ADVERTISEMENT.
The following pages have been compiled from various sources, and from an extensive course of reading. The Editor has in some instances placed his authorities in the notes at the bottom of the page; and, where he has copied from former writers, he has inserted the names of those from whom he has borrowed his materials. His chief object has been to confine himself to facts; he has therefore carefully avoided giving opinions upon, or drawing conclusions from, the various subjects of which he has treated. He has endeavoured to place many points of history in a new light, and in every part to illustrate, in some degree, the several matters which have occupied his attention. It has been his desire to present the reader with a volume, from which he hopes both instruction and amusement may be drawn, and he submits it with confidence, to the perusal of young persons in particular, as a collection of biographical and historical Miscellanea, calculated to beguile the tedium of an hour, without inculcating a single idea that may sully the purest mind.
Taunton, May 31st, 1820.