6a TABLEAU de la PLAINE de TROTE 



M. Chevalier being clearly convinced of this error of De- 

 metrius and Strabo, and flruck with the confufion to which 

 it has given rife, has perhaps fliewn too great a degree of fufpi- 

 cion of the latter, in refpedl to fome other paffages of his ac- 

 count of the Troad ; and may have cenfured him fomewhat too 

 keenly. Wherever this feems to be the cafe, Mr Heyne, in his 

 notes on the German verfion, has taken the part of the ancient 

 geographer, to whom fcholars have been fo long accuftomed to 

 look up with the greatefl refpecfl : and if I were to publifh a fe- 

 cond edition of the Englifli, I fhould certainly, in confequence 

 of carte blanche given by the author *, avail myfelf of Mr 

 Heyne's affiflance to obviate, as far as poiTible, every objection 

 made to Strabo, except upon the great and fundamental error 

 refpediing the fource of the Scamander. For this I take to ^be 

 altogether untenable. " In general," fays Mr Heyne, in one 

 of his notes, " nothing can be obje6lcd againft Strabo, but in 

 " the fingk cafe where he has allowed himfelf to be feduced by 

 " Demetrius, and changed the fources of the Simois and the 

 " Scamander." M. Chevalier perhaps fhould have been fatis- 

 fied with gaining this point. 



But though it fliould appear, that the author or his editor 

 had, in one or two inftances, mifconceived or mifinterpreted 

 Strabo, where the text is acknowledged to be obfcure, not yet 

 having been properly elucidated by any able editor or commen- 

 tator, this furely would furnifh no argument for fetting afide 

 M. Chevalier's account of the Troad, founded on the author's 

 a(5lual obferv^ation, fupported by fo many fubfequent refpedlable 

 travellers. In the Vlllth chapter he has, with due refpedl, ta- 

 ken occafion to quote and comment upon fome pafTages of 

 Strabo ; from which it is clear, that the plain of Troy has not 

 changed its appearance fince the days of that learned writer. 



The 



* See his Letters, Appendix, No. VI. 



