J. Fenimore Cooper 
Ned Myers 
Or, a Life Before the Mast

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. It is probable that a good deal of distrust will exist on the subject of the individual whom Ned supposes to have been one of his godfathers. On this head the writer can only say, that the account which Myers has given in this work, is substantially the same as that which hegave the editor nearly forty years ago, at an age and under Circumstances that forbid the idea of any intentional deception. The account is confirmed by his sister, who is the oldest of the two children, and who retains a distinct recollec tion of the prince, as indeed doesu Ned himself. The writer supposes these deserted. Orphans to have been born out of wedlock — though he has no direct proof to this effect — and there is nothing singular in the circumstance of a man of the highest rank.