thing but the Actions of a Parcel of Robbers. It is Bravery and Stratagem in War which make Actions worthy of Record; in which Senſe the Adventures, here related will be thought deſerving that Name. Plutarch is very circumſtantial in relating the Actions of Spartacus, the Slave, and makes the Conquest of him, one of the greatest Glories of Marcus Craſſus; and it is probable, if this Slave had liv’d a little longer, Plutarch would have given us his Life at large. Rome, the Miſtreſs of the World, was no more at first than a Refuge for Thieves and Outlaws; and if the Progreſs of our Pyrates had been equal to their Beginning; had they all united, and ſettled in ſome of thoſe Iſlands, they might, by this Time, have been honoured with the Name of a Commonwealth, and no Power in thoſe Parts of the World could have been able to diſpute it with them.
If we have ſeem’d to glance, with ſome Freedom, at the Behaviour of ſome Governors of Provinces abroad, it has been with Caution; and, perhaps, we have, not declar’d as much as we knew: However, we hope thoſe Gentlemen in the ſame Station, who have never given Occaſion for the like Cenſure, will take no Offence, tho’ the Word Governor is ſometimes made uſe of.
P. S. It will be neceſſary to add a Word or two to this Preface, in order to inform the Reader, that there are ſeveral material Additions made to this ſecond Impreſſion, which ſwelling the Book in Bulk, must of Conſequence add a ſmall Matter to its Price.
The first Impreſſion having been received with ſo much Succeſs by the Publick, occaſioned a very earneſt Demand for a ſecond: In the mean Time, ſeveral Perſons who had been taken by the Pyrates, as well as others who had been concerned in taking of them, have been ſo kind to communicate ſeveral Facts and Circumſtances to us, which had eſcaped us in the first Impreſſion. This occaſioned ſome Delay, therefore if we have not brought it out, as ſoon as wiſh’d, it was to render it the more compleat.
We ſhall not enter into a Detail of all the new Matter inſerted here, but the Deſcription of the Iſlands St. Thome,