The title of the following tale was given to a short story written by
the well-known authoress, Agnes Strickland, more than half a century
ago, when she was about eighteen years old. I well remember the intense
delight with which I read it in my boyhood, and was lately surprised to
find that it had been so long out of print. The publishers, however,
consider that the work, esteemed as it was in former years, is, from the
style and the very natural mistakes of a young lady discernible with
regard to matters nautical, scarcely suited to the taste of the present
day. They therefore requested me to re-write it, believing that the
subject might be worked into a deeply interesting story of much larger
proportions than the original. This I have endeavoured to accomplish,
and I trust that the new version of "The Rival Crusoes" may become as
popular among the present generation as its predecessor was with the
last.
W.H.G. Kingston.