280 UNIVERSAL ER 



u D i T i o v." 



faftion they afford our curiofity; the afllduity with 

 which men of letters, as well as men of the 

 world, apply to thefe authors, and many other 

 conikbrations, have made the fhidy of voyages 

 and Travels a confiderable branch of Uriverfal 

 Erudition : it appeared therefore neceflary to 

 fnake of it heje a diftinit chapter. 



II. Whenever a man pafles from one country 

 or province to another, he is faid to travel > but 

 the travels of which we here fpeak are thofe 

 that are made into far diftant countries, and 

 that are undertaken with various views. We 

 are not here to confider the voyages of mer- 

 chants or ieamen, who traverfe the fea from mo- 

 tives of commerce, nor the journeys of fuch men 

 whofe private affairs carry them into diftant 

 countries, but we are here to treat of the tra- 

 vels of thofe whom a defire of knowledge, and 

 of communicating their difcoveries to mankind, 

 have induced to undertake long journeys. Thus 

 the indefatigable inquirer, after philofophical 

 knowledge, iearches every part of the globe in 

 purfuit of new difccvenes in natural hirtory, 

 botany, &c. or defcends with his thermometer 

 into the deepefl caverns. Thus the fagacious 

 aftronomcr tranlports himfelf, fometimcs to the 

 equator, and fometimes to the poles, intent upon 

 making accurate obfervations on the heavenly 

 bodies , or on meafuring the degrees of the 

 earth. Thus the learned antiquary traverfes 

 Italy, Greece, Afia Minor, Palefline, Egypt, 



and 



