Transcriber's note:
Original spellings (and their inconsistencies) have been maintained.A few obvious printers's error have been corrected: they are underlined in red,and the original text is visible when the pointer is hovered over them
The errata have been corrected thesame way, except that they are underlined in blue.
iii
The little tour which gave birth to the followingremarks, was taken immediately after the exchangeof the ratifications of a peace, necessary, but notinglorious to my country, after a contest unexampledin its cause, calamity, extension, vicissitudes andglory; amidst a people who, under the influence ofa political change, hitherto unparallelled, were to beapproached as an order of beings, exhibiting a moraland political form before but little known to themselvesand to the world, in the abrupt removal ofhabits and sentiments which had silently and uninterruptedlytaken deep root in the soil of ages.
During a separation of ten years, we have receivedvery little account of this extraordinary people, whichcould be relied upon. Dissimilar sensations, excitedby their principles and proceedings, ever partiallyand irregularly known, have depicted unaccordingrepresentations of them, and, in the sequel, haveexhibited rather a high-coloured, fanciful delineation,than a plain and faithful resemblance of the original.Many are the persons who have been thus misled.
These fugitive sketches, in which an attempt ismade to delineate, just as they occurred, those scenesivwhich, to my mind at least, were new and interesting,were originally penned for the private perusal ofthose whom I esteem; and by their persuasion theyare now offered to the public eye. Amongst them Imust be permitted to indulge in the pride andpleasure of enumerating William Hayley, esq. a namefamiliar and dear to every elegant and polished mind.Enlightened by his emendations, and supported bythe cherishing spirit of his approval, I approach, witha more subdued apprehension, the tribunal of publicopinion; and to my friends I dedicate this humbleresult of a short relaxation from the duties of ananxious and laborious profession. If, by submittingto their wishes, I have erred, I have only to offer,that it is my first, and shall be my last offence.
Totnes, August, 1802. JOHN CARR.
☞ The engravings which accompany this work, are of sketches madeon the spot by an untutored pencil, and are introduced for thepurpose of illustration only.v
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