That no readers of the following work may entertain expectations
respecting it which it would ill satisfy, it is necessary to acquaint
them, that the author has not had the presumption even to attempt a
full, historical narration of the fall of the Peruvian empire. To
describe that important event with accuracy, and to display with
clearness and force the various causes which combined to produce it,
would require all the energy of genius, and the most glowing colours of
imagination. Conscious of her utter inability to execute such a design,
she has only aimed at a simple detail of some few incidents that make a
part of that romantic story; where the unparalleled sufferings of an
innocent and amiable people, form the most affecting subjects of true
pathos, while their climate, totally unlike our own, furnishes new and
ample materials for poetic description.