White people

William Beckford, A descriptive account of the island of Jamaica, 1790, p. xi:  "A more minute account might have been given of the manners of the white people; but, as amongst larger masses there will be consequently shadows, I did not wish to overcharge my picture with gloom; for although among the higher classes of society there are many characters that admire brightness, yet the dregs of a community ought to be always left in their habitat: Darkness, and of this order (…) there are but too many."