Mary Prince - The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. Related by Herself (Preface and Postscript) lyrics

THE HISTORY OF MARY PRINCE, A WEST INDIAN SLAVE. RELATED BY HERSELF. WITH A SUPPLEMENT BY THE EDITOR. To which is added, THE NARRATIVE OF ASA-ASA, A CAPTURED AFRICAN. "By our sufferings, since ye brought us To the man-degrading mart,-- All sustain'd by patience, taught us Only by a broken heart,-- Deem our nation brutes no longer, Till some reason ye shall find Worthier of regard, and stronger Than the colour of our kind." COWPER. THIRD EDITION. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY F. WESTLEY AND A. H. DAVIS, STATIONERS' HALL COURT; AND BY WAUGH & INNES, EDINBURGH: And supplied at trade price to Anti-Slavery Associations by JOSEPH PHILLIPS, 18, Aldermanbury. 1831. PREFACE. THE idea of writing Mary Prince's history was first suggested by herself. She wished it to be done, she said, that good people in England might hear from a slave what a slave had felt and suffered; and a letter of her late master's, which will be found in the Supplement, induced me to accede to her wish without farther delay. The more immediate object of the publication will afterwards appear. The narrative was taken down from Mary's own lips by a lady who happened to be at the time residing in my family as a visitor. It was written out fully, with all the narrator's repetitions and prolixities, and afterwards pruned into its present shape; retaining, as far as was practicable, Mary's exact expressions and peculiar phraseology. No fact of importance has been omitted, and not a single circumstance or sentiment has been added. It is essentially her own, without any material alteration farther than was requisite to exclude redundances and gross grammatical errors, so as to render it clearly intelligible. After it had been thus written out, I went over the whole, carefully examining her on every fact and circumstance detailed; and in all that relates to her residence in Antigua I had the advantage of being a**isted in this scrutiny by Mr. Joseph Phillips, who was a resident in that colony during the same period, and had known her there. The names of all the persons mentioned by the narrator have been printed in full, except those of Capt. I---- and his wife, and that of Mr. D----, to whom conduct of peculiar atrocity is ascribed. These three individuals are now gone to answer at a far more awful tribunal than that of public opinion, for the deeds of which their former bondwoman accuses them; and to hold them up more openly to human reprobation could no longer affect themselves, while it might deeply lacerate the feelings of their surviving and perhaps innocent relatives, without any commensurate public advantage. Without detaining the reader with remarks on other points, which will be adverted to more conveniently in the Supplement, I shall here merely notice farther, that the Anti-Slavery Society have no concern whatever with this publication, nor are they in any degree responsible for the statements it contains. I have published the tract, not as their Secretary, but in my private capacity; and any profits that may arise from the sale will be exclusively appropriated to the benefit of Mary Prince herself. While Mary's history was in the press, I was furnished by my friend Mr. George Stephen with the interesting narrative of Asa-Asa, a captured African now under his protection, and have printed it as a suitable appendix. THO. PRINGLE. London, January 25, 1831. POSTSCRIPT.--SECOND EDITION. Since the First Edition of this Tract was published, Mary Prince has been afflicted with a disease in the eyes, which, it is feared, may terminate in total blindness: such, at least, is the apprehension of some skilful medical gentlemen who have been consulted on the case. Should this unfortunately be the result, the condition of the poor negro woman, thus cruelly and hopelessly severed from her husband and her home, will be one peculiarly deserving of commiseration; and I mention the circumstance at present on purpose to induce the friends of humanity to promote the more zealously the sale of this publication, with a view to provide a little fund for her future benefit. Whatever be the subsequent lot that Providence may have in reserve for her, the seasonable sympathy thus manifested in her behalf, will neither be fruitlessly extended nor unthankfully received; while, in accordance with the benign scripture mandate, it will serve to mitigate and relieve, as far as human kindness can, the afflictions of "the stranger and the exile who is in our and within our gates."