Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/11

 PREFACE, vii in tliese pages ipay perhaps lead him to ask — why should such trivial passages be printed in a history ? A little consideration, however, will show that they have their historical as well as their personal value. Even when wo find Phillip repeating himself, as he often does, his repetitions are worth preserving, because they serve to show how his mind was working at the time, and in that way they reveal the character of the man as well as the circum- stances by which he was surrounded. For similar reasons it has been thought proper to publish his written words exactly as he wrote them, without making any attempt to correct his spelling and grammar, or to smooth the rugged surface of his style. The historical value of these records will be appreciated when it is remembered that no similar series exists in the case of any other country. If we turn for comparison to the history of the American colonies, the difference is as great as that between a landscape lying in the sunshine, and one dimly seen through the mists and clouds of winter. In the preface to a history of the province of New York, written in 1756, the author said — '^ Except some accounts of the settlements in Massachusetts Bay and Vir- ginia, all the other histories of our plantations upon the continent are little else than collections of falsehoods, and worse than none.^^ It is not quite clear from this passage whether the excep- tion was intended to include the most famous of all the American chronicles — ^^ the Generall Historic of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles, by Captain John Smith, sometymes Governour in those Countryes, and AdmiraU of New England ^* ; but it is certainly open to some such criticism. Captain SmitVs work is the best specimen of a personal narrative of American colonisation which English literature can produce ; and it is worth while to consider its literary character in order to appreciate our own good fortune in the matter of historical materials.* The reader can form a good estimate of the Captain's value as a chronicler from a passage in his dedication to the duchess of Richmond, in which he recounts some of the romantic passages in his life : — The beauteous Lady Tragabigdanza, when I was a slave to the Turks, did all she could to secure me. When I overcame the Bashaw of Nalbrits • Doyle, The English in America, pp. 5&4-8«