MEMOIR OF PENNANT. 35 



he says, " A few years ago, I grew fond of imaginary 

 tours, and determined on one to climes more suited to 

 my years, more genial than that of the frozen north. 

 I still found, or fancied that I found, abilities to di- 

 rect my pen. I determined on a voyage to India." 

 We can almost imagine the day-dreams which sug- 

 gested these narratives, can follow the now aged na- 

 turalist to the splendid scenes which his extensive 

 reading would call up in the east, and see him in the 

 fancied delight of traversing a country so rich in the 

 stores of both art and nature. But he could not 

 stop here : he built up a fabric which he meanwhile 

 knew he never would complete ; and the same well- 

 stored imagination carried him over most of the 

 countries in the world. We must agree with his 

 concluding reflection, " Happy is the age that could 

 thus beguile its fleeting hours without injury to any 

 one, and, with the addition of years, continue to rise 

 in its pursuits." 



The work which he now planned at his sixty- 

 seventh year, was to consist of fourteen quarto vo- 

 lumes ! It was to be entitled, " Outlines of the 

 Globe," and was to contain a sketch of every coun- 

 try in the world, with their productions. Four vo- 

 lumes only were published ; and two of these ap- 

 peared after the decease of their author, being super- 

 intended by his son. The two first are devoted to 

 India, the one containing what he denominates Wes- 

 tern Hindostan and the Island of Ceylon ; the se- 

 cond reviewing the line of the Ganges, or Gangetic 



