Before we dismiss this subject, it may be proper to add, that some time subsequent to the publication of his Travels, Park appeared to be fully sensible that the manner in which he had treated the question of the Slave Trade, was liable to some objections; and evidence now exists, that upon some occasions when his authority had been appealed to as being favourable to that system, he expressed his regret that an improper stress had been laid upon certain passages in his Travels, and that a meaning had been attributed to them, which it was not intended that they should bear. It remains to be enquired, whether there is any just foundation for the opinion which has prevailed with regard to the degree of assistance given by Mr. Edwards in the actual composition of Park's work; as to which very few remarks will be necessary. The intimate connection of Mr. Edwards with Park, the interest which he took in the success of his publication, and the influence which he appears to have exerted with respect to its contents, make it quite evident, that he must have seen, and been consulted upon, every part of the work; and there can be no question but that he, at least, revised and corrected the whole manuscript before it was sent to the press. It was avowed by Park himself, that as occasion offered, he had incorporated into different parts of his work, by permission of Mr. Edwards, the _whole_ of the narrative prepared by the latter for the use of the Association. [Footnote: Park's Travels. Preface, p. ix.] A person accustomed to literary composition, and confident of his own powers, would hardly have chosen to avail himself of this assistance; which would be attended only with a slight saving of labour, and might probably have the unpleasant effect of a mixture of different styles. No such disadvantage, it maybe observed, has in fact resulted from the course pursued in the present instance. No inequalities are apparent in Park's narrative; nor are the passages which have been inserted from Mr. Edwards's Memoir, to be distinguished from the rest of the work. The style is throughout uniform, and bears all the marks of a practised pen. Generally speaking indeed, it is more simple, and consequently more pleasing, than that of Mr. Edwards's avowed compositions. But, notwithstanding its general merits, it is altogether perhaps too much laboured; and in particular passages, betrays too much of the art of a professed writer. [Footnote: It would be easy, but invidious, to produce passages from Park's work more or less marked with some of the characteristics of Mr. Edwards's style, and, in particular, with that tendency to ambitious ornament, which is so conspicuous in many parts of the _History of the West Indies_.--The following extract from Park's chapter on the state of Slavery in Africa, may be sufficient. "In a country divided into a thousand petty states, mostly independent, and jealous of each other,