Travels in the United States of America (Esprios Classics)

"I cannot intrude this volume on the public without informing them, what all my friends will vouch for the truth of, viz. - that on my return from America, in 1797, I wrote the work in its present form for their perusal; and, that conscious of my want of talent as a writer, I resisted all their entreaties for its publication, till within these three months. The public, I presume, will not be wholly disappointed; the extracts I have made from Jefferson, Belknap, and other american writers, are worthy their attention: I have no other merit than having placed them in a tolerable point of view. "