PREFACE

TO THE

AMERICAN EDITION.

IMPERFECT biographies of Swartz have appeared at different times; but it is remarkable, that a complete history of his life was not published for nearly forty years after his decease. This-so long a desideratum —was furnished in the year 1834, by the Rev. Dr. Pearson, the well known biographer of Buchanan. The delay was occasioned by the difficulty of collecting materials. Dr. Pearson's work has left us little to desire, as he had the object before him for many years, and enjoyed the best means of gaining information. Indeed, he is rather redundant in materials; and it is by throwing out some of the less important of these, as well as by a smaller type and closer page, that the work was reduced, in the present edition, from an expensive octavo of two volumes, without diminishing the interest or value of the memoir. The thread of the narrative has not been broken at all by the omissions, as these consist, in a great degree, of letters, contents of which were anticipated either in other letters, or in the remarks of the biographer, which have been retained.