it Me, l N T R 0 DUCT 1 0 N. 
v 
the Experiment fucceeds or not. For Inftance, Commodore Roggewine s Expedition tamed to no A&* 
Count, with RefpeCt to the View upon which it was made; but as to us it is, to the full, as ufeful 
as if it bad lucceeded, and we are as much fatisfied, that the Scheme upon which that Voyage was 
founded, is juft, right, and agreeable to Truth, as if the Perfons who made the Voyage, inftead of 
lofing their Ship, and returning Beggars, had brought home with them half the Treafure of th& 
Indies . 
The Accidents to which Men are liable, who undertake fuch Voyages, are fo many, fo unavoid- 
able, and often of fuch a Nature as to deprive thofe who make them, of much of the Experience 
which they might otherwife have reaped from them t But we run no fuch Hazards in Books, and 
there is nothing neceflary to render them as ufeful to us as poffible, but a Refolution of attending 
to, and reflecting upon what we read. But fome fpeculative Man may objeCt, that thefe Arguments 
prove too much, and if fuch mighty Things may be done by reading, it is a weak and Fooliftj 
Thing to travel any other Way than upon Paper. The Fallacy however of this Objection, will be 
eafily perceived, if we reflect upon- how many different Motives Men travel, befides that of bare 
Obfervation, which, generally fpeaking, falls in accidentally, and is rarely the Ground upon which 
Men make Voyages by Sea, or fpend their Time in paffing through different Countries : So that as 
Books have fome Advantages, and thofe very confiderable too, yet it does not follow from thence 
that they have all the Advantages derived from viliting foreign Countries. There is a wide Difference 
between that Treafure which we lay up in our Mind, and the Wealth that paffes into our Purfes j 
and yet the general Word Profit may include both. But what demonftrates not the Fallacy only, 
but the Falfhood of the Remark before-mentioned, as if the reading Voyages would extinguifh the 
Defire of undertaking them is the Evidence of Experience, which is diredtly oppofite thereto; for as 
the Inclinations of Boys who are born in maritime Towns, naturally leads them to Sea, fo there i^ 
nothing excites Men more ftrongly to vifit diftant Countries than reading good Accounts of themj 
for it is a very natural, as well as a very juft Conclusion, that if fo much Pleafure refill t- from the Pe- 
rufal of Voyages and Travels, there muff be ftill a greater in Travelling itfelf. 
But thus much, indeed, is true, that there cannot be either an eafier or a fafer Cure for bound- 
lefs Curiofity than this Sort of Reading, which from thence, inftead of Study, is become an Amufe- 
ment ; from which another Objection has ftarted up direCHy oppofite to the former, and that is, the 
Danger of kindling a wild and ungovernable Humour in the Minds of young People, by putting fuch. 
kind of Books into their Hands. This may be, and I doubt really is true of Voyages and Travels, 
read purely to kill Time and to divert, by the Strangenefs of their Recitals. Yet one may afk, whether 
this Mifchief be found in Books alone, and not in the Things themfelves ? Do not young Peo- 
ple often make long Voyages without Thought, and travel many Years to no Purpofe ? But was 
this everalledged as a juft Reafon why Folks fhould never go abroad at all; or, if not, why fhould it 
be a good Objection againft reading? But, granting it were fo, I will venture to fay, that this, 
and every other Mifchief, is guarded againft by Collections of this Nature, in which Care is taken to 
inform and to inftruCf, as well as to entertain and amufe. It is the Advice of the great Lord Bacon , that 
young Men fhould never be fent into foreign Countries but under the Care of fome able Tutor, 
who may be able to correCt their Extravagancies, reftrain their Impetuofity, and oblige them to 
make fuch Obfervations as would otherwife efcape them ; and all this, that at their Return, they 
may not be barely able to tell what they had feen, but fhew, by their Behaviour, and their Con-* 
veifation, how much they have improved by their foreign Excurfions. 
Now let us apply this Advice to reading. It is very poffible for young People to fpend a great deal' 
of their Time that way to very little Purpofe ; and it was from a Forefight of this that Collections of 
Voyages were devifed by grave and difcreet Men, as the proper Remedy for this Evil. It was what 
Ramujio intended by his large and noble Collection, the moft compleat in its Kind, and for the 
Time in which it was made, that is extant in any Language. He undertook to draw into one Body 
the beft and moft ufeful Voyages and Travels, that before his Time had been publifhed, and he has 
enriched them with fuch curious and ufeful Prefaces, Obfervations and Remarks, as has, in the Opi- 
nion of the beft Judges, rendred them an invaluable Treafure. The fame Plan was purfued by 
M. Fhevenot in French , and in a much greater Extent by the Authors of fome Dutch Collections | 
from all of which we have borrowed, and to whom we therefore readily own our Obligations. 
To make thefe Reflections the clearer, it may not be amifs to obferve, that we have in our own 
Language, as good and as bad Collections as ever were made ; one Inftance of each may fuffice* 
M. Hackluyt was an able, ingenious, diligent, accurate, and ufeful Compiler, and his Collections 
are as valuable as any Thing in their Kind. On the other Hand Purchases Pilgrims are a very volu- 
minous, and for the moft Part a very trifling and infignificant Collection : His Manner, for I cannot 
call it Method, is irregular and confufed, his Judgment weak and pedantick, his Remarks often filly^ 
and always little to the Purpofe. This ihews, how much depends upon the Care and Skill of the 
Collector, who, on the one Hand, is to provide what may entertain and pleafe, and on the other is to 
be careful, that Knowledge and InftruCtion be conveyed together with Pleafure and Amufement. 
But as in travelling it is requilite, that the Perfon who is to be improved, fhould not go abfolutely 
raw out of his own Country, but fhould carry with him, or rather in him, a TinCture of the Scien- 
ces, that he may be the more capable of Improvement : So in reading of Voyages there are certain 
Praecognita which mu ft be firft underftood, at leaft in a tolerable Degree, before the reft can be pe- 
rilled with Pleafure or with Profit. But as the former, fo thefe lie in a very narrow Compafs, for tho* 
Science is often conveyed with great Difficulty ; yet this hinders not that it may be conveyed in a 
ftiort Time, and with great Eaie* and this barely by ranging Truths that are neceflary in their juft 
and natural Order*. 
It 
