AND LOWER EGYPT. 7 



irony characters, in order to rouse them, he (eels 

 himself at times constrained to borrow their lan- 

 guage. These circumstances taken together leave 

 an impress of harshness, which, to delicate eyes, 

 presents an appearance bordering on vulgarity, and 

 which exerts an irresistible influence on the style. 

 Besides, the efforts made to acquire the capacity of 

 speaking foreign languages, imperceptibly make a 

 man forget his own ; and with all this, no resource 

 in the consolations of literature, not so much as 

 leisure to direct the thoughts toward a subject of 

 that description. Such are the embarrassments in 

 which I must probably have felt myself entangled, 

 and out of which I must have extricated myself, 

 had I written the history of my travels immediately 

 on their termination. If the traveller is the histo- 

 rian of the men he meets on his way, he is at the 

 same time the historian of Nature ; and, in order to 

 do her the justice she deserves, he ought to be able 

 to paint her in full dress, as in her noble simplicity. 



Perhaps I may be mistaken, but I am disposed to 

 think that, in the last-mentioned respect, my work 

 will have gained a great deal by the delay of pub- 

 lication, and that I shall have reason to applaud 

 myself on having complied with Montaigne's pre- 

 cept, addressed to authors: " Let them think se- 

 <c riouslyof the matter before they publish ; who is 

 " hurrying them ?" (Essays, book iii. ch. 9.) 



b 4 -Egypt, 



