Front Matter

Preface

to the Seventh Edition of the Swiss Family Robinson

The Editor confesses that he expected the favor which has been shown by the Public to the present work, in the sale of six large editions; for the situations it exhibits of the best affections of our nature are such as to "come home to every bosom," to interestt and gratify both parents and children of all ages and descriptions. In its pages the useful, the moral, and the entertaining, so naturally mix with or succeed each other, that every generous taste is suited. No story can be better calculated than this of the Swiss pastor and his Family to awaken and reward curiosity, to excite amiable sympathies, to show the young inquirer after good, that the accidents of life may be reparied by the efforts of his own thought, and the constancy of his own industry; and to rouse the most inert to emulation.—What youthful reader of lively dispositions, who would not try to possess or dream of the possession of, a saw, a hammer, and some nails, and hurry in fancy to the contrivance of a Family Bridge,  a staircase  to Falcon's Nest,  or a parlor, a bedroom,  and kitchen,  in a Rock of Salt?  What lad who can see with unflushed cheek, Ernest,  and Jack,  and Francis,  all together on the back of their ferocious but now subdued buffalo,  and guiding his motions at their pleasure; or descry "Fritz diving along our avenue like lightning,"  on his disciplined onagra,  without feeling his personal courage expand as he turns the page? What heart what will not swell with kindness for the exemplary mother of the family, who tastes not of the refreshing draught obtained by her own care and labor, till all her dear ones have drunk and are refreshed?—or what eye repress a tear when her little Francis, clinging to her side, cries, "Welcome!"  too, "though not well knowing whether he was to be sad or merry?"  Who does not partake the affecting sentiment of the interesting group, who, "with their heads sinking on their bosoms, took the road to Tent-House,"  when the ship had disappeared forever! And can we sufficiently admire to fortitude, the self-sacrifice, the industry, the fervor, the almost unexampled skill, that guided this affectionate pair to results so happy, in circumstances of such dismay and danger!

Advertisement by the Editor

A Pastor or Clergyman of West Switzerland, having lost his fortune in the Revolution of 1798, resolved, on reflecting on the family he had to bring up, to become a voluntary exile, and to seek in other climates the means of support. He sailed, accordingly, with his wife and children, four sons, from tweleve to five years of age, for England, where he accepted an appointment of Missionary to Otaheite; not that he had any desire to take up his abode in that Island, but that he had conceived the plan of passing from thence to Port Jackson, and domiciliating himself there as a free settler. He possessed a considerable knowledge of agriculture, and by this means hoped, with the aid of his sons, to gain an advantageous establishment, which his won country, convulsed with the horrors of war, denied him. He turned the small remnant of his fortune into money, and bough with it seeds of various sorts, and few cattle, as farming stock. The family took their passage accordingly, satisfied with this consolation—that they should still remain together; and they sailed with favourable winds till in sight of New Guinea. Here they were attacked by a destructive and unrelenting tempest; and it is in this crisis of their Adventures that the Swiss Pastor, or Family Robinson, begins the Journal which is now presented to the Public.