disposed to criticize my Book with severity, I will say, that I have employed my best endeavours to he accurate