Narrative of a Voyage to the West Indies and Mexico in the Years 1599-1602

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THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY.
SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, G.C.St.S., F.R.S., D.C.L., Corr. Mem. Inst. Fr., Hon. Mem. Imp. Acad. So. St. Petersburg, &c., &c., President.
CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, Esq., Honorary Secretary.
INTRODUCTION.
M. Féret obtained this valuable document from a resident in Dieppe, where it has been for an unknown time; and it is more than probable that it had been in the possession of M. de Chastes, governor of the town and castle of Dieppe, who was Champlain's chief friend and protector, under whose auspices he had been employed in the war in Brittany against the League, and by whom, after his return from the West Indies, he was sent to Canada. To him, it is most likely that Champlain would present a narrative of his voyage. On M. de Chastes' death, the manuscript probably passed into the possession of the Convent of the Minimes at Dieppe, to which he was a great benefactor during his life, and by testament after his death. He was also, by his desire, buried in the church of the convent. The library of the Minime fathers was, with the rest of their property, and that of the other convents of the town, dispersed at the great Revolution; but most of the books remained at Dieppe, as may be seen by a reference to the numerous works which have gradually found their way, by gift or purchase, to the Public Library of that town, bearing inscriptions as having belonged to the convent.
The readers of Champlain's Voyages in New France, will remember the allusion to the expedition which is the subject of the following narrative: Sur ces entrefaites, he says, speaking of the projects of Monsieur de Chastes for the Canadian voyage, je me trouvais en cour, venu fraischement des Indes Occidentales, où j'avois été près de deux ans et demy après que les Espagnols furent partis de Blavet, et la paix foict en France, où pendant les guerres j'avais servi sa dicte majesté (Henry IV) souz Messeigneurs le Mareschal d'Aumont de St. Luc, et le Mareschal de Brissac.