INTRODUCTION MY DEAR NORMAN, wrote Basil Ennis to his friend, Norman Coolidge, fellow at Oxford, I at last redeem my promise and send you the old Ms. that I told you belonged to my friends in Northamptonshire. It was found, as all these old papers shouldd be found, you know, in an oak chest in the library at Highcourt - too bad that it was not just newly discovered in a secret drawer and I the discoverer but the fact is that the existence of the paper had been known to the family for a long time, but you understand how careless some families are in matters of this character. It requires the loving and knowing ken of such grubby old bookworms as you and myself to detect the value of a possession like this. I have copied it out a labour of love that has nearly cost me my eyesight, and submit it to you for your critical judgment. I have compared it with all the well-known published accounts of Halrluyt, Purchas, Fletcher and Pretty, and Drake redivivus, and find that it agrees with most of the accepted, and perhaps throws some light upon details that the over-cautious had excluded. You remember how I once said that those fine old stories were too good to have been invented I have not changed it except here and there in a sentence perhaps, and in the spelling, which is fearful and wonderful. As you see, it is written quite simply, in a way as those old Johnnies used to write...