his death, made fome fhort additions to them, which may be confidered as the laft effort of that attention to fcience which occupied a long life. My inquiries were not confined to one region in America. Governor Hutchinson took the trouble of recommending the confideration of my queries to Mr. Hawley and Mr. Brainerd, two proteftant miffionaries, employed among the Indians of the Five Nations, who favoured me with answers, which discover a confiderable knowledge of the people whose customs they defcribe. From William Smith, efq. the ingenious historian of New York, I received fome ufeful information. When I enter upon the Hiftory of our Colonies in North America, I fhall have occafion to acknowledge how much I have been indebted to many other gentlemen of that country. From the valuable Collection of Voyages made by Alexander Dalrymple, efq. with whose attention to the Hiftory of Navigation and Discovery the Public is well acquainted, I have received fome very rare books, particularly two large volumes of Memorials, partly manufcript, and partly in print, which were presented to the court of Spain during the reigns of Philip III. and Philip IV. From these I have learned many curious particulars with refpect to the interior ftate of the Spanish colonies, and the various fchemes formed for their improvement. As this Collection of Memorials formerly belonged to the Colbert library, I have quoted them by that title. All those books and manuscripts I have confulted with that attention which the respect due from from an author to the Public required; and by minute references to them, I have endeavoured to authenticate whatever I relate. The longer I reflect on the nature of hiftorical compofition, the more I am convinced that this fcrupulous accuracy is neceffary. The hiftorian who records the events of his own time, is credited in proportion to the opinion which the Public entertains with respect to his means of information and his veracity. He who delineates the transactions of a remote period, has no title to claim' assent, unless he produces evidence in proof of his affertions. Without this, he may write an amufing tale, but cannot be faid to have compofed an authentic hiftory. In those sentiments I have been confirmed by the opinion of an author*, whom his induftry, erudition, and difcernment have defervedly placed in high rank among the most eminent hiftorians of the age. Emboldened by a hint from him, I have publifhed a catalogue of the Spanish books which I have confulted. This practice was frequent in the last century, and was confidered as an evidence of laudable industry in an author; in the prefent, it may, perhaps, be deemed the effect of oftentation; but as many of these books are unknown in Great Britain, I could not otherwife have referred to them as authorities, without encumbering the page with an insertion of their full titles. To any perfon who may choose to follow me in this path of inquiry, the catalogue must be very useful. My readers will obferve, that in mentioning fums of money, I have uniformly followed the VOL. I. *Mr. Gibbon. Spanish In Spanish method of computing by pefos. America, the pefo fuerte, or duro, is the only one known, and that is always meant when any fum imported from America is mentioned. The pefo fuerte, as well as other coins, has varied in its numerary value; but I have been advifed, without attending to fuch minute variations, to confider it as equal to four fhillings and fixpence of our money. It is to be remembered, however, that in the fixteenth century, the effective value of a pefo, i. e. the quantity of labour which it reprefented, or of goods which it would purchafe, was five or fix times as much as at present. N. B. Since this edition was put into the press, a History of Mexico, in two volumes in quarto, tranflated from the Italian of the Abbé D. Francefco Saverio Clavigero, has been published. From a perfon, who is a native of New Spain, who has refided forty years in that country, and who is acquainted with the Mexican language, it was natural to expect much new information. Upon perufing his work, however, I find that it contains hardly any addition to the ancient Hiftory of the Mexican empire, as related by Acosta and Herrera, but what is derived from the improbable narratives and fanciful conjectures of Torquemada and Boturini. Having copied their fplendid descriptions of the high ftate of civilization in the Mexican empire, M. Clavigero, in the abundance of his zeal for the honour of his native country, charges me with having mistaken fome points, and with having mifreprefented others, in the History of it. When When an author is confcious of having exerted Industry in research and impartiality in decifion, he may, without prefumption, claim what praise is due to thefe qualities, and he cannot be infenfible to any accufation that tends to weaken the force of his claim. A feeling of this kind has induced me to examine fuch ftrictures of M. Clavigero on my Hiftory of America as merited any attention, especially as these are made by one, who seemed to poffefs the means of ob taining accurate information; and to fhew that the greater part of them is destitute of any just foundation. This I have done in notes upon the paffages in my History, which gave rise to his criticisms. COLLEGE of EDINBURGH, |