Notes on the State of Virginia (1853)/Advertisement
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The following Notes were written in Virginia in the year
1781, and somewhat corrected and enlarged in the winter
of 1782, in answer to Queries proposed to the Author, by
a Foreigner of Distinction, then residing among us. The
subjects are all treated imperfectly; some scarcely touched
on. To apologize for this by developing the circumstances
of the time and place of their composition, would be to
open wounds which have already bled enough. To these
circumstances some of their imperfections may with truth
be ascribed; the great mass to the want of information and
want of talents in the writer. He had a few copies printed,
which he gave among his friends; and a translation of them
has been lately published in France, but with such
alterations as the laws of the press in that country rendered
necessary. They are now offered to the public in their
original form and language.
- February 27, 1787.