manuscript before it was sent to the press. It was avowed by Park
himself, that as occasion offered, he had incorporated into different
parts of his work, by permission of Mr. Edwards, the _whole_ of the
narrative prepared by the latter for the use of the Association.
[Footnote: Park's Travels. Preface, p. ix.] A person accustomed to
literary composition, and confident of his own powers, would hardly have
chosen to avail himself of this assistance; which would be attended only
with a slight saving of labour, and might probably have the unpleasant
effect of a mixture of different styles. No such disadvantage, it maybe
observed, has in fact resulted from the course pursued in the present
instance. No inequalities are apparent in Park's narrative; nor are the
passages which have been inserted from Mr. Edwards's Memoir, to be
distinguished from the rest of the work. The style is throughout
uniform, and bears all the marks of a practised pen. Generally speaking
indeed, it is more simple, and consequently more pleasing, than that of
Mr. Edwards's avowed compositions. But, notwithstanding its general
merits, it is altogether perhaps too much laboured; and in particular
passages, betrays too much of the art of a professed writer. [Footnote:
It would be easy, but invidious, to produce passages from Park's work
more or less marked with some of the characteristics of Mr. Edwards's
style, and, in particular, with that tendency to ambitious ornament,
which is so conspicuous in many parts of the _History of the West
Indies_.--The following extract from Park's chapter on the state of
Slavery in Africa, may be sufficient. "In a country divided into a
thousand petty states, mostly independent, and jealous of each other,
where every freeman is accustomed to arms, and fond of military
achievements; where the youth who has practised the bow and spear from
his infancy, longs for nothing so much as an opportunity to display his
valour, it is natural to imagine, that wars frequently originate from
very frivolous provocation. When one nation is more powerful than