[ 42i ] 



kinds of public works ihew the public to 

 be rich ; witnefs the navigations, roads, 

 and public edifices. If thefe circumftances. 

 do not combine to prove a kingdom to be 

 flouriihing, I muft. confefs myfelf totally 

 in the dark. 



This conclufion, I am feniible, will by 

 no means render my undertaking popular. 

 The generality of readers are feldom 10 

 well pleafed, as when an author lavs before 

 them a melancholy picture of accumulated 

 evils under which a nation groans : This 

 is not to be wondered at ; it is human na- 

 ture. But I conceive it a duty incumbent 

 jon one, who engages in fuch a journey as 

 | this, to lay a fair and genuine account of 

 all thefe matters before the public. I have, 

 | it is true, offered fome reflections on them ; 

 j perhaps it was an error, and I mould have 

 j dealt only in facts ; but thefe reflections do 

 j not alter thofe facts, which may be viewed 

 i naked, and applied to any ufe more pene- 

 i trating minds can make of them. 



The idea of proportioning the particu- 

 lars of this Tour to the whole kingdom, 

 may not be fatisfactory to all my readers ; 

 but perhaps there is fome utility in know- 

 ing fuch proportions ; for although the 

 whole was drawn into one view, and all 

 from facts, yet there is poffibly a ufe in 

 knowing what the ftate of the kingdom 

 E e 3 would 



