vi 
PREFACE. 
exhausted. It may be observed, likewise, that the same objects ^re 
capable of exciting a greater or less degree of interest according to the 
manner in vv^hich they are viewed and represented, and the colouring that 
is given to them. The Voyage d'un Philosopher by Monsieur Le Poivre, 
contains in point of fact no new discoveries, very little information, and 
that little not always correct, and abounds in declamation ; yet it is a book 
that always has been and must continue to be read with pleasure, and 
one from which some instruction may be derived. 
The Author is not unaware of an objection that may be urged against the 
present work, on account of the shortness of the stay made at each of the 
places which were visited on the voyage. He certainly does not mean to set 
up pretensions to ample and accurate information on every subject which 
he has introduced : a book of voyages or travels does not indeed imply it ; 
but, at the same time, he has no hesitation in saying that, by him who makes 
a proper use of his eyes and his ears, much knowledge may be collected 
within the sphere of his observations, in the course of a very few days. It 
has justly been remarked, that a person will obtain a more correct notion of 
a city or town from walking the length of one of its principal streets, than 
from the most detailed description. The truth of the observation will be 
felt by every one who may have passed up one side and down the other 
of the High Street in Oxford. In like manner the natural historian, in 
skimming over the surface of a country, will be able to seize and to com- 
municate a more distinct and comprehensive view of its productions, and 
their value, than one who, ignorant of natural history, shall have passed his 
whole life upon the spot. And here the Author cannot but lament his own 
want of knowledge, and consequently the deficiency of his materials, in this 
part of his subject. It was in the progress of the voyage he was first made 
Sensible of the high and important advantages which a competent knowledge 
of natural history is capable of imparting. To him thus instructed, every 
living creature, however contemptible it may appear to common eyes j 
every plant that grows, from the stately tree of the forest down to the 
feuuible moss ; every stone, from the sparkling diamond to the dull 
