The prophetic quotation which the author of this work has placed upon his title-page, seems to indicate an anticipation on his part, that his manuscript would one day be printed; and its interesting date and curious details, have given the Editor reason to congratulate himself upon the fact, that the Hakluyt Society is the “generation” prognosticated.

Two copies of the manuscript, both in the author's handwriting (for there are a sufficient number of instances of it in the British Museum to prove its identity), are all that have come under the Editor's notice; one in the Sloane Collection, No. 1622, in the British Museum, from which the present publication has been transcribed; and the other among the Ashmolean Manuscripts, No. 1754. The only difference between these two, is an alteration in the title of the second book, and the addition to the titles, both of the first and second books, of the motto of Alget qui non ardet. The Museum copy is dedicated to Sir Francis Bacon, “Lord High Chancellor”; and that in the Ashmolean Library to Sir Allen Apsley, “Purveyor to His Majesties Navie Royall.”

That the author was a man of an intelligent and observing mind will be evident from a perusal of the following pages.