in this Enquiry, I ſhall therefore quit it, and ſay ſomething of the following Sheets, which the Author may venture to aſſure the Reader that they have one Thing to recommend them, which is Truth; thoſe Facts which he himſelf was not an Eye-Witneſs of, he had from the authentick Relations of the Perſons concern’d in taking the Pyrates, as well as from the Mouths of the Pyrates themſelves, after they were taken, and he conceives no Man can produce better Teſtimonies to ſupport the Credit of any Hiſtory.
It will be obſerved, that the Account of the Actions of Roberts runs into a greater Length, than that of any other Pyrate, for which we can aſſign two Reaſons, firſt, becauſe he ravaged the Seas longer than the rest, and of Conſequence there must be a greater Scene of Buſineſs in his Life: Secondly, being reſolved not to weary the Reader, with tireſome Repetitionſ: When we found the Circumſtances in Roberts’s Live, and other Pyrates, either as to pyratical Articles, or any Thing elſe, to be the ſame, we thought it best to give them but once, and choſe Roberts’s Life for that Purpoſe, he having made more Noiſe in the World, than ſome others.
As to the Lives of our two female Pyrates, we must confeſs they may appear a little Extravagant, yet they are never the leſs true for ſeeming ſo, but as they were publickly try’d for their Pyracies, there are living Witneſſes enough to juſtify what we have laid down concerning them; it is certain, we have produced ſome Particulars which were not ſo publickly known, the Reaſon is, we were more inquiſitive into the Circumſtances of their past Lives, than other People, who had no other Deſign, than that of gratifying their own private Curioſity: If there are ſome Incidents and Turns in their Stories, which may give them a little the Air of a Novel, they are not invented or contrived for that Purpoſe, it is a Kind of Reading this Author is but little acquainted with, but as he himſelf was exceedingly diverted with them, when they were related to him, he thought they might have the ſame Effect upon the Reader.
I preſume we need make no Apology for giving the Name of a Hiſtory to the following Sheets, though they contain no-