NOTICE BY THE PUBLISHING COMMITTEE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. ! In order that this edition might be as perfect as possible, the Committee engaged the services of Mr. William Thaddeus Harris, A. B., of Cambridge, to superintend its publication; correcting it by the original manuscript, and appending to it such notes as he might deem useful, and as might not interfere with the paging. These notes are signed H. It was necessary that the pages in this edition should be numbered in the same manner as in the former, in order that the references in the Index of the Series should be applicable to both. This necessity, beside greatly increasing the difficulty of annotation, has occasionally given a somewhat irregular appearance to the page. But the slighest comparison of the two editions will show the superiority in every respect of this. Boston, March, 1848. EXPLANATIONS. [ ] Brackets generally designate words which are presumed to be deficient in the original, and are here supplied on good authority; as on pages 114, 115. But in Chapters I. and II. (the MS. of which, as far as the middle of page 13, is now lost) they have been used to designate words which are deficient in the former edition, (their places being occupied by asterisks) but which, in this edition, (with the two exceptions on page 7,) have been supplied from Purchas and Smith; as on pages 8, 10. Words and passages having a pen drawn through them in the MS., and which are not to be found in the former edition, are here printed with a star before and after; as on page 19. Omissions in the former edition are designated by this character before and after; as on page 24. The difference between the correct readings of this edition and the erroneous ones of the former is marked by giving the true word or words in the text, between parallel lines, and the reading of the former edition between similar lines in the margin at the bottom of the page; as on page 17. The references from the text to the notes at the foot of the page are by Arabic numerals; as on page 13. The letters of the alphabet are used to refer to the notes at the end of the book; as on page 8. The notes (few in number) of the former editors have been generally retained in this edition, with Ed. appended to them. For all other notes, comprehending those at the foot of the page which are designated by the letter H, and all those at the end of the work, the present editor is alone responsible. With regard to the spelling; in proper names the orthography of the MS., various as it is, has been generally retained. With this exception the spelling has been modernized. There can be no doubt that the MS. from which the following pages have been printed is the same which was used by Prince; it agrees exactly with the description given by the Annalist. It is a folio, "in 338 pages; and though not in Hubbard's own handwriting, yet having several corrections made thereby." It will be apparent to any person who will take the trouble to examine the MS., that the transcriber or transcribers (for different portions of the MS. were evidently copied by as many different hands) found some difficulty in deciphering Hubbard's crabbed autograph. This is proved by the most ridiculous transformations of words, the oddest perversion of the sense, occasional blanks in the middle of a sentence, words curtailed of a final letter or syllable, and sundry other blunders of a like nature, some of which have been detected and corrected by Hubbard, while a greater number escaped his observation. Such being the case, liberties have been taken with the text which otherwise would not have been allowable; where a material alteration has been made the reader has been informed thereof; but when the deviation from the MS. has been slight (as, for instance, in the addition or subtraction of a letter,) it has not been considered necessary to advise the reader of such alteration, the main object being to give what we must suppose to have been the true meaning of the author. -H. ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. Page 7, the words in brackets are conjectural. 66 9, The figures in brackets were supplied by the former editors. 66 66 66 11, 12, line 15, [ten] supplied by the former editors. 29, 11, for that many endeavors have been made, read ||the|| many endeavors [which] have been made. 66 115, 66 66 66 6137, 64 66 at the bottom insert ||that||. 10, for in read [in]. 19, for the, read our. at the bottom, insert the||. 18, for Sir Edward, read Sir Edwin. 17, for had, read ||was. at the bottom, insert had. 26, for overstored, read overstocked]. at the bottom insert ||overstored||. 5, the word command should be in italics, as conjectural. 35, for those days, read these ends. at the bottom, insert those days. 26, after settling, for the, read [that]. at the bottom, insert the. Billington's victim was named John Newcomen. See Brad ford, in Prince, pp. 319-20. 19, for designs, read diseases. in the note, line 1, for May 4, read May 5. in the note, line 3, for 23-4, read 223-4. 9, for thither, read hither. 2, for when, read where. at the bottom, insert whenll. in the note, line 2, for 32-3, read i. 32-3. 189, 40, for whom, read whencell. at the bottom, insert ||whom||. 200, 41, for ||some|| read ||some||. "227, "240, 243, 66 30, for same, read former. The word was originally written as in the text, but has been clumsily converted into the word above given. at the bottom, insert ||same]. 259, 7, after called, insert (ing. 268, 22, before Plantation, for the, read ||that||. at the bottom, insert ||the||. 66 26. The word Church is underscored in the MS., and in the margin is the following note: "Quære, if the word [Church] is not mistaken for Court." TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAP. I. CHAP. II. Of the several nations of the Indians found in New Eng- The MS. copy is carefully preserved in the library of the Historical Society. For VOL. V. NEW SERIES. b |