PREFACE. TRAVELS are the most instructive school of man: travelling teaches us the knowledge of our fpecies; and, by living among different nations, ftudying their manners, religion, and government, rules may be obtained to estimate the manners, religion, and government of our own country. Subject to the prejudices of education, and the empire of habit, while man remains in his native land, he will view other nations through a deceptive glass, which, changing their forms and colours, will lead his judgment aftray; he will be aftonished at their errors, when he himself shall be tributary to others equally great; he will laugh at and ridicule their cuftoms, himself a flave to abfurdities not lefs extravagant. But, having attentively examined the manners and genius of divers people, and calcu lated lated how far education, laws, and climate may influence phyfical and moral qualities, his ideas will expand, and meditation will release him from the yoke of pre-conceived opinions, and cuftoms by which his reafon had been enchained. Then, looking toward his own country, the film will be removed from his eyes; his rooted mistakes will be eradicated, and objects will affume a very different afpect. Before he begins his travels, a thorough knowledge of geography and history are neceffary. The first will indicate the place where great events have paffed; the latter bring them to memory: thus doubly enlightened, if he traverses those eastern countries where most astonishing revolutions have, more than once, changed the face of the earth, wherever his footsteps lead, each object will become animated; ruins, marbles, and mountains will fpeak, moft eloquently, to his understanding and his heart. Here, beneath brambles, he will read the following infcription, with which his country honoured the manes of a hero: Sta, viator, beroem calcas. This cliff, hanging over the abyss of feas, will call to mind the fatal fatal end of the defpairing Sappho, who, by the energy and fublimity of her poetry, merited the name of the tenth mufe. Here the melancholy remains of two famous re-, publics will retrace to memory man ennobled by the love of liberty, his foul aggrandized, and every faculty of the body and mind perfectioned. How numerous will be his comparisons between what was and what is! How immenfe the chain of recollection! He, however, will only notice great actions, and present the reader with rapid ftrokes, where the past and prefent may clearly unite, and touch without being confounded. At beholding the magnificent monuments Egypt ftill poffeffes, he will imagine what that people must have been whofe works only, of all ancient nations, have refifted the ravages of time: a people who feemed to labour for immortality, and among whom Orpheus, Homer, Herodotus, and Plato went to obtain that knowledge with which they enriched their native land. How will he regret that no efforts of the learned have hitherto removed the veil from the numerous hieroglyphics of these wealthy regions; the intelligence of which characters would would enlighten ancient history, and, perhaps, caft a luminous ray into the darkness. of the first ages of the earth! Become a citizen of the world, he will rife fuperior to partiality, and, while defcribing cities and countries, will give to truth the guidance of his pen. But let him fhun the fault of many other travellers, and not make himself the principal figure in his picture, nor throw all the light on himself, and fhade and obfcure the other parts and perfons: let him avoid affectation, either to fhew his fuperior knowledge or add weight to his opinions. Such are the requifites he ought to poffefs who would travel to advantage; and fuch the principles he should imbibe. To fuperior intelligence, and a spirit of obfervation, he must add that quick, deep, and penetrating fenfibility which alone can make himself or others feel, effectually. Should he remain unmoved when he views the place where Pompey the great was affaffinated; fhould the wonders of Egypt not ftrike him with astonishment and admiration; fhould he not weep over the auguft ruins of Alexandria, and the lofs of 400,000 volumes, devoured by fire; fhould fhould not enthusiasm seize him, at beholding the ruins of Lacedæmon, Athens and Thebes; let him beware of writing: nature has not formed him to transmit those feeling, thofe fublime impreffions, which objects fo grand should inspire. ་་ If Such fenfations, I imagine, I have had; but whether I have conveyed them with the force neceffary to render my travels interesting the public muft determine.. the reader accompanies me with pleasure, if the reality of my descriptions bring conviction, if the geographical and hiftorical details instruct, if the memorable events I call to mind are appofite, and the parallel of ancient and modern manners be traced by judgment and reflection, I fhall have obtained the height of my wishes, and all the fatigues, dangers, and labours I have undergone will be amply rewarded. LET |