2 E X P L A N A T O R Y R I M a R E Si. .
perufing the preface to this journal,, he is to confider it as the produftion'of i
venal pen,' and of a writer who has had very little regard to either truth or
■ character“
Anothercireumftance the, reader ought lrkewife. to. he acquainted w ith -T h e
unfortunate Stanfield Parkinfon, who figns this preface, is now infane, in
..confinement, and muft probably remain fo for life * I write, therefore, as i f I
was treating of a perfon dead, and utterly incapable of anfwermg for himfelf—
no fmall difadvantage to an accufed perfon, when the accufer is not prefent to
fupport’ his charges— under fuch a fituation;. the fuppofition that he poffibly
could have done it, ftands. againft the accufed.
A Ihort hiftorical detail of this whole tranfaftion,. will perhaps- he thcmoft
fatisfaftory means of enabling the reader to judge for himfelf, whether the
parties charged in this prefece are guilty, and deferve the cemfvwes therein
paffed upon them; or.ought not only to be.acquitted, as having ¡.aed with
honour, but applauded for generofity.
1 knew P a ik in fon ’s father when I ftudied at E d in b u rgh ; I believe he deferred
the charafter beftowed upon him in the preface, and X retain a ju f t efteem
for his memory.
W h e n I r e m o v e d from the c ity , about the year 17 6 7 , to my prefent abode
in Harpur-Street, I became a member o f that part o f our religious fociety
w h ich is in Weftminfter, and to w h ic h lik ew ife I found- Stanfieldi Parkinfort
belonged.
The regard I had for the father, led me to inquire into the fituation of the
fon, who I found was an Upholfterer by trade; Sydney Parkinfon, whofe journal
follows, was then in town, and had engaged to accompany Jofeph Banks, Efq;
as his draughtfman, in his intended voyage to the South Seas. Being introduced
to me in this charafter, I gave him fome fmall proofs that I confidered
him not only as a young man o f much ingenuity, but of an unblemiihed
qh«after, and,one, who,, for his friends, fake, I,could wiih to countenance.
After he embarked, in the Endeavour, I took friendly notice of Stanfield
B a tk in f p n ,f f ir , his fathers, and/brother’s .fake; 1 occafioriall.y employed him
in fome little affairl irt the way of his bufmefs, lent, him .money on a pref-
fing emergency, and (hewed him every proper mark of regard.
Some time after the return of the Endeavour, he called ,tq inform me, that
he thought himfelf ill ufed-. by .Jofeph Banks ; that he could neither obtain his
brother’s. eSecls, npx a, fculcmeut of the account, and added many other
apcirfation&i
I informed him my engagements were fuch,, that it was not in my power to
fpare time to. inquire into fuch Blatters; that th,e gentleman he complained of
would, I doubted not, render him the drifted juftice, and more than this, be
generous, i f he would have patience and allow proper time for adjuding his
affairs. I faid this oju a prefumption, which I found afterwards fufficiently
iuftified, that a gentleman of J. Banks’s charafter could never fubmit to do
any thing mean and unbecoming that rank in which he flood with the publick,
OP account of an undertaking which is yet unequalled.
Stanfield Parkinfon repeatedly called upon me, to folicit my afiiftance in
terminating this affair. Even his advocate acknowledges that I diffuaded him
from all harlh meafures ; and this acknowledgment ought to have fuperfeded
the ipfimjation qf ** ofijejpus meddling.” But to throw a great deal of. dirt, in
hopes- that fome. will flick, feems to b.e the edabli(hed maxim of this writer.
Jn confequence of thefe reiterated applications, I wrote to J. Banks, to whom
I was then perfpnally a. ftrapger, and acquainted him, “ That, at Stanfield
“ Parkinion’s! requeft,. J had taken the liberty to interfere in a bufinefs.that
«« did not concern me,, and to which I thought myfe'If. very unequal, but
« ihonld be much pleafed i f I could bring them together in fuch a way as to
“ terminate the mifunderdanding between them, in an amicable manner.”
In