District of Pennsylvania, to wit ;

Be it remembered, That on the twelfth day of June, in the twenty-ninth year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1805, Jacob Johnson, of the said District, hath deposited in this Office, the Title of a Book, the Right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the Words following, to wit:

"The History of North and South America. From its "Discovery, to the Death of General Washington. By "Richard Snowden, Esq. In Two Volumes. Vol. I."

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, intituled, "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the Times therein mentioned," And also to the Act, entitled, "An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled,' An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by the securing the Copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the Times therein mentioned,' and extending the Benefits thereof to the Arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other Prints."

(L. S.)

D. CALDWELL,
Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania

PREFACE.

TO furnish the Public with a cheap History of America, from its discovery, to its present state of civilization and importance, is an undertaking of such general utility, that the attempt, if it ever fall short of complete execution, has a claim to considerable share of indulgence. This is mor especially the case, when the writer has to follow an historian of such great and just celebrity a DR. ROBERTSON, in at least one half of the work.

To compose such an Historical epitome as is desirable, from scattered materials, is a difficulty of such magnitude, as wholly to discourage the attempt; and to abridge the pages of so great an original, where there is nothing superfluous, nothing the reader would wish omitted, is a design, which to many will seem to border on temerity. But this abridgement nas been preferred, as it is attended with the least chance of disappointment; and to borrow is not dishonourable, when the obligation is candidly acknowledged.

In what relates to South America, DR. ROBERTSON'S History has, therefore, been impli citly followed. His arrangement of the subject, his chronological order, and his very style have been adopted, as the best that can be chosen. To condense his details, to introduce only the most

prominent and characteristic events, has been the principal effort, and invariable purpose of the Epitomizer: endeavouring as he progressed, to preserve unbroken the connection and continuity of events; and in the whole, to present the reader with a brief, but interesting view, of one of the most important æras in the annals of the World.

So far the writer travelled with pleasure: but, in tracing the subsequent part, the history of North America, he has cause to regret, with all his contemporaries, the absence of so pleasing and faithful a guide-being obliged to collect materials from different sources, none of which are complete, of all the British settlements in North America, from their first landing to their final separation from the parent state.

The settlement of these colonies being made at different periods, with charters of incorporation extremely variant, and with governments as distinct as their geographical boundaries, render cd a history of the British empire in America, extremely complex and difficult. From this he terogeneous mass, however, the writer has endeavoured, with considerable labour, to educe a summary of those events that paved the way to the American Revolution; and which will constitute the introduction to the future histories of the UNITED STATES.

In that portion of the work which succeeds the confederation of the colonies, and the conse-* quent declaration of independence, we set our feet on surer ground: we revive events that happened in our own memory; and of which there e faithful records withinthe reach of most of cur