X PREFACE. 



antlent hlftory, for which I with pleafure acknowkge myfelf in- 

 debted to my worthy and refpe(5table friend General Melville. 



The progrefs of the fciences of aftronomy and geography, which 

 are the very eyes of navigation, and without which no diftant voy- 

 age can be performed, is well worthy of being noted : and arithmetic, 

 book-keeping, geometry, and the mechanic arts, alfo merit our 

 attention. In fuch a work as this there ought to be at lead fome 

 brief remembrance of thofe friends of mankind, whofe ingenuity, 

 fludy, or patriotic exertions, have added to the comfort and happi- 

 nefs of life, have procured for their country valuable branches of 

 trade, have abridged the labour and expense of manufactures and 

 can-iage, or have leffened the dangers of navigation. The fuperior 

 importance of commerce and the peaceful arts is now known all-over 

 Europe ; men begin to be efteemed rather for utility than for un- 

 meaning names or titles ; and we may hope that, the time is not 

 very diftant, in which the names of Arkwright, Wedgwood, Brind- 

 ley, Harrifon, and other friends of mankind, will ftahd higher in 

 -the temple of Fame than thofe of Alexander, Casfar, Zingis-khan, 

 Timour, and other fuch deftroyers, who have hitherto engroffed the 

 admiration of the world.* Not very long ago thofe who were con- 

 fidered as the firft people in the community would have been afhamed 

 to be fuppofed to know any thing of commerce or manufaiflures. But 

 we now fee men of fortune and title adively concerned in com- 



* ' Mira humani ingenii pelle, fanguinem et cades conderc annalibus juvat, ut fcelera lioniinum 

 • nofcantur mundi ipfius ignaris.' [P/;n. Hijl. nat. L. ii, c. 9.] But this perverfion of reafon was 

 not confined to the Romans, whofe trade was war : the hiftorians or chroniclers of Venice, Ge- 

 noa, and Pifa, communities profetTedly commercial, have been carried away with the current of 

 applaufe bellowed upon mlhtary achievements, and have expatiated upon them, while they have 

 almoft entirely neglefted the more valuable hiftoiy of the commerce, by which their fmall ftates 

 were exalted during fome ages to a proud pre-eminence over the empires and kingdoms of Eii- 

 rope. 3 



