A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels | Page 5

by the lords
commissioners of the admiralty for that purpose: and, with respect to
the voyage of the Endeavour, from other papers equally authentic; an
assistance which I have acknowledged in an introduction to the account
of her voyage.
When I first undertook the work, it was debated, whether it should be
written in the first or third person; it was readily acknowledged on all
hands, that a narrative in the first person would, by bringing the
adventurer and the reader nearer together, without the intervention of a
stranger, more strongly excite an interest, and consequently afford more
entertainment; but it was objected, that if it was written in the name of
the several commanders, I could exhibit only a naked narrative, without
any opinion or sentiment of my own, however fair the occasion, and
without noting the similitude or dissimilitude between the opinions,
customs, or manners of the people now first discovered, and those of
nations that have been long known, or remarking on any other incident
or particular that might occur. In answer to this objection, however, it
was said, that as the manuscript would be submitted to the gentlemen in
whose names it would be written, supposing the narrative to be in the
first person, and nothing published without their approbation, it would
signify little who conceived the sentiments that should be expressed,
and therefore I might still be at liberty to express my own. In this

opinion all parties acquiesced, and it was determined that the narrative
should be written in the first person, and that I might, notwithstanding,
intersperse such sentiments and observations as my subject should
suggest: they are not indeed numerous, and when they occur, are
always cursory and short; for nothing would have been more absurd
than to interrupt an interesting narrative, or new descriptions, by
hypothesis and dissertation.[5] They will, however, be found most
frequent in the account of the voyage of the Endeavour; and the
principal reason is, that although it stands last in the series, great part of
it was printed before the others were written, so that several remarks,
which would naturally have been suggested by the incidents and
descriptions that would have occurred in the preceding voyages, were
anticipated by similar incidents and descriptions which occurred in this.
[Footnote 5: It is highly questionable if this substitution of writer for
adventurer have the efficiency ascribed to it, when the reader knows
before hand, and cannot but remember, that it is artificial, and
avowedly intended for effect. This is so obvious, that one cannot help
wondering how the parties concerned in the publication of these
Voyages should have acquiesced in the mode of their appearance. The
only way of accounting for it, perhaps, is this; it was imagined that no
one but an author by profession was competent to fulfil the
expectations that had been formed in the public mind. The opinion
generally entertained that Mr Robins was the author of the Account of
Anson's Voyage, might have contributed to this very groundless notion;
and the parties might have hoped, that a person of Dr Hawkesworth's
reputation in the literary world, would not fail to fabricate a work that
should at least rival that excellent production. It would be unfair not to
apprise the reader, that this hope was not altogether realised. Public
opinion has unquestionably ranked it as inferior, but has not however
been niggard in its praise. The work is read, and always will be read,
with high interest. This, perhaps, is capable of augmentation; and the
Editor much deceives himself if he has not accomplished this effect by
his labours, as well in pruning off the redundant moralizings and
cumbrous ratiocinations of Dr Hawkesworth, as in contributing new but
relevant matter to the mass of amusing and instructive information
which that gentleman has recorded. He confesses that he has far less

delicacy in doing either of these offices in the present case, than he
would chuse to avow, had the account emanated purely and directly
from the pens of those who performed the voyages; nor can he help
feeling a regret, that such persons as Byron and Cook, both of whom
have given most satisfactory proofs of their possessing every literary
requisite, were not permitted to edify the public as they thought good,
without the officious instrumentality of an editor. These men needed no
such interference, though their modesty and good sense availed them,
undoubtedly, in profiting by the merely verbal corrections of friendship;
and their own productions have the charm of simplicity and
genuineness of narrative, which, it is certain, the ability acquired by
mere drudgery in composition is by no means adequate to produce.--E.]
Some particulars that are related in one voyage will perhaps appear to
be repeated in another, as they would necessarily have