PREFACE. 
xi 
The writer who first attempted to sup- 
ply this important desideratum, was Dr 
Leyden, in the work which forms the basis 
of the present publication. * To those who 
have any knowledge of our recent literary 
history, it cannot be necessary to point out 
the circumstances which peculiarly qualified 
Dr Leyden for this task ; his depth of re- 
search, his force of imagination, and, to use 
the emphatic expressions of Lord Minto, 
u his incomparable genius, urging and sus- 
" taining his invincible powers of mental 
" labour." f He entered upon it with all 
* A Historical and Philosophical Sketch of the Dis- 
coveries and Settlements of Europeans in Northern and 
Western Africa, at the close of the eighteenth century, 
12mo, 442 pages. Edinburgh, 1799. 
f " It is impossible," says Lord Minto, in his Address 
to the College of Fort William, " to exclude from our 
4t minds the painful recollection of a loss sustained by 
" this College, by the votaries of eastern learning, and, 
" I will not refrain from adding, by the lovers of genius 
«' and worth, yet more estimable than all other endow- 
" ments, in the premature and lamented death of Dr 
" Leyden. It is not required, it would not be fitting, 
" in this place, to repress entirely the sentiments witj? 
