76 rJBLEAU de la PLAINE de TROrE. 



felves able to make a vifible reprefentation of the country. But 

 if we try to complete the pidure in all its parts, we fhall meet 

 with gaps and with places which do not coincide with the reft 

 of the defign. Accurate defcriptions of this diftricfl have not 

 been obtained. 



St R ABO is the only author who has furnifhed us with a mi- 

 nute account of the Troad, compofed not from the perfonal ob- 

 fervations of this great geographer, but borrowed from Deme- 

 trius of Scepfis. Demetrius feems indeed to have a juft title 

 to belief and refpecft, as he was born in the neighbourhood of 

 the Troad, and had in all probability furveyed it himfelf. Our 

 good opinion of him is confirmed by the accuracy with which 

 particular places are laid down, and by their coincidence with 

 the defcriptions of the ancient poets. 



This author, however, gives rife to a ftill greater embarraff- 

 ment, not fo much refpecfling the fituation of Troy, for it is af- 

 figned to what, in all probability, is its exadl place, as in regard 

 to the river Scamander and its fources, which are thrown far 

 back in the mountainous region behind Troy. 



Succeeding travellers have thrown little light on the Troad. 

 Wood, alone, made it a ferious objecfl to explore this claffic 

 ground, and to form an accurate idea of it. He was prepared 

 for the inveftigation by claffical erudition. He travelled, he 

 fays, with his Homer in his hand, but he feems to have had 

 Straeo alone in his eye. Without attending to fo many other 

 circumftances, which might have diredled his view, the fources 

 of the Scamander were his only point, from which he furveyed 

 every thing elfe ; and as he was miftaken in the fituation of 

 thefe, every thing elfe muft have received from him a falfe po- 

 fition and appearance *. 



To 



* An ingenious criticifm on Wood's EJfay on Homer, which appears in the ori- 

 ginal of this preface, is here omitted, as not iruinediately conneded with the prefent 

 fubjeft. D. 



