dilemma, either to eject my brains from my skull, or to stupefy them. But my pistols were not loaded, and the exertion to do so would have been too great with Fahrenheit at 100. I felt tempted to get drunk, but unfortunately I can bear no other beverage than water. Smoking would, perhaps, have answered the purpose, if my attempts at acquiring that attainment and all the other qualifications connected with the use of tobacco, had not resulted in a sick stomach. I was in this unpleasant state of cogitation, when that number of De Bow's Review which contains my Lecture on the Romance of the History of Louisiana, caught my sight, as it was lying on my writing desk. I picked it up, and began to fondle my bantling: of course, I became interested, and all my morbid feelings vanished, as it were, by magic. Oh! how charming it is to have a family! Ladies, which of you will have me?

But I must not wander from my subject. I say, then, that I had in my left hand De Bow's Review, and, I do not know how, the right one imperceptibly exercised some sort of magnetic influence over my pen, which was reposing close by, and which flew to its fingers, where it stuck. A few minutes after, it was dipped in ink, and running over paper at the rate of fifty miles an hour, and raising as much smoke as any locomotive in the country.

The three other Lectures, which I submit now to the consideration of the reader, are the result of the concatenation of accidents or circumstances which I have related.

When I had finished my composition, like most people who act first and then set themselves to thinking, I began to guess, as some of my Yankee friends would say, whether I could not apply the fruits of my labor to some practical purpose. I had achieved one thing, it is true-I had rendered seclusion pleasant to myself; but could I not do more? Would there not be sweet satisfaction in extracting something useful to my fellow-citizens from the careless and unpretending effusions, the object of which had originally been to accelerate the flight of a few heavy hours, which I descried at a short distance, coming upon me with their leaden wings and their gouty feet!

To write history, is to narrate events, and to show their

philosophy, when they are susceptible of any such demonstration. When the subject is worthy of it, this is a kind of composition of the highest order, and which affords to genius an ample scope for the display of all its powers. But the information so conveyed, is limited to the few, because not suited to the intelligence of the many. The number of those who have read Tacitus, Hume, Gibbon, or Clarendon, is comparatively small, when opposed to those who have pored with delight over the fascinating pages of Walter Scott. To relate events, and, instead of elucidating and analyzing their philosophy, like the historian, to point out the hidden sources of romance which spring from them-to show what materials they contain for the dramatist, the novelist, the poet, the painter, and for all the varied conceptions of the fine arts-is perhaps an humbler task, but not without its utility. When history is not disfigured by inappropriate invention, but merely embellished and made attractive by being set in a glittering frame, this artful preparation honies the cup of useful knowledge, and makes it acceptable to the lips of the multitude. Through the immortal writings of Walter Scott, many have become familiar with historical events, and have been induced to study more serious works, who, without that tempting bait, would have turned away from what appeared to them to be but a dry and barren field, too unpromising to invite examination, much less cultivation. To the bewitching pen of the wonderful magician of her romantic hills, Scotland owes more for the popular extension of her fame, than to the doings of the united host of all her other writers, warriors, and statesmen.

It was in pursuing such a train of reasoning, that I came to the conclusion that the publication of these Lectures might show what romantic interest there is in the history of Louisiana; that it might invite some to an investigation which, so far, they perhaps thought would not repay them for the trouble; and to study with fondness what hitherto had been to them an object of disdainful neglect. I have attempted to accumulate and to heap up together materials for the use of more skillful architects than I am, and have contented myself with drawing the faint outlines of literary compositions,

which, if filled up by the hand of genius, would do for Louisiana, on a smaller scale, what has been done for Scotland; would encircle her waist with the magic zone of Romance, and give her those letters-patent of nobility, which are recorded forever in the temple of Fame. An humble janitor, I have opened the door to those realms where flit the dim shadows of the dead, which are said to be anxious to resume life, and which, to the delight of the world, and to the glorification of my native land, might, at the command of some inspired bard, be made to reanimate their deserted bodies.

Ad fluvium (Mississippi) Deus evocat agmine magno,
Scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant
Rursus et incipiant in corpora velle reverti.—

VIRGIL

I give to the world these nuge seria for what they are worth. As a pastime, I began with shooting arrows at random, and then, gathering inspiration from the growing animation of the sport, I aimed at a particular object. If the bystanders should think that I have not shot too far wide of the mark-if the public, pleased with one or two good hits, should put on his white kid gloves, and coming up to me with the high-bred courtesy of a gentleman, should exchange a polite bow, and by way of encouragement, should utter those delicate compliments which, whether true or not, do honor to the donor and to the donee, (for I hate vulgar praise and coarse incense,) I shall deem it my duty to cultivate an acquaintance, which may ripen into friendship, and I may, in my endeavors to deserve it, publish another series of Lectures. Well-meant criticism, I shall delight in, as a means of improvement; vituperation, I do not anticipate from one of so gentle blood; but absolute silence, I shall consider as a broad hint not to importune him any more, and I promise to act accordingly. The more so, that from the lessons of experience, and from knowledge of the world, I feel every day more disposed to ensconce myself within a nut-shell, and that my ambition has dwindled so much in its proportions, that it would be satisfied to rest forever, "sub tegmine fagi," with the commission of overseer of a parish road.

NEW ORLEANS, March 1, 1848.

PREFACE

TO THE SECOND SERIES.

THE success of my "Romance of the History of Louisiana," from the discovery of that country by Soto, to the surrender by Crozat of the charter which he had obtained from Louis the XIVth, in relation to that French Colony, has been such, that I deem it my duty toward my patrons to resume my pen, and to present the following work to their kind and friendly regard. When I wrote the precedent one, I said, while I mentally addressed the public:

"Right, I note, most mighty souveraine,
That all this famous antique history

Of some th' aboundance of an idle braine
Will judged be, and painted forgery,
Rather than matter of just memory."
SPENSER. Faerie Queene.

Nor was I mistaken: for I was informed that many had taken for the invention of the brain what was but historical truth set in a gilded frame, when, to use the expressions of Sir Joshua Reynolds, I had taken but insignificant liberties with facts, to interest my readers, and make my narration more delightful, in imitation of the painter who, though his work is called history painting, gives in reality a poetical representation of facts. The reader will easily perceive, that in the present production, I have been more sparing of embellishments, although "I well noted, with that worthy gentle

man, Sir Philip Sidney," as Raleigh says in his history of the world, "that historians do borrow of poets not only much of their ornament, but somewhat of their substance."

Such is not the case, on this occasion, and I can safely declare that the substance of this work, embracing the period from 1717 to 1743, when Bienville, who, with Iberville, had been the founder of the colony, left it forever, rests on such evidence as would be received in a court of justice, and that what I have borrowed of the poet for the benefit of the historian, is hardly equivalent to the delicately wrought drapery which even the Sculptor would deem necessary, as a graceful appendage to the nakedness of the statue of truth.

NOTE. The sea-fight which opens the Second Lecture in the Romance of the History of Louisiana, was supposed to be fictitious, it being deemed impossible that a French vessel should have beaten three English ships of superior force. This fact, however, is related by Father Charlevoix; and manuscripts copied from the archives of the department of marine in France, and now deposited in the office of the Secretary of State at Baton Rouge, will convince the incredulous that the author has not drawn upon his imagination.